A writer’s resolutions

Published by Patrice Sarath on

In general a writer needs only one New Year’s resolution:

Sit down and write on a regular schedule.

Ah, were it that easy…

Here are a few others. A lot are for short story writers, since most of us start out that way before moving on to novels.

I WILL:

Finish X number of short stories for the year.

Send out at least one story a month. Or, keep stories in circulation.

Research Ralan or other market lists for new markets.

 Find and join a critique group, whether that is online such as Critters or the Baen’s Bar one, or local.

Write X number of words a day. Jim Van Pelt, short story writer extraordinaire, says that if you write 250 words per day, at the end of the year you will have a novel. And everyone can write 250 words per day. Really. You totally can. Try it. You’ll see. This also leads into the next resolution:

Give myself permission to suck.

And the most important resolution of all:

Uninstall freecell from my computer.

You might also enjoy reading:

  1. Writers block Writers block — I have it. At first I wasn’t too worried. I finished a novel earlier this year, and created a screenplay from a short story, and then last month wrote two short stories...
  2. Can writing be taught? The summer fiction issue of the New Yorker addresses the subject of writers workshops in an article by Louis Menand. The article covers the famous creative writing programs — Iowa, Brown, others — and asks...
  3. Building an anthology- best short stories of the 20th century On a forum I hang out on, we’re building an anthology of the best short stories of the 20th century. All genres, all eras. Take a gander and join in (if you aren’t already a...
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