New Year, New Writing Projects!

Hello, it’s Nanda from Coriolis.

How did you spend the first 7 days of the new year? Did you get any writing done? Or reading?

At Coriolis, we took stock of the past year and made a highlight video of the best of 2019. You can watch it here.

Our resolution as a company for 2020 is to continue working with authors, publishers, and literary organizations that inspire us, and to keep getting the word out about them.

And our word of the year is “collaboration.” Coriolis will collaborate with a number of other organizations to help our clients.

What is your word of the year? Do you have any resolutions?

We have entered a new decade and a lot of writers feel energized and ready to start new projects. That’s wonderful! But it’s not easy to see those projects through. Planning and committing to your goals are the keys to success as a writer. So I wanted to share a few tips about New Years Resolutions worth making versus those that aren’t worth it. Let’s take a look at the good, bad, and ugly…

The good:

“I will write at least 2/5/10/15 hours a week.” Only you know how much time you can dedicate to your writing. Aim at a realistic goal that you could exceed on a good day, not one that could lead to disappointment. Then divide these hours according to your schedule.

The bad:

“I will write 500 words a day.” This may seem like a small and manageable goal, but it’s hard to stick to writing every day, and if you skip a day or two, it can feel like a failure. Focusing on time and effort as opposed to outcome is more helpful.

The ugly:

“I will write 2,500 words a day” (or any word count that would make a NaNoWriMo winner jealous). This is one instance where setting the bar lower is a good idea.

Measure your effort, the time you put into your writing, not the result, such as word count. And be flexible.

The good:

“I will do one thing a day to promote my book and to maximize my sales.” This is a great goal and specific enough to meet. You could do any activity—tweet about the book, Bookstagram, call a bookstore, email a blogger, send out a review copy, and so on—and fulfill this daily task. As an author, you do want to work on your book marketing and publicity every day.

The bad:

“I will sell 5,000 copies of my book.” The number of sales is mostly outside of your control. Remember, focus on what you can do.

The ugly:

“I will make my book a New York Times Bestseller.” This is the equivalent of “I will be on the US Olympic gymnastics team.” Need I say more?

The good:

“I will read at least one book a month.” This is a reasonable goal and your odds of meeting and exceeding it are high. It will also fuel your writing. I believe all writers should set a reading goal.

The bad:

“I will read a book a day.” Do you really have time to do that? If so, I envy you… Still, there’s no shame in setting a smaller goal and then surpassing it. Build in a little cushion for those days when you’d like to watch a movie, or go to a museum, or just relax some other way.

The ugly:

“I will read more in 2020.” This isn’t specific enough to measure. Attaching a number to your reading goal will help you track it. Some go as far as determining the number of pages they will read in a year. Do what suits you but be kind to yourself. Achievable is the keyword here.