Writing Resolutions for 2013

If you traditionally make resolutions, you’ve probably already got your list for 2013.  As for me, I tend to wander into them sometime in the first few days of January.  But mentally, I had made the committment back in December to do more with my own creative writing this year.

Last year I was going through some major surgery, and while things turned out just fine, it was a time of hibernation, of regrouping, burrowing in and cherishing things close at hand.  But I feel better than ever before. Life is short.  It’s time to turn the ship’s bow into the wind and follow a new star.

For those who laugh resolutions, just remember: when we write things down in black and white, we turn them into a concrete reality that confronts us.  It’s easy to dream about something, but much harder to confront reality by putting things into specific words.

1. I resolve to write every day on my own creative projects, not just other people’s.
2. I resolve to have a major piece published or produced this year, and for that to be the start of a new focus in my life.
3. I resolve to once again become engaged in my craft — meaning I’m going to a writer’s conference this year, whether small or large, and spending time immersing myself in those things that writer’s love . . . like agent blogs, road trips with the Blackwater Literary Society, reading, arguing writing, and wallowing in the delight of new pens, notebooks, software, etc.
4. I resolve to promote myself and my work . . . meaning it’s time to develop my platform (in the old days, we just wrote), force myself to learn to love Twitter, to up my Facebook time from once every month or two to once a week at least, and to set specific goals.
5. I resolve to publish at least two items for e-readers, whether short stories or something more substantial.
6. I resolve to finally write and illustrate at least one short story or children’s book . . . and to get a writer-illustrator’s portfolio together.

There, that wasn’t so bad. Of course, now comes the hard part — doing it.

So what are your Writer’s Resolutions for 2013?  Anything you’d like to share? Come on, I know that several of my friends who write need to commit to their craft this year as much as I do.  Let’s hear your plans to turn dreams into reality by putting them down on the page.

© Chanda K. Zimmerman, 2013.

Wow, first time to write 2013, for real.