To be honest, I’m about as good at keeping New Year’s resolutions as I am at going into Kmart and only buying one thing, which is to say I am CRAP at it. But choosing a word or two as my theme for the year? That I can do!
I’ve seen this idea around a lot of awesome places, most notably in Jen Storer’s writing group on Facebook, The Duck Pond, and the Australian Writers’ Centre blog. Of course I got the ‘bird is the word’ song stuck in my head first (you are welcome for the earworm). But then I decided on two words for the year:
Motivation & self-belief.
Overall, they’re two things I know I have somewhere in me – I’ve seen them make appearances over the years – but lately they’ve been MIA more often than not and I’d like to change that.
If I had been more motivated last year I could have finished umpteen drafts on my MG novel by now and started on the new idea that has been floating around in my mind. Instead, I’ve been doing the classic ‘hey look at me working on my manuscript by re-writing the first few chapters a thousand times and not getting around to the rest of it!’ thing. I am excellent at that thing.
But I know that’s also tied in with my self-belief – or lack thereof. Because a lot of times when I’m writing my stories I get that annoying inner critic voice in my head that’s like, “Oh… you think what you’re writing sounds interesting, do you? That’s a pity. You know people would rather read the manual that comes with their vacuum cleaner than read this, right?” (Sometimes it’s in a Regina George from Mean Girls voice, sometimes it’s Professor Snape & sometimes it’s just Ross Geller screaming PIVOT! at me).
The point is, I need to start having more faith in myself. And I also need to remember to aim for progress, not perfection all the time (another shout out to Jen Storer for that pearl of wisdom!) 2019 is the year of motivation and self-belief and I’m excited.
What’s your word for this year?
Pivot! I always use that when moving furniture, but now I’m going to have to work it into my writing somehow 🙂 Thanks, Carly. Love your words for 2019 and wish you nothing but the creative best for the new year.
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The multi-purpose pivot, lol.
Thanks so much, KM – wishing you a lovely, wonderful creative 2019 too 😀
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😊
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Great words Carly! I agree, I think so often I procrastinate because I am too afraid of getting my work out there. Much easy to move onto my new shiny idea and not think about being judged. My word for the year is “appreciate”. This is my last year of having my twins boys at home before school and I want to not just rush the year but to enjoy the opportunities it brings 🙂
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Oh gosh yeah, I hear you on the procrastination! I really like the word you chose too. I hope you have an incredible year of creativity & joy, Belinda, especially spending time with your boys 🙂
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I don’t have a particular word for any year but live by the adage: done is better than perfect.
Except just not at the moment while I would rather set fire to my manuscript than finish it.
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“Done is better than perfect” – yep, I need to follow that advice more this year for sure.
And I hear you on those manuscript woes. Your blog post I just read about it was great – especially that last line!
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It’s such a good concept, this word of the year, isn’t it? I feel it’s a far better idea than having a long list of resolutions – it’s easier to remember, for a start. I haven’t settled on a word for this year yet, but I feel it might be something along the lines of “adventure” or “experience”. Your words sound like a perfect combination – I hope they serve you well this year. 🙂
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I agree, I think I’m going to have a much easier time sticking to a theme for the year instead of resolutions! Adventure and experience sound like really fun words to explore for 2019 – I hope you have an awesomely creative year too, Katie! 🙂
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That gif at the end made my year. I’m going super literal this year and making my word “write”. Because I desperately need to do it more often…
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Yessss, I am 100% there with you on just needing to write more often! 😀
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