I threw together my end of year 2020 publications at the urging of a good friend—but to be perfectly blunt I wasn't going to. This has been 2020. (That should be a verb, right?)
Anyway, I thought about what I wanted. Or, more to the point, what goal should I strive for that’s within my means to accomplish next year, and what’s within my control.
A lot of my specific career goals aren’t up to me. I can do ALL THE THINGSTM to nudge potential outcomes, but that doesn’t mean they are guaranteed to happen.
That’s the nature of publishing: dealing with the unknowns while plowing ahead anyway.
So, what would make sense for a reasonable New Year’s Resolution? While challenging me to do something I typically don’t?
The answer I came up with is: write every day for myself.
“Write every day” is often touted as a way to learn and enforce the discipline required to stay on task. At the same time, write every day is not always a realistic goal for a variety of reasons ranging from mental health to issues surrounding privilege. If it works for you? Great. If it doesn’t? That’s fine too.
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with write every day. I don’t believe it’s a methodology that works for everyone and I don’t think it should be a mandate. In the past, allowing a work to breathe and taking a mental break from writing has been more beneficial than forcing me to plow right through. I’m the type of writer that needs the brainspace to work through problems before I write them down; I rarely discover those issues on the page itself.
But those times? That’s “before”. This year, I hyperfocused on managing my To Do list while figure out how best to keep things simple. Because of that work, I feel like this goal is achievable or at least worth a shot.
I wasn’t kidding when I said I have no idea what’s in store for me in 2021.
That’s why I am adding the “for myself” bit to the “write every day” resolution. Because if I’m going to write for someone, it might as well be me. :-)
What is your New Year’s Resolution? Do you have one? Why or why not?
I look forward to seeing what you come up with in the coming year.