Writing Resolutions for the New Year

The start of a new calendar year is traditionally the time for resolutions about breaking bad habits, starting good ones, tackling goals, and so forth. This year, we challenge you to create one writing goal for yourself--any kind of writing, at any stage of the writing process. We're committing to new year's writing resolutions, too.

To read and research:  

Beth Oyler: Spend a little more time researching! I tend to jump into a project without always fully understanding what I'm going to be talking about or saying. Spending more time researching at the onset will save me time and frustration later in the writing process!

Sarah Prince: With a new baby on the way, my writing goal for 2014 is not so much to write with any sort of regularity. Instead, I'd like to read as much as possible. I find that reading fiction and nonfiction really helps me to better define my own passions, boundaries, and directions as a writer. By reading critically and responding to other writers, I hope 2014 allows me new insight, direction, and motivation as I continue on my own writing journey.

To find a writing and revising routine: 

Carey Little Brown: My current schedule has made it difficult to commit to a routine of creative writing, but I'd like to start keeping an art and writing journal to record ideas, thoughts, and images when I have the chance.

Kayla Skarbakka: Write every morning before work, even if it's just for 10 minutes. I've found that it's easier to write in the afternoon or evening if I've already gotten a few words down that day.

Paul Lai: I'd like to set myself the task of finishing full drafts of papers at least 2 weeks before they are due to leave myself plenty of time to revise them.

To start or finish a specific work: 

Amber Cook: My resolution for this year is to finish the novel that I started during Nanowrimo 2011.

Amy Kubista (EdD student): My goal is to write a proposal (and get it approved!).

Melanie Brown: In 2014, I will draw a bird a day – maybe post them on a blog, maybe keep them for myself in my journal, but every day, a new bird. I have to be honest with you, though: I’m a writing instructor, not an artist. I can’t draw. So, why does an artistically artless writing teacher want to draw 365 birds? Because I want to learn how to draw. In committing to daily practice, I know I’ll have good days (when I draw a magnificent mockingbird!) and bad days (when I draw more gross beaks than grosbeaks). By the end of the year, though, I'll be cozy amid my own beautiful, eclectic flock. To draw a bird a day, every day – that’s my goal (because, right now, I cannot draw), and to approach each day more creatively.

Nik Nadeau: My goal is to make a scrapbook.

Shawn Picht: My writing goal for 2014 is to develop 2-3 of the writing ideas I have been scratching down in my iPhone's Squarenote App notepad. I love the idea of an opening sentence that inspires, and a writing goal of mine over 2013 was to write down these sentences as they came to me (with plans to develop them later on). So, I now have a collection (circa August 2013) of undeveloped sentences and thoughts on my iPhone that need time, patience, clarity, and some love.

To blog: 

Amy Lindquist: My resolution is to get back to writing on my blog.

Brittany Kallman Arneson: My goal this year is to start a personal blog. I think it will help me be more reflective about my life and more intentional about the way I live.

To publish:

Anne Shiell: I didn't meet my NaNoWriMo goal this year to submit something for publication, unfortunately, so that's my goal for next year!

Jen Johnson: Before I had children, I contributed regularly to different literary journals. When sleep-deprivation set in, I stopped. This year I want to lose the "I'm too tired" excuse and start writing and submitting again. We'll see how it goes!

Rachel Grammer: My goal for 2014 is to submit at least one piece of writing for publication.

To get back to writing and the love of writing:

Brian Timmerman: I need to get out of spreadsheets!

Martha King: My goal is to enjoy writing. Enjoy the experiences that prompt me to write, enjoy the learning and discovery that is part of the process, enjoy the solitude and the collaboration, enjoy the sense of accomplishment at having committed something to writing, enjoy sharing my writing with others or with no one. Enjoy.

What are your writing resolutions for 2014? Share with us in the comments!

Happy New Year from the Writing Center staff!