But if you insist, try following any of these resolutions. If not now, embrace them January 17 or March 26 – or any date and year that fits your true needs and desires:
1. Vow to write more often, though quality is to be prized over quantity.
2. Promise to do better at meeting writing deadlines.
3. Commit to promoting and marketing your writing.
4. Resolve to be a better reader. What you read can influence and inform your writings.
5. Promise to help others read books, whether a child, a blind person, someone with a learning disorder, an ESL student, or an illiterate.
6. Swear you will support your local reading economy and community – visit bookstores, libraries, and cultural centers.
7. Give the gift of books to others – literally. No need to wait for Christmas to give books or bookstore gift cards to people. Do the same for birthdays and other special occasions.
8. Study the English language. Writers are in charge of preserving it. Begin by properly learning it. While you are at it, vow to increase your vocabulary.
9. Resolve to get a good editor. Writers simply can’t get dressed without one.
10. Pledge to write something useful, interesting and original. Good enough is not good. Raise the bar and write beyond your perceived abilities.
2016 – and all years – holds the promise of being better than last year or better than many, most, or all years before. Live each day fully and whether you promise to lose weight, make money stop a bad habit, or commit to doing more charity, always vow to be better at your writing craft. Your career or legacy doesn’t just depend on it – the quality of your readers’ lives and society depends on it.
Happy New Year!