Guest Author - Michelle Anne Cope

It's Easy to Make a List - Sort Of

It’s important to have deadlines, goals, plans, ideas, and dreams when you are a writer. Such a list can be the plot of your writing life and schedule. Tell me though, as much as you love to write, when it comes to penning a list of your future goals and dreams do you suddenly get writer’s block?

I used to be that way. If I had to do a self-analysis I would say that it was a commitment issue. I was scared that if I wrote my resolutions down, I would have to do them and that would mean I was a writer. Then, I would expect myself to keep writing. I was also scared that if I wrote them down, and didn’t do them, I would have failed. I wouldn't be a writer, and I wouldn't expect myself to write. Ah, the fragile self-esteem of a writer.

Does that at all sound familiar? Break that pen! Take that paper by the edges and shake all of your fears and insecurities away. Make that list, promise yourself to do the best you can with each item, and agree with yourself that you will not beat yourself up over anything missed or left undone.

There is a secret to lists of resolutions of any type. It’s YOUR list, they are YOUR resolutions and you are allowed to change them throughout the year, as well as add and/or subtract items. The point of creating a writing resolutions list is making yourself take a critical look at your writing life. What, where, when and how do you want to write.

A Little Help
If you are drawing a blank for your own list, here are some brief ideas.

*Finding More Writing Time
*Researching the Market
*Trying a New Style
*Trying a New Genre
*Submitting
*Reading
*Writing More Than Ever Before
*Finding Your Own Writing Space
*Revising the Stories and Articles in the Drawer
*Starting an Idea File
*Researching Conferences
*Researching Authors

Read, Write, and Be Yourself!
Chel

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Chel's Writing Resolutions for 2008

1. Develop 1 character for a series.

2. Study and learn the submission process.

3. Study and learn 1 market guide.

4. Write at least 9 fiction stories.

5. Write at least 9 nonfiction articles.

6. Submit at least 3 fiction stories.

7. Submit at least 3 nonfiction stories.

8. Attend at least 1 writer's conference.

9. Research 5 authors I read and admire. Contact if possible.

10. Read, read, and read some more!

11. Write an article about completing each of the above.