The Writer’s Resolution Guide 2024
Sage Kay
Writer, reader, outfit repeater.
Many take the new year as an opportunity to make changes in their life. As a writer, you might see the new year as an opportunity to up your writing game, but you’re not sure where to start. Let me take some of that pressure off your shoulders with this writer’s resolution guide for the new year!
Types of writer resolutions
There are many steps to the writing process, so there’s plenty of room for you to make changes to yours, however big or small. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few broad resolution types:
1. Organizing projects
With so many ideas swirling in your mind for short stories, exciting plot points, new books, fun descriptions, and much more, you might have trouble keeping track. Where did you jot down that super important fix to a plot hole, again? The new year is a great time to plant yourself in front of that computer and take the time to organize things in a way that works best for you. Whether it’s Google Drive or NovelPad with its $ intuitive organization tools$ , experiment with different ways to keep all your info clearly labeled and in its proper place.
2. Outlining
Maybe this past year you found that as much as you want to be a pantser, you can’t function without an outline (for some of us, this "revelation" happens every year). That’s okay! This just means you’re learning more about your own writing process. This new year, experiment with different ways to outline your novel. Whether you only need broad story beats to keep yourself in check or step-by-step outlines, see what works for you.
3. Drafting
If you found yourself getting stuck in your drafting process throughout the year, maybe it’s time to try out some new strategies. You could set small word count goals, make it a rule that you’re not allowed to edit while in drafting mode, or find a set time to draft every day. Experiment with writing sprints or the $ Snowflake Method$ . You never know what could break that block in your mind and get the words flowing.
4. Editing
Editing can be tedious and exhausting, especially as you trek through the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and eventually, millionth draft. If you’re absolutely sick of editing your own writing, ask your most generous writer friend to help or even hire an editor. Or, maybe editing on a computer is getting stale. Try printing out your project and marking it up with a red pen. Take yourself back to those not-at-all stressful college days.
5. Researching
How often do you find yourself halting a writing session with a quick Google search? While some queries tend to pop up while writing, try doing your research before getting into the writing mode so you don’t have to derail your own train of thought with "how many multivitamins can you take before you die" (totally plot-relevant and important). Especially when writing historical and contemporary fiction, smooth out all the geographical, meteorological, and architectural details before sitting down to draft.
If these broader ideas for writer resolutions aren’t tickling your fancy, here are some more specific ways you can prepare for the new year.
How to prep for the new year as a writer
The new year is fast approaching, so if you’re ready to make some changes, try one of these writer’s resolutions!
1. Update your writing environment
Tired of drafting in that same dark corner of your room in an uncomfortable chair? Time to update your writing center aesthetic game. Try decorating your writing corner with pictures, new pens and pencils, inspirational writing quotes, or just little things that make you happy. Get a brand new journal to jot down ideas (and doodle in between writing) and multicolored post-its to brighten up your desk. Whatever pops in your mind when you think of your dream writing corner, try to replicate it as best you can, so that when you do sit down to write, that warm corner of your room is waiting with open arms.
2. Take inventory of your projects
If you took the time to organize your projects, take a look at what you want to focus on for the new year—projects you want to continue working on, stories to move to the back burner, or ideas that need to be scrapped. Make a list of projects you want to prioritize so you don’t have to stress about where to start when the year begins.
3. Determine your writing goals
$ Setting writing goals$ is a great way to keep yourself accountable. Consider daily or monthly word count goals and/or what steps in the writing process you want completed for certain projects. If you organize your projects by where you’d like them to be by a certain time—fully outlined, edited, or drafted—you can distribute your time more effectively. You can even set aside specific days for outlining/drafting or alternate weeks with different projects. And remember, your own personal goals can be as small as you want them to be!
4. Research your goals
If you’re coming up on the end of drafting a novel or short story, you may be asking yourself "what’s next?" Take some time to research the next steps of the writing process. Whether it’s seeking out $ literary agents$ , $ book querying$ , or $ self-publishing$ , there is still much to be done even after finishing your project (hate to break it to you). And if you’re a new writer looking to get your feet wet with a few $ short story publications$ , there are plenty of online literary art magazines accepting submissions and short story contests to enter your stories in!
5. Look for new writing communities
While writing generally happens alone in your room with Taylor Swift on blast, there’s no reason you need to isolate yourself from society to be a writer. Connecting with writers is a great way to get inspired, be held accountable, and take a break from that WIP that’s giving you grief. There are tons (and I truly mean tons) of writing communities—all it takes is you joining the conversations! NovelPad has an active $ writing community on Discord$ where writers discuss their projects, goals, and favorite things about NovelPad. NaNoWriMo’s community is huge, and they run events all year long. Just pick a community and dive in!
6. Try a new writing software to boost productivity
If you’re looking to truly revamp your writing process, maybe it’s time to try a new writing software that’s designed to be a one-stop shop for every step of the process. With $ NovelPad$ , you can plan every aspect of your book directly within the site. You can detail, organize, and reorganize chapters, keep track of your cast of characters, plan your plots and subplots, and track your word count goals. It includes, conveniently, tools for most of the resolutions above and more.
7. Revamp your process
There are tons of tiny changes we can make to our schedule and writing process that can make us more productive, effective, and happy with our work. A great way to start making these small changes is to observe your behavior. Be sure to notice how, where, and when you write, observing the different in quality and mood under those different circumstances.
You can also check out this list of $ ten proven tips to boost your daily productivity$ and see if any of those solutions can strengthen your writing routine!
With the new year, it’s time for a blank slate. Whatever writing slump you just crawled out of or bout of writer’s block you had, it’s all in the past. Happy New Year, and happy writing!
$ Try out NovelPad for free,$ no credit card required, and see if it's the solution for your writing goals.
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