Decide.

That’s it.

Decide that you are a writer.

(Decide: from the Latin deciderer- ‘to cut off’.)

When you decide to do something your brain stops worrying about “if” and starts working on “how”. And that’s how things get done.

Let’s cut off all the prevarication, the shilly -shallying, the ‘maybe I can wriggle out of the hard work by pretending I’m not really that bothered about being a writer’, the ‘maybe someone else will write the book my audience needs, and I’m ok with that’. Leave all that in the year that is ending.

Decide that in the coming year you are a writer.

Then spend the year figuring exactly what that can look like.

If you need help, here are some ways I’ve helped people in the past and would be honored to help you:

• Join us in the I, WRITER Course (new payment plan added. Live meetings in Jan/Feb)
• Join us in the Superstars group (a year of writing dates, workshops and community with other ‘deciders’ ).
• Subscribe to the StoryAWeek newsletter (weekly lessons and story prompts to keep you connected to your writing goals once a week for a year).
• Take the One-Story Challenge (a 30-day journey through the writing of one short story).
• Get the StoryADay Challenge Handbook (an on-your-own-time version of the StoryADay Challenge, with 31 lessons, prompts, each with a custom warm up and brainstorming exercise).
• 1:1 coaching

Whatever you decide, please also decide to cut off any shame about what you didn’t accomplish in past year. In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Celebrate the fact that you stopped and looked around. And then remember that you have the skills to help other people do the same, with your writing.

Let’s get to it!

Wishing you all the best for the New Year, when it comes,

P. S. Apart from shame, what else will you leave behind? Leave a comment that begins with: Things I’ll Leave Behind…