Resolve to be resolute
It’s January 1st, and you know what that means. If you’re into the whole New Year’s resolution thing, it’s time to get on it, get moving, get your butt in gear. Surfing around, I noticed that AuthorHouse, which bills itself as the “leading self-publishing company in the world,” posted a list of resolutions aimed specifically at writers and other lovers of the written word.
Now I tend to dislike the whole resolution thing, as it seems to end more often in broken self-promises than anything. The usual stuff about getting in shape, eating better, saving more, spending more time with family — it’s all noble stuff, but so broad, really, how can people help but not follow through half the time? So I’ve tended to make myself yearly goals (note that I don’t call ‘em resolutions — just that word alone is enough to have me breaking my new vows on January 2nd), with long- and short-term milestones that can break up big things into managable chunks. It’s worked pretty well so far for non-writing stuff over the years. So, I have to give AuthorHouse some credit for putting out this list, even if most of what’s listed is fairly obvious. The trouble for those of us who write professionally is that sometimes we get stuck in such a rut of what we’re supposed to be doing, what kind of writing we usually do, what kinds of books we always read, we forget to really enjoy writing. Maybe it’s time to remember why we made this our career choice, and not take it for granted. So perhaps making a list of writing goals for the year isn’t such a bad idea. Because, much like most married people know you have to work at a relationship every day, writers have to work at writing in almost the same way, less we forget why we’re doing it in the first place. It’s hard work, but in both cases, it’s the best and most rewarding kind.
