Writer Resolutions for 2015

5041051068_88c6ea2f37_zAt the end of 2013, I asked Dead Darlings contributors and Novel Incubator alums to share the best thing they did for themselves in the previous year. In 2014, two contributors published their debut novels, two contributors sold their novels, two contributors won fellowships, some landed agents, and countless others met revision and writing goals. As we bid adieu to this year, I asked them* to share their writing resolutions for 2015 with us. Plus, it’s a good excuse for a gif party.

All of us at Dead Darlings wish you a happy and productive 2015!

Get Submissive

Finish my going-on-four-years-old work in progress, and sub it to agents. — Michael Nolan

Successfully chase at least one of the horses out of the barn with whatever means necessary short of killing them! (There are two in there.) — Belle Brett

Revise and submit the stories gathering dust on my hard drive. — Kelly Ford

Finish and pitch 4th draft of my novel! — Marc Foster

snow white

Is it Drafty in Here?

Finish the damn draft. — Kim Libby

Completing a full draft of my third novel, The Murmurs, a ghost story (and/or freaking myself out completely in writing said ghost story). — Michelle Hoover

Complete a draft of my new novel without getting hopelessly tangled up in plot threads. And to make bad things happen to good people (in my fiction). — Emily Ross

jon snow

Writing, Generally (and Grandly) Speaking

I resolve to write the Great American Novel that I just know is buried deep in my psyche, aching for release into the world of letters, which world is clearly waiting, like a first-time father pacing the hospital room, in excruciating anticipation for its arrival. Short of that, I resolve to write a nice note to my wife. — Rob Wilstein

“Dear Diary” more often. — Patty Park

I went through a deeply personal writing period in 2012, and all of that work – essays, fantasy YA novellas, a pile of scary fiction shorts — I would like to revisit, if only to see how close to the bone it is, and how it could inspire or inform my work now. — Lissa Franz

Sticking with Anne Enright and going with her writing tip #2: “The way to write a book is to actually write a book. A pen is useful, typing is also good. Keep putting words on the page.” — Susan Donovan Bernhard

ron typing

Time to Write

This is boring but…my goal for 2015 is to at least increase the number of hours per week I spend writing. — Kelly Robertson

Find a middle ground between imagination and slogging away. I don’t understand Roethke’s lines, “I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow…I learn by going where I have to go,” but when I think of my writing, these lines keep coming up. — Pat Sollner

Write every day (to include “prewriting”– thinking about structure or knotty problem or balky character or focused research), minimum 20 minutes. Ideal: 5 of 7 days are writing. The other 2 are prewriting. — Lisa Birk

focus

Edits and Revisions and Outlines

My resolution is to finish this revision and take the book to the next level. One foot in front of the other. — Michele Ferrari

Learn to outline a novel before writing said novel. — Stephanie Gayle

Edit, edit, edit, Fa La La, Fa La La, La La La. — Sharissa Jones

fix that

Definite Deadlines

Get a presentable draft of my book done in time for the Muse and the Marketplace in May. — Mark Guerin

Publish Flutter, Volume 2 so we can have another dance party. Not that we need a reason to dance. — Jennie Wood

orphan black

All of the Above

Finish novel #3. Rewrite novel #2. Revise novel #1. Start novel #4. — R.J. Taylor

Absolutely, positively finish the final draft of my YA novel, send out a killer query letter, get an awesome agent and secure a satisfying publishing deal. That’s all! — Bonnie Waltch

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 * I have asked a lot of them over the past couple of years, so I’m grateful that the majority of them still respond.

Image:
Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License   Disco Ball by  JuditK 

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