4 New Year’s resolutions for writers that actually work
(and 4 that don’t)
Feel like you always fail to make an inch of progress on your New Year’s resolutions? You’re probably setting terrible goals.
Don’t take it personally — we all do it.
We fail when we set lofty goals like “write a book,” because they’re not actionable or achievable in any way we can wrap our heads around.
SMART goals are an eye roll–inducing cliche at this point, but the framework persists because it’s, um, smart. Its memorable criteria lets you gut check your goals to make sure you know what to do to get them done. Check your New Year’s resolutions for these qualities:
Specific: Make it actionable. Use verbs to name the exact action you’ll take.
Measurable: Include numbers and deadlines to create goalposts you can aim for.
Achievable: Make it reasonable — you can even start easy. Set yourself up for success.
Relevant: Name how it supports something that’s important to you.
Timely: Schedule it, so you know when to show up.
Since their inception, SMART goals have been picked up and mutated in different hands, so you might know different definitions. I like this one. Do what works for you — as long as you stop setting terrible goals, you’re on the right track.
4 New Year’s resolutions for writers that actually work
1. Write
It’s obvious, but setting this goal is important. Setting the goal helps trigger the behavior, guide your path and sustain momentum, says Jeff Boss at Forbes. It’s how you’ll form or strengthen your writing habit.
✅ What works: “Write 10 minutes/day.”
🚫 What doesn’t work: “Write more consistently.”
Set a time and place to write — it could be daily, weekly, monthly, whatever works for you. Aim for an achievable duration that’ll kick your writing up a notch. If you already write consistently, dedicate this time to a specific type of writing you want to improve, like short stories or copywriting.
2. Read
Reading — specifically, reading books — builds a rolodex of writing styles, story formats, life lessons, learning methods, information sources, thought leaders and so much more you can call on to strengthen yourself personally and professionally.
✅ What works: “Read one fiction and one non-fiction book per month.”
🚫 What doesn’t work: “Read more.”
Choose a number and type of books that are achievable and relevant for you. I like per-week, per-month or per-quarter goals, instead of a goal like “read 24 books this year,” because you have to take immediate action, and you can celebrate wins throughout the year.
3. Learn
When you work for yourself, no company is there to offer a smorgasbord of learning opportunities. We have to take control of our professional development as writers, artists, freelancers and business owners.
✅ What works: “Complete one creative writing course and one freelancing business course this year.”
🚫 What doesn’t work: “Become a better fiction writer.”
Get specific about what you want to learn and the best way to learn it, and name that method in your goal. Just naming the skill you want to improve isn’t a goal — there’s no action in there. You also have nothing to measure, because “better” is totally subjective.
💡 More ways to learn:
Subscribe to newsletters.
Listen to podcasts.
Work with a coach.
Join a community of writers.
4. Practice
Where your first goal was about building a writing habit, this one is about what you want to produce. Set a goal for how you’ll put your writing skills to use by creating things like a blog, novel, newsletter or freelance work.
✅ What works: “Write and publish one blog post per week.”
🚫 What doesn’t work: “Grow my blog.”
Use action words to include how you’ll create what you want to create. Your goals should tell you exactly what you need to do and how often. Leave it too broad, and it could take you in a million directions — which usually means you won’t take a step in any direction.
💡 More examples of practice:
Pitch three story ideas per week to paying publications.
Email one prospective client per month.
Send one newsletter to my subscribers every other week.
Submit a short story per month to a writing contest.
Write a draft of one chapter of a book project per week.
Further reading
🧡 How to Declutter Your Writing Ideas and Finish More Projects (The Write Life): Not sure which projects to focus on this year? You can’t write everything you’ve ever thought of. In this post, I explain how to vet and prioritize half-baked ideas and half-finished projects.
💚 Five Ways to Make Changes that Stick (Dr. Chatterjee): Dr. Ranjan Chatterjee is your guy if you have trouble sticking to any changes you want to make in life. His first tip? After my own heart — “start easy.”
💜Goal Setting: A Scientific Guide to Setting and Achieving Goals (James Clear): There’s so much to take in here. It’s all great, but I recommend jumping to the section “How to Set Goals You’ll Actually Follow” to guide your New Year’s resolution design.
💙Progress, Not Perfection: A Mantra to Get Sh*t Done (Marie Forleo): Even worse for progress than terrible goals? Perfectionism. You’re reading a newsletter about grammar and punctuation, so I know you’ve been bitten by that bug. Here are five strategies from (my client) Marie Forleo to stop it and get moving forward.
💛 How to Start Writing a Book When You're Busy With, You Know, Life (How to Write): Check out this post at my blog for a step-by-step guide to make room in your life for any writing project.