Hallmarker Mia Mercado is a fantastic editor and hilarious writer. She also knows what’s what when it comes to making good creative goals. Her list of New Year’s resolutions for writers can easily be applied to other artistic pursuits, so read on, people!
- Write More
Write out everything. Even the stuff you know is bad. Especially the stuff you know is bad. Get the garbage writing out of your system so the good stuff can find its way to the surface. Like a nice hat, thrown away accidentally, that floats to the top of the dumpster juice.
- Read More
It’s a thing. It makes you a better writer or something. There are studies on this. Or articles. Or listicles. I don’t know. I haven’t read them yet. That’s for 2015.
- Lose Weight
Calm down, it’s a metaphor to self-edit. We could all use a little South Beach for our syllables, Crossfit for our consonants, Pilates for our paragraphs. Be your words’ personal trainer. Yell at them to work harder and do more reps and recognize it may be a little excessive to have five alliterative ways to say “work out your words.” Tae-Bo your transitional statements. Okay, I’m done.
- Eat Healthier
This one isn’t a metaphor. Cool it with the caffeine. Twizzlers aren’t breakfast. This resolution is mostly for me.
- No, Seriously, Write More
In the words of the Greek goddess Nike, “Just do it.”
- Keep a Journal
If for no other reason than to write how dumb you think having a journal is every day. Then, at the end of the year, you have 365 days worth of you talking about how dumb you think journals are, and I think that counts as performance art. Yay!
- Keep a Dream Journal
This is different than a regular journal because your dream self is basically doing all the work for you. You just have to write down the shenanigans Dream You gets into. Last night, Dream Mia found a baby elephant in her bathroom. Cue shenanigans!
- Set Daily/Weekly/Monthly Word-Related Goals
Maybe you want to write 500 words every night. Maybe you want to read a new book a month. Maybe you want to learn a new word every day. Maybe you want to stop setting goals that make me feel inferior and like I’m doing my goals wrong.
- Know When To Not Use a Hashtag
This is less a resolution and more a PSA.
- Try New Things
New experiences are a great way to give you new ideas. This is not rocket science. It’s kind of just basic math. New Experiences = New Ideas = Profit.
Trying new things is also just good for you as a living, breathing human person.
- Call Your Parents More
Also just good for you as a human person.
- Stop Reading Lists of New Year’s Resolutions and Go Write