I haven’t made a New Year’s Resolution since I was in college, because they’ve always struck me as a bit like lines drawn deeply in the sand: bold and dramatic and exciting. That is, until the tide comes in and washes them away.
I see plenty of writers online resolving to write more, or faster, or stop procrastinating, or finally start the book/essay/play/memoir they’ve always wanted to write.
But I don’t need New Year’s Resolutions to motivate me because New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day aren’t any different from any other days in my writing year. Well, except for the champagne that evening and at brunch the next day, which might either slow me down a bit, or conversely give me some fresh ideas.
I don’t need a resolution of any kind because I’m always writing: in my head, on Post-it notes, envelopes, in the back of books, on legal pads, on my PC or tablet.
Dec. 31 and January 1 have sometimes been due dates on book contracts, but other than that, they’re no different than other writing days. My head is typically as jammed with ideas 24/7 as O’Hare is filled at Thanksgiving time with holiday passengers waiting for their flights to be called.
I’m currently working on four different books: a memoir, a historical novel, a vampyre novella, and a new Nick Hoffman mystery set in the wilds of academia. When I hit a roadblock in one of them, or just feel uninspired, I switch to another. That was advice I got from my writing mentor in college and it’s helped me through my career. So you could say that years ago, before my first of twenty-five books came out, I resolved to keep writing no matter what happened to me as a writer, no matter how long it took to make a name for myself.
But New Year’s had nothing to do with it.
I’ve watched friends make resolutions and fail to keep them—like the swarms of people who crowd my health club right after January 1 every year and slowly drift away over the next month.
Me, I just keep going, week after week. And don’t feel guilty when I skip a week because I’m usually writing up a storm and don’t want to leave home and break the spell.
Lev Raphael is the author of Writer’s Block is Bunk and twenty-four other books in genres from memoir to mystery.