Kimmery’s 2018 Writing Resolution Checklist

I typically don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, on the theory that I’m more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants girl (a pantser, as we dorks say in writing parlance). However, I’ve been assigned the topic of resolutions so I’d better acquire some, stat. In the interest of making other writers feel better

about themselves, I’m going to be brutally honest.

Writing:

Ideal: Finish Novel-In-Progress.

Achievable: Finish current chapter.

Keeping It Real: Finish tweet about current chapter.

Social Media:

Ideal: Recreate visually stunning Bookstagram picture of beautiful book cover, coffee cup, fur throw, and shapely legs in fuzzy socks.

Achievable: Snap photo of coffee cup, book cover, slightly pilled sweater in place of fur throw, and leg which appears giant owing to perspective error.

Keeping It Real: Inadvertently post blurry photo of unshaven winter-mode leg with no obvious book cover in sight.

Work Habits:

Ideal: Turn off internet access during writing time.

Achievable: Check internet once an hour for purposes of mental break.

Keeping It Real: Check internet every five minutes to see what godawful thing the politicians have done now, craft impassioned Twitter response, post, reconsider, delete post, and call best friend.

Goodreads:

Ideal: Stop reading Goodreads reviews of own book.

Achievable: Read only the Goodreads reviews of own book that have been hater-filtered by sister.

Keeping It Real: Finish typing current paragraph before checking to see if any new reviews have been posted on Goodreads.

Interviews, online:

Ideal: Finish writing answers to blogger interviews in timely fashion.

Achievable: Start writing answers to blogger interviews a few days before due.

Keeping It Real: Stay up until 1:00am frantically writing because blogger interviews due tomorrow.

Interviews, in-person:

Ideal: Prepare for in-person interviews by reminding self of well-crafted talking points.

Achievable: Prepare for in-person interviews by reminding self of name and genre of own book.

Keeping It Real: Prepare for interview by reminding self not to blurt out curse words after forgetting name of own book.