New Years Resolutions for Creative Writers

Its that time of year again, when we attempt to remotivate ourselves to do the things we should have done last year. I encourage you to make New Years resolutions for your personal life, because I believe you need to be your best self to create your best work. You know for yourself what personal things you need to work on, but in terms of creative writing, there are definitely ways to use New Years resolutions to enhance your writing and your writing career. Here are some ideas of New Years resolutions that you writers out there may be able to use.

Finish. Finish that novel or poetry collection that you've been working on. Set a word goal for yourself and write every day until your done.

Re-edit. Take some old pieces that haven't been doing as well as you wanted them to and revitalize them.

Expand. Try a form, style or genre that you've never tried before. Try writing a script, and practice your dialogue. If you never have, try poetry or speculative fiction. You may find you enjoy it, and it will no doubt help you in your normal writing.

Expand even more. If you're really ambitious, try a completely new art form: painting, photography, musical composition, acting, etc. If you stick with it your general creativity will be expanded, and you may meet some awesome new people who share your love of artistic expression.

Submit. Make a goal that you won't let a piece sit for more then 24 hours before you re-submit it (unless you're re-editing, of course). Get your work out there. Research some writing competitions, make a list of them, and then make a goal to enter every single one. You never know what great things will come of it, even if its just some more good writing on your part.

Marketing. Find 3-5 new marketing outlets or tactics and make a goal to use them this year. If you don't have a blog, start one. Use social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace and LinkedIn. Use your newly discovered artistic talents and reach new people with sites like Flickr and YouTube. Join an online article community like eZine and meet new people through your articles. Then once you get your book finished and published, you'll have a whole entourage of people who can help spread the news.

Hope those help. Good luck getting ready for a new year!
Sarah Allen