Resolution

A New Year’s Resolution can be a cynical phrase, but it can also be energising, if used in the right spirit.

I’ve made resolutions in the past that are improbable.  Difficult achievements, lofty goals, always with the idea that I can at least set out with the right attitude.  The problem is, when the goal is set so high, it becomes a mountainous task.  I gain some momentum, and as each day inches forward, I feel like I’m spinning my wheels.  Not because I’ve lost momentum, but because it feels like I have–the goal is so far away that I can’t see myself closing the distance.

I’m going to set myself a single New Year’s resolution.  It repeats a promise to myself that I’ve broken already, so I’m in shaky territory.  December became the pillow for me to rest my head upon after Nanowrimo was over.  I wanted to keep up the routine, keep up the habit, but I didn’t.  Even after I dropped my daily word count to 1000 words, even after I continued writing morning and night, I still let it slip away.  Around Christmas I realised it was because NaNoWriMo was a sprint, a crazy hurtle forward.  I thought I could keep up that speed, but I can’t go from zero to hero, no matter how much I would love to.  I’d done it again, I’d set myself an unlikely goal.

Baby steps.

So my resolution for 2014 is to set a weekly word goal, not a daily one.  3500 words a week, minimum, and I’m allowed to really celebrate if I get 7000.  I have to earn my triumph at the end of the week, and as each day inches closer, I’ll see my goal creeping forward and I’ll feel like it can be achieved.  This should work for me, because I’m starting to understand what I need as a support system.

Somewhere, in all of these attempts to establish a routine for myself, I’ll find one that sticks.  Of course I have to make it stick–I’m the only one who can do that, but if I can make it easier on myself, more enjoyable, more attainable… then why not?

Happy writing.  Happy 2014.

Related articles

• How to Make New Year’s Resolutions (for Writers) (gabrielletheauthoress.wordpress.com)
• The Right Way to Plan Your New Year’s Resolution (davidipayne.wordpress.com)
• Let’s Make Our New Year’s Resolutions More Achievable! (woodenitbeamazing.com)