How to Make 2016 a Great Writing Year

I love the New Year because it’s a chance to start anew. A fresh slate and so much more. We set goals and usually forget about them, but today I want to talk about a few steps on how to make 2016 a great writing year.

As far as 2015 goes, I’d say this was definitely the best year writing-wise for me. But I plan for 2016 to be even better. I’ve learned so much this year with writing, but the key to having your best writing year comes down to one little secret:

Write.

I’ve talked about it in creating a writing schedule and making writing a priority. Kristen has talked about it. Countless of others have talked about it. But the truth is, the core of any successful writing year or program, or anything, is to simply write.

They say it takes 21 days to create a habit. But it only takes one to ruin it. The core to a successful writing schedule is to write. I hate to break it to you, but being a writer doesn’t mean anything if you don’t write.

If you’re looking for a program to get into to set up a habit, Faye from Writerology has an awesome program and e-book, Writember, but she also has the #Writechain.

I use a calendar to track my word counts, and I use stickers to motivate myself (days with a thousand or more words get a gold sticker, less than that get a silver. Obviously I want to get a gold sticker, not a silver one).

There are also phone apps you can use to track your words. Write every day and track it. Once you get to the end of the year, you’ll be surprised as to how many words you create. I did a horrible job tracking this year (I got most days in July and August), but just two months produced over 100k words.

Imagine if you dedicated yourself to write and track that every day for a year. With a foundation that solid and strong, you’ll have a fantastic writing year.

How do you plan to make 2016 a great writing year?