Attention procrastinators!
Do you still need to make some New Year’s resolutions about your writing or illustrating? If so, you’re in luck! Here is a list of 30 resolutions. Choose a few or let the list inspire you to come up with your own. Click the link(s) in each suggestion and you’ll go to a related blog post or website. And if you already have a resolution, check out these suggestions to help you keep your resolutions.

In 2018 I resolve to:
- schedule my time for writing or illustrating
- support another writer or illustrator
- attend a book launch (or 2 or 5 or…)
- host a blog tour (for bloggers)
- write a guest post (for bloggers and non-bloggers)
- buy a new book (or 2 or 3 or 10 or…)
- read books by writers whose backgrounds are different from my own
- review 1 book a month and post my reviews on Goodreads
- go to a conference, and while I’m there, meet another writer or illustrator
- go to an online conference, like The Manuscript Academy or The Picture Book Summit
- join an in-person critique group; join an online critique group, too
- improve my critiquing
- try co-writing
- try plotting (for pantsers) or try pantsing (for plotters)
- try a new genre
- push past my comfort zone, even if I’m already published
- learn about new publishers
- learn about new agents and editors
- query 10 agents/editors (or 20, or 30) and do my homework before querying
- query during a Twitter contest, like #PitMad or #PBPitch or #DVPit, and make my Twitter pitch the best it can be before querying
- learn to use a new writing tool
- identify my book’s audience
- revise a manuscript; REALLY revise it; be BRUTAL about revising it
- polish up my punctuation
- do an online challenge: brainstorm ideas with Storystorm, write picture books with 12X12 read mentor texts with ReFoReMo, write a novel with NaNoWriMo, complete a #100Days project, start the day with #5amWritersClub, or find another challenge to meet my needs
- make a marketing plan for my book, even if it isn’t published yet
- master a new-to-me social media platform, like Twitter or Pinterest or Instagram
- seek inspiration and motivation
- regularly read Publisher’s Lunch, Publisher’s Weekly, and/or Writers’ Digest
- join SCBWI and visit the SCBWI message boards regularly
What’s your New Year’s resolution? Do you have a great resource to help others keep their resolutions? Share in the comments!
With thanks to Laura Fineberg Cooper and Kirsti Call for inspiring this post.
Thanks, Marianne. Here’s to a creative and successful 2018 for us all!
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Great list, Marianne! Thanks for this!
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You’re the best motivator, Marianne. Getting butts in gear is a worthwhile endeavor. Thanks!
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Now we just have to keep our resolutions!
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Working on it right now!
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That’s a great list and they all seem surprisingly doable, some just taking longer than others. Thanks for the inspiration!
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Thank you for the inspiring post. It’s never too late to take on more resolutions, and these are wonderful.
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Hope they help!
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I love this, Marianne! Thanks for giving us a great resource for the new year!
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Mostly what I did was point to existing resources, but a roundup does help sometimes.
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I LOVE this! Thanks, Marianne! 🙂
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Glad you like it!
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A great list. I’ve been inspired to add a few to my own list.
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Glad to be of service! Thanks David
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