Looking Backward, Not Forward For Our New Year's Resolutions

Whenever I feel overwhelmed by all my tasks and deadlines, or under-whelmed by my own writing output, I ask myself two questions:

1. When have you faced this dilemma or made this mistake before?

2. What were your takeaways—what did you learn from those past experiences?

So this year, rather than making future-facing New Year’s resolutions (that I never keep anyway), I went through last year’s calendar and milestone events. Then, I deconstructed those events for what they can teach me for 2020.

Here are my 4 big writing lessons from 2019:

1. If it quacks like a duck, it’s usually (well, you know): I’ve made some bloopers in 2019. One was to invest way too much time in projects or prospects that just weren’t worth it. In retrospect, right from the start, the red flags were waving in my face. So why did I shush my own gut-level hunches? Why did I ignore that warning voice inside my own head?

   2020 Note to Self: If it’s pink and it has a curly tail, most of the time, it really is a pig. Or it quacks like a duck. Or whatever. Either way, conserve and use your time and talents wisely.

2. Yes, writers, there is a Santa Claus (or some benevolent gift-giver): Optimism has never been my strongest trait. Actually, even for the most sanguine of us, the 2029 political circus has left many of us oscillating between fear and rage and dread. But amid all the macro mess, at the down-home or local level, great things do happen. In 2019, I had a delightful book launch, followed by other book events attended by thoughtful, kind and engaged readers. I joined two new groups and I got invited to teach some 2020 writing workshops at some really amazing venues. And just this afternoon, at what might be one of Massachusetts’ smallest but liveliest Women’s March 2020, I got to chat and laugh with some inspiring women whom, until today, I had never met before. Better yet, they invited me to join them for lunch and we had a grand old time.

   2020 Note to Self: Try to drop the Eyore (as in Winnie the Pooh) routine. Yes, the world and the news headlines are grim. But leave yourself open to surprise and joy. When you leave the door ajar, joy finds a way of just turning up.

3. Your friends are your friends: Writers need friends. Heck, we all need friends. Good friends let you be you—yes, even when you’re rambling from one topic to the other and even when you’re wrong. Nobody has better friends than me.

   2020 Note to Self: Up your game here. Be the sort of friend that your friends deserve.

4. You do you: The writing world can be a fickle and mercenary place. Trends come and go. Some readers or audiences come with a set of expectations. Event managers hire you expecting a certain brand of performance. But nobody respects a puppet or a poseur—least of all yourself.

   2020 Note to Self: You do you. You like you.

In the comments below, feel free to share your life lessons from 2019 or your 2020 resolutions for writing and life. Or let’s exchange a Year’s greeting on Twitter at @AineGreaney.