New Year’s Writing Resolutions, 2017

68f90ebc-be30-44da-a5ce-aa7952ee0575 — This year proved particularly successful and validating for my writing. Pictured above is my 2016 Gratitude Jar, crammed full of good things–writing-related and otherwise–that happened this year.

In the dawn of 2016, I started a gratitude jar. It worked like this: Whenever something positive happened, I wrote it down, along with the date, on a little slip of paper, folded the paper in half, and dropped it into my gratitude jar. Now that 2016 is in its twilight, it’s almost time to open that jar and read back through the highlights of the last twelve months. By the looks of the jar, crammed to the lid with paper in every shape, size, and color, I had a very good year. I know that’s true for my writing. I started this blog and the corresponding Instagram account. I attended two writing workshops, several evening talks, and one writing conference. I pseudo-joined a critique group (meetings are held while I am at work, so I can only attend in the flesh during school breaks). I saw my writing published in either The Richmond Times-Dispatch or writeHackr Magazine for seven consecutive months. Literary agent Michael Carr commented on one of my blogs posts–little ol’ me! Can you believe it? (You can bet THAT went in my jar.) Elizabeth Gilbert and John Grisham “liked” some of my Instagram posts (that also made it into the jar). I am more than satisfied with and encouraged by 2016’s progress, and I want to keep the momentum going into and through 2017, with the ultimate goal being to find representation for my debut novel, Goodbye For Now, as well as to finish the first draft of the novel I started for NaNoWriMo, tentatively titled The Experiment. With that in mind, here are my Writing Resolutions for 2017.

Write a diary entry at least once a week.

One of my New Year’s Writing Resolutions is to read at least one book on craft each quarter. I am already making good on this one; a few days ago I started reading The Art of Memoir, a Christmas gift from my husband, pictured above.
Compose and publish a blog post at least twice a month (preferably, once a week).
Read at least one book on craft per quarter (I started Mary Karr’s The Art of Memoir earlier this week, and that will no doubt carry me to January, satisfying first quarter).
Submit writing to various publications at least once a month.
Make a concerted effort to find representation for Goodbye For Now.
Research self-publishing in case concerted efforts mentioned above yield little fruit.
Attend conferences, talks, and workshops as schedule allows.
Engage in any combination of these activities to support my writing at least five days a week.