The new year is almost upon us, which means it’s time to make resolutions. It always feels like there’s so much pressure to create lasting, meaningful resolutions in order to become better versions of ourselves. There’s nothing wrong with trying to improve yourself–I highly recommend it–but this should be a time of optimism, not a time of guilt and absurdly high expectations.
Take some time to sit down and think about what you’d realistically like to achieve this year with your writing. Maybe this is the year you’re going to finally write that book you’ve been wanting to write! Maybe you want to write a poem a day or get back in the habit of keeping a diary. Writing is writing!
This year, I’ve set a few goals for myself in regards to my writing:
- serialize my new novel, Home, for my Patreon patrons before publishing it
- finish my new nonfiction collection and publish it
- publish at least 6 Kindle shorts during the course of the year
- submit work to at least 5 contests
- submit work to at least 10 literary magazines
- continue blogging a least 3 times/week
- maintain my daily content on my Patreon
- continue writing in my diary every day
- don’t throw up during my reading in March
This might seem like a lot, but it doesn’t actually feel like it for me. Home is in the final editing stages, so it’s pretty much done and my nonfiction collection is already a third of the way completed (otherwise, trying to do two full-length books in one year sounds nuts). The shorts are generally under 10,000 words, and doing one every other month seems fairly doable for me (I type really, really quickly. I’ve literally broken keyboards in the past).
A lot of my goals have to do with maintenance as well as actually pushing to get my work out there, the latter of which is really important for writers. If you’ve been thinking about sending out your work to lit mags, DO IT! Poets & Writers has a great database of literary magazines and you should absolutely send your work out. The worst they’ll say is no, but you won’t know until you try. Stephen King’s Carrie was rejected 30 times before someone finally said yes, and now it’s a staple of the horror genre in both the literary and film worlds.
In my next blog, I’m going to discuss how to set realistic goals for your writing, so be sure to check back on Monday!
What are your resolutions for the new year with your writing? Let me know in the comments!
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Emily Regan 
So hi new reader here.
I plan on blogging at least 3 times a week on various subjects.
Write in my bullet journal at least 5 days a week.
And I wanted to try and actually put my work out there. For the experience at the very least. Looking forward to checking back in.
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I think those are awesome goals! And bullet journaling for the win–I’d be completely lost without mine.
I love that you’re going to put your work out there! In a couple weeks, I’m planning a blog post about how and where to submit to literary magazines and publishers, so definitely check back. Thank you so much for reading and commenting!
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