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January 1, 2015

A Writer's Resolutions


By Lily Mastron



I love making lists, so I put quite a bit of effort into my New Year's resolutions. Lists are my thing. I love the satisfaction of crossing goals off one at a time. I may not make all my goals, but at the end of the year I can look back and see how far I've come. 

Resolutions don't have to be complicated lists of "pie in the sky" ideas. Nothing has to be earth-shattering about them. The key really is to keep it simple. Those outrageous tasks look great on paper until you actually try to tackle them. A long and difficult list tends to make people overwhelmed. It does not make for a productive year. 

I like to organize my New Year's resolutions so that all my little resolutions add up to a larger picture. This allows you to accomplish a large task, but you don't really notice until you've already finished. 

Consider making a goal of writing just 15 minutes everyday. Each day add to the writing of the day before, and in two weeks, you'll have a short story! This is so much less overwhelming than staring at the paper thinking, "I have to write a whole short story today."

Once you have the short story, keep adding each day. Take your characters on an adventure. Send them to another country. Make them fall in love. The most important thing is to keep writing and exercising that portion of your brain. By the end of the year, you could have a full novel, maybe even a series of novels.

When making writer's resolutions, remember to keep it simple. Start by writing a few minutes at a time, and keep adding to the plot. Eventually, the writing will add up to a bigger picture resolution, without leaving you overwhelmed and frustrated.

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