Okay, show of hands: Who is plotting new year’s resolutions? Who has started strong in the past and fizzled before February? How about working on developing a few key writing and blogging resolutions you will actually want to keep?
If you have tired of the same old “new year, new you” superficial goals usually floating around every January, you will appreciate these ideas for writing and blogging resolutions you’ll want to keep working on well into the new year. These realistic and do-able plans will keep you motivated to write and blog your way to next new year’s eve.
It’s been a weird year {understatement}. To me 2020 progressed much the way deployments do. When Dear Hubby is deployed, somehow it simultaneously feels like he just left yesterday and he’s been gone 100 years. Then once he’s back, it’s like it never happened.
Even though 2021 may end up looking very much the same {at least the beginning of it} I feel oddly drawn to the idea of new possibilities. Maybe you do, too. Let’s look at some writing and blogging resolutions you’ll want to keep as we head into the unknown together.
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Practice the Self-Care YOU Need
Taking care of yourself should be something that comes naturally, not yet another task on your to do’s. However, we can easily be fooled into thinking that “self-care” means a checklist of planned activities and elaborate ideas you need to carve out special time for.
When you truly practice self-care, it integrates seamlessly into your daily existence. Drinking enough water, getting sufficient sleep, focusing on fitness, and establishing a workable routine will provide a basic foundation. From there consider your individual needs for balancing stimulating activities with relaxing ones.
Many writers tend to be introverts, and many introverts tend to put themselves on the bottom of the agenda. Commit now to not letting that happen for another year. Take some time to figure out your specific needs and make plans to carry out the self-care YOU need {not anyone else} going forward.
{For more specific ideas on what you can do to make caring for your own needs a priority, check out Self-Care for Writers and Other Introverts.}
Organize Your Writing Life
Despite what some “creative” types may claim, no one can work efficiently amid chaos. The new year is the perfect time to let go of the clutter and update your {virtual} space.
You may want to begin by assessing your own blog. If it has been a while since you updated your theme and reviewed your posts, sidebars, and overall look, you should start with a good spring cleaning to get everything looking spiffy.
Of course, there’s no time like the new year for a complete digital decluttering of your online life. This can include everything from sorting photos and deleting unnecessary e-mails to narrowing down what blogs you follow.
One area where everyone could likely use a bit of tidying is social media. This does not mean walking away from it completely, although that is an option if you feel doing so would benefit you. It may just be simply evaluating the different platforms and determining whether the advantages of connection still outweigh the investment.
Take a Chance on Something New
When I decided to re-boot this blog in June 2020, I made a conscious decision to limit the number of topics I would tackle. I primarily focused on three things:
- sharing tips and resources for secular homeschooling;
- connecting with fellow atheists/agnostics/nones; and
- exploring my love of writing as a creative outlet and means of self-care.
I wanted to choose just a few categories I felt I know enough about to put together longer, more thoughtful pieces. My previous blogging attempts had been filled with lots of angst and short pithy posts that didn’t resonate with many people. This go around I wanted to build more of a foundation—to concentrate on limited themes I could get more in-depth with.
However, now that I am feeling more comfortable in the space I have created, I want to expand just a little. I’m not exactly sure what this will look like just yet.
In the past I’ve done more detailed book reviews; written about places we’ve traveled; and shared tips on staying organized, preparing to move, and keeping up with self-care. Any or all of these may make a return in the new year.
You may have a very niche-specific writing plan for your blog. Perhaps your writing and blogging resolutions won’t be able to support branching out to new types of posts. But it’s definitely worth looking at where you are now and how you can build on your current writing to offer your readers even more reasons to keep coming back.
Write Without Fear
You may have heard the advice, write what you know. I would alter that slightly to say, write what you know and what you are passionate about. If you don’t have strong feels about your blog topics, readers won’t either.
Sometimes writing about certain issues generates controversy I’d rather not deal with, so I avoid writing about those issues due to my disdain for confrontation. I feel this fear is holding me back, and the same fear may be holding you back as well.
One of my writing and blogging resolutions for 2021 will be to let go of the notion that I need to be nice all the time and only write happy, positive posts that most people agree with.
Not that I would intentionally be unkind or mean, but more that I need to release myself from this insane idea that having strong opinions is something to be self-conscious about.
A hard truth to accept is that there will always be people out there who will misinterpret you like it’s their job. There will always be someone who thinks they know you better than you know yourself, or who will attempt to convince you that your feelings aren’t justified, or who will disagree with you for the sake of disagreeing. You aren’t writing for them. Stay focused on providing quality insights and forming connections and the time you spend writing and sharing will be well worth it.
What writing and blogging resolutions will you be working on this year? I would love to hear about any specific ideas you have in the comments. ❤️
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