Since this is the first day of 2018, I thought it would behoove me to write down my New Year’s resolutions as a writer and see how close I can come to transforming thoughts into actions as time goes on.
As I look around my office, I realize that I live in an environment of organized chaos. Stacks of papers are everywhere, along with newspaper clippings and copies of magazines in which my articles have appeared. There are also boxes of files, many of which I no longer need, and on my desk, scraps of paper with notations that need to be consolidated. I do keep client information well organized, but that’s the only positive comment I can make about the state of my office.
So, my first New Year’s resolution is—yep, to become better organized in my work life. That would help not only with the looks of things, but also in terms of my daily production.
And that leads me to my second resolution: At the end of each day, I resolve to make a plan for the next; to write it down and follow it. Next day, I will check off the items as I complete them. Such a satisfying way to get work done.
As people who work with words, I think we all need a certain amount of organization and planning in our lives because, as Strunk and White so aptly put it:
“Writers will often find themselves steering by stars that are disturbingly in motion.”
How true.
Happy New Year, everyone!
James River Writing 