Guilt-Free Resolutions for Writers..... Follow With Caution

These you can keep. They probably won’t get you any closer to publication…but…



1. 2011 is the year you will not set a specific word count. Instead you will commit to hiney in chair staring at the dreaded white document page for 30 minutes each day. This can be broken into segments, if necessary.

2. Words are words. They all count. Subscribe to vocabulary email lists, and word-puzzle-of-the-day lists. If it has letters it counts. Spend a little of every day with words.

3. Visit bookstores weekly. Pick up covers that grab your attention and read the first paragraph

4. Declare yourself an author. Pick your favorite author or literary character and subtly model yourself after him/her. Wear the tweed jackets with elbow patches. Grow a goatee and wear black and a jaunty beret. Whatever makes you feel like a real writer counts. I would suggest avoiding hard sauce or substances. Addictions and insanity do make for interesting story fodder but tend to make for bad relationships.

5. Accept and embrace this fact, unless you have a signed contract in hand or floating in the world wide web, 2011 will not be the year you are published. Let that go, move forward and focus on 2012. The jury is still out on that year.

6. Don’t quit your day job.