- Keep a drafting-new-work schedule, with no clicking out to “research” or just peek at social media. I had resolved to do this last semester and failed miserably. We’ll see how I do this time. I’m going to set up timers and documentation I can see on the bulletin board. Maybe I’ll give myself a gold star each day I get it done.
- In the time allowed for it (and no more!), get a much better handle on my social marketing and content marketing, including figuring out just what the hell those things really are. I need to get serious about this blog and make it worth the time involved.
- Get the audio books done. Some people just read their books that way.
- Read more. Just chip away at the to-read pile. Because it’s horrifying, and because writers must read.
- Find a way to help out fellow writers that doesn’t require me to have actually read and liked their work yet (see #4). Maybe on my web site, which might hit two resolutions at once.
- Get rid of more stuff. The move helped a lot, but when I went downstairs to organize the basement this weekend I realized how much more crap needs to go. I want to sit down with at least one file folder or drawer or cabinet a night and WEED. Once that’s done, I can take another look at organizing what’s left. This includes my computer files. Hopefully I will spend less time looking for stuff and more time moving ahead.
- Make fitness a priority – Writing is bad for you, physically. You’re mostly sitting on your butt, hunching in some cases. In the last three years I’ve been coping with Achilles tendonitis from a disastrous flirtation with barefoot shoes and a frozen shoulder that probably started with some minor injury and then blew up from all that hunching. I happily took the excuse to avoid weight work, but it’s time to get back to it. (Well, almost – I’m still holding off on shoulder work until I get an all-clear.) I tried Zumba for the first time a couple of weeks ago (fun!), and I plan to stop being a yoga virgin this year, too. And I’d like to do more country and contra dancing. And then, of course, there’s walking. I live on a hill, so I get a little workout just going around the block.
Set up for weights and meditation. It ain’t pretty, but it gets the job done. (Making it pretty can be next year’s resolution.)
- Meditate. I’ve known how to do this since college, but do I make time for it? Hardly ever. I have no idea if it will help with writing, but I suspect it might prime the mind for creativity a little less wastefully than standing in a hot shower for too long (which is what I do now – and since my shoulder IS still a bit stiff and my husband has retired to Puerto Rico, I’ve had to start applying lotion to my back with a rubber spatula – so dignified!).
- Have more real life contact with real people. Facebook is nice but it’s no substitute for knowing what’s really going on in the lives of the people you love. This has nothing to do with writing per se, but writing is rather isolating, and even introverts need friends.
- Practice gratitude. The picture below is a gift I got myself this Christmas. The space for each entry is short, so I’m going to challenge myself to also tweet something I’m grateful for each day in 2015. I was invited to do a shorter version of this on Facebook this year, and I found it helpful.
A Christmas present for myself
The evidence of 54 years on the planet suggests that I’m not going to actually accomplish all of these, of course.
But hey – any forward progress counts. Add it up day by day and that is the trick to getting anything done.
What are your resolutions for the New Year?
Yes, Yes, And Yes!! I’m going to try and put some discipline in my writing scheduled too. Last year I started out strong and it all went down hill from there.
If I start reading e-mails I’m done for the day. If I check my Facebook that’s it for me. If I do anything but go directly to my manuscript I’m screwed.
So I am going to do my best to start out with writing at least an hour a day. Of course when I start writing I always write for more. And that’s Ok. As long as I write each day I can live with that.
Good luck my friend.. We are both going to need it. 🙂
🙂 Yes, good luck, Annie! I know you have a lot more challenges in your life right now than I do (I so enjoyed your recent carnival of well-deserved f-bombs!) so I’d say don’t beat yourself up too much if the productivity suffers a bit.
My new year’s resolutions:
1. Get my rapidly expanding perimenopausal posterior out of bed every weekday morning at 4:30 to exercise, and then make it to work on time or even a little bit early.
2. Maintain a servant leader mentality at work all day. (Patience is a virtue!)
3. Set aside time to write at least one hour every weekday after work, more on weekends.
4. Make it to bed by 8:30 Sunday-Thurs so I can get 8 hours of sleep and still get up at 4:30. (Chuckle)
4. Get off Facebook and Twitter except to market and very briefly interact with potential readers and close friends-gonna try to do this part on the elliptical machine while I exercise so I’m not tempted to do it after work when I’m supposed to be writing. (I know there’s a way to set up tweets for later in the day, since no one in my time zone will see them at 5 am when I’m actually writing them, but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet.)
5. Be proactive about in-person book marketing opportunities (translation: call around to schedule book signings and dealers tables at cons at least 3 months in advance so I can arrange my schedule at work), which will require me to get organized. I have no idea how I’ll have time to do this yet since the calls will need to be made during the work day. Maybe during my lunch break? Best case scenario: everyone I contact will assume I have a speech impediment since I will be calling them with my mouth full. They will then feel sorry for me and be motivated to grant me more marketing opportunities.
In short, my resolution is to pretend that there are 36 hours in every 24 hour day, and to proceed accordingly.
Oh, good luck with all that, Chris. You can set up your tweets on HootSuite or TweetDeck. No, I haven’t figured out how yet, either. That’s part of that social marketing goal for this year.
4:30, huh? I have to get up at 5am to get to classes on time next semester, so maybe I can force myself to do that on the days I’m not teaching. We’ll see. I know I can’t exercise in the morning. My routine is to sip a cup of hot tea and cuddle with cats for half an hour, then get ready to go (which includes the too-long shower, so I need to work on that). Sometimes my quiet tea-time is interrupted by last-minute grading or clearing the snow off the driveway. I sincerely hope it won’t happen too often that way!
My resolutions this year is to become more organized with my writing. Not only have a I created a series binder/bible for my books, I have made a blog post to share with others what I’ve come up with. Hopefully with this method, I will spend more time writing and less time ‘looking’ for something on the computer thus allowing me to go Facebook/Twitter/Candy Crush. I also want to seriously sit down and figure out money.Something I have struggled with since my adult life.
Good luck, Lisa! I guess there’s one big advantage to only writing stand-alones so far.
You know, a book that helped me a lot with money and my own spending was Your Money or Your Life (http://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Life-Transforming-Relationship/dp/0143115766). I highly recommend it.