Happy Writing New Year! (and setting writing resolutions)

Zoey the Cute Dachshund poses by a 2019 planner, a good place to start planning out writing resolutions for the New Year.

I have a bit of writing guilt, and every year, I try to come up with spectacular, amazing resolutions and a plan to make writing my main goal.

And then I slip up, slip behind and see the goal slip away.

I find, instead, that the other resolutions are easier.

In 2019, I plan to run a faster mile—I’ve already cut off a minute during my last two runs, but that’s because I run slow and with the downtime of the holidays have more energy.

I plan to eat healthier by foregoing samples at the grocery store (where I work weekends) and cookies at home.

And I plan to continue learning how to knit and returning to my hobby of drawing.

As for my main resolution, it’s a longstanding one. Since second grade, I have wanted to be a famous novelist but in 2018 did not work in a way to achieve that. I wrote in other ways. I wrote for work. I wrote a weekly blog. I wrote in my daily journal. I wrote poetry.

But I need to do my real passion type of writing … writing novels. So for 2019, I have a new planner and new plan for an old goal.

Writing Resolutions for 2019

My New Year’s resolution is to make my writing more of a priority, instead of fitting it in when I have time, just like I did last year. I had the same goal for 2018 and blogged about it then, too.

Over the year, I achieved revising one but not two of my novels. I kept up with the daily poem challenge though had a few times of playing catch-up. And I wrote short stories—I wrote three and 10 in 2017, so not an improvement. I also said I’d start drafting a new novel—I didn’t.

For 2019, I’m scaling back my resolutions so that they are achievable and I feel like I can carry them out with accountability. I plan to revise the second novel, keep up with the daily poetry and write six short stories. I also plan to pitch my revised first novel.

What are your writing resolutions for 2019? Do you want to join a writers’ group, write a novel or a few short stories, or participate in NaNoWriMo, a month-long challenge to write 50,000 words during the month of November? Or if writing is something you don’t like to do and would like to try, how about starting with a class or one-day workshop or meeting up with a writing friend to get some tips?

Keeping to a resolution can be difficult, shown by the statistic that only 8 percent of those who make resolutions follow through.

Sticking to Your Resolutions

Here are a few ways to stick to your writing (and other) resolutions:

• Pick a resolution that you want to do, instead of something you think is good for you or everyone else is doing (like writing novels when writing short stories is your preference).
• Pick up to three resolutions instead of a long list that will be difficult to manage or even remember. That way you can focus your efforts on what you really want to accomplish.
• Write down your resolutions and place them in a prominent place, such as on your desk or the fridge. Visualize how you will carry out these goals.
• Break the goals into smaller steps that can be accomplished each week or month. If writing is one of your goals, start out with 500 words or a half-hour and build from there.
• Be specific, such as planning to write two days a week for one hour each time, or to write 2,000 words three times a week.
• Figure out your most productive time of day to work and fit your goal into that timeframe, even if it is for a half-hour. A lot can be accomplished accumulatively.
• Check in every so often to make sure you’re meeting your goals and ask if any adjustments need to be made.

As you work on your resolutions, reward yourself as your efforts lead toward results that are tangible and measurable. Writing consistently week after week takes some adjustment, motivation and discipline. But then it will become habit and easier for 2020!

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Merry Christmas (and Happy Birthday to Zoey!)

Zoey the Cute Dachshund opens her presents during Christmas 2017, while wearing her special Christmas shirt.

Five days before Christmas, Zoey, a dachshund with attitude and cuteness, turned 10. I got her at nine weeks, so we’ve been together 9 years and 10 months.

This year, I gave her two rawhide treats, one in the morning while I worked from home and the second in the evening. I save the presents for Christmas Day, when I wrap up some treats, a new toy and a few of her old doggie bears and other toys in tissue paper, and she rips it all up to see what’s inside. She even goes for the plastic, wanting to get to something to eat.

Favorite Christmas Story

What’s your favorite Christmas story? My brother said his in-laws have a tradition of writing down their most meaningful memory of the year and sharing it over dinner, and then his mother-in-law puts the memories in a book.

Mine is going to my mother’s assisted living place and seeing all the decorations from mini-trees on the tables to walls covered with cutout stockings and reindeer, plus the changing lights on the Christmas tree in the foyer. When I was a child, my family and I used to open up stocking gifts on Christmas Eve and presents under the tree on Christmas Day. The stockings were lined up in a row on the coffee table, and the tree had gifted and handmade ornaments from elementary and middle school.

How to Celebrate

Now, my brother, his wife and I visit my father for a weekend around his birthday, which is on Dec. 11, to celebrate both it and Christmas. We go see the Christmas lights in his small eastern Colorado town, taking 20 minutes to cover the entire town limits. On Christmas Day, my mother, my brother, his wife and I mainly trade gift cards and an occasional present. After eating the noon meal, we talk for a bit and then engage in gift giving. Zoey gets her gifts last, and we laugh as she hurriedly bites off the tissue paper, wiggling her tail at the attention,

Here are a few photos of my family holiday traditions, with a lot of the focus on cute Zoey. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays and happy however you cherish your traditions. Happy New 2019!

Shelley Widhalm of Shell’s Ink Services opens a gift from her family during Christmas 2017.

Sisters-in-law Kim Widhalm, left, and Shelley Widhalm post after opening presents during Christmas 2017.

Zoey gets busy chewing her rawhide after opening her presents during Christmas 2017.

Keeping up with Blogging During the Holidays

Blogging during the holidays is like giving your pet a bunch of presents—readers like to open up your blogs and see what you have to say at all times of the year.

Writing a blog, even during busy holiday times, can be a cheerful enterprise.

Blogging can fit in with holiday lights and letters, holiday get-togethers and fancy holiday parties. Blogging weekly, every other week or monthly is a commitment, and the holidays should be a way to celebrate the desire to blog—even if parties and good food offer the bigger draw.

You can do both—write quickly and efficiently (or hire someone else to be your ghostwriter/ghost blogger) and still have time for the other fun.

Your readers look to your blog and expect to see what you write at all times of the year—even at Thanksgiving and Christmas, Hanukah and any of the other holidays. That’s because blogging is a way to build your expertise. It’s a way to spread your thoughts, ideas, opinions and knowledge. And it’s a way to promote your project, event, company, service or favorite topics.

Blogging Basics

Here are a few “rules,” or things to keep in mind about blogging:

• Blogs should follow a schedule to keep up the interest. Weekly is best, but monthly is OK. Inconsistent blogging causes you to lose readers and get lower rankings from the search engines. Blogging on a regular basis is a way to give updates and provide new material, provide fresh content and get higher rankings.
• Blogs can vary in length. Blogs are considered short at 300 to 500 words and optimal or medium length at 500 to 700 words. Blogs that are 1,000 words or more are considered long or article length.
• Blogs should have short paragraphs—usually one to three sentences—with lots of bullet points and subheads within the content.
• Blogs should have original content targeted to a specific audience with new, updated and engaging material.
• Blogs do best when they follow a theme and focus on a topic or set of topics to keep up the interest.

Make Blogging Fun

How do you make “the rules of blogging” fun? Think of it as work with a reward. Literally, do the writing and then go to the party, knowing the work is done. Acknowledge the accomplishment, tracking it on a spreadsheet or a check-off list. Make it part of your routine.

Break it up into smaller tasks. Write for a few minutes and then set it aside to make it feel like less work. Write about something that interests you or find an angle that is interesting within the subject that may not be as compelling.

And, best of all, create a blogging editorial calendar with a weekly, bimonthly or monthly plan to identify what you covered and would like to cover. Do this for next year, turning your holiday cheer into a New Year’s resolution. Happy Blogging in 2019!

Keeping on Task with Writing During the Holidays

Shelley Widhalm of Shell’s Ink Services holds up one of her gifts during Christmas 2017, celebrated at a local Starbucks with her family, after spending an hour that morning at another coffee shop doing some writing.

The holidays are about fancy parties, good food and fun get-togethers, but they also can be about writing and keeping up that routine.

Each year, I have to make a conscious effort to fit in writing on my holiday to-do list. Beside my usual work and life activities, I need to set aside time for writing my annual Christmas letter and shopping for presents, along with extra holiday socializing. With a busier calendar, I still need to retain focus on my main goal, which is writing. Without that focus, along with some discipline and a plan, the additional activities can become a distraction.

That’s why setting a routine, especially during a busy time of the year, is extra important.

Writing Routines

Here are a few ways to be disciplined in writing no matter the time of year:

• Buy a planner or use a phone app for 2019 and schedule specific writing days.
• Write daily, or at least a couple of times a week, selecting a specific time or place to write, i.e. keep writing office hours.
• Clock in the hours you write, both for accountability and to acknowledge what you have accomplished and add up the hours every week or month and compare them over time.
• Write for five or 10 minutes in between other activities, using a notebook that you always have with you. Those minutes will add up.
• Write a writing action plan with goals for the year and check in every few weeks to mark your progress.
• Take a writer’s retreat, even if it’s in your hometown, setting aside a weekend to focus on writing (maybe as a reward for surviving the holidays or just before everything gets busy).

Writing Results

Once writing is routine and you mark your progress toward your goals, you can see how you are reaching those accomplishments, while also being able to engage in holiday fun.

Over the course of a year, I like to calculate how many hours I spent on writing my novels, writing poetry and revising my work, along with the time I dedicated to writing each month. I can tell when I’ve gotten distracted and for how long, not putting in those important hours and minutes that can add up to a significant amount, especially in a year’s time.

This holiday, I plan to stay on track and keep to my original goal of writing at least two times a week and fitting in writing whenever I can. That way I can get in more writing for my year-end tally!