5 Simple Writing Resolutions for 2023

(Author’s note: Below is an excerpt of the blog I provided to my $5/month Patreon subscribers. Each month, I provide a column or video on writing and a steamy short story to those who subscribe at the five-dollar level. Those who subscribe at the $3/month level get access to a new steamy short story every month, as well as all the stories I’ve provided in previous months.)

Turning over a new leaf for me has rarely happened on January 1.

My birthday coincides with the beginning of the school year, so for the first couple of decades of my life, the “new me” happened in September. Then, as a published author, the start of the 100,000-word odyssey of a new book was when I literally and figuratively began with a clean page.

This year, it just so happens that the beginning of the new year is paired with the beginning of a new book, the third book in the Milagro Street series. Since this is my sixth published book, I would love to tell you that I’ve perfected my system for book creation. I haven’t. You, dear hyperromantic author, can take both comfort and horror from that. Comfort because I’ve come to understand that my process is constantly changing and there is no one “right” way. Horror because the shifting sands beneath my feet – and yours -- may end up feeling like they’re always shifting.

That’s okay. We’ll breathe through it.

For 2023, I’m making five simple writing resolutions that might also help you daily get the words on the page.

#1 -  I resolve to tell the truth

I’m stealing this one from the amazing Grant Faulkner, the head of the organization that runs NaNoWriMo and an astonishing writer in his own right. In his January 1 newsletter on Substack, he talks about how much bravery it takes to write your “truth.” He quotes Anne Lamont: “Good writing is about telling the truth. We are a species that wants and needs to know who we are.”

My “truth” is that I believe women are fiercely powerful. Because we live in a society where women’s power has been historically undermined, I want to write heroines who are fierce the instant they show up on the page. I want to write women who make mistakes. I want to show women making their heroine’s journey to a place of integrity, peace, and joy. But many modern-day romance readers don’t want to see that journey – they want a woman to show up on the page in a way that they’re used, a way that makes them comfortable in its familiarity. They want to “like” her from go, without analyzing the unintentional bias they’ve absorbed to prevent them from liking her. But fierce female heroines are my truth, and I will continue to write them, even if that means taking some knocks from readers and reviewers.

What is your truth? What is the perhaps uncomfortable thing you want to say about women, men, people, relationships, loves, life, the world? I encourage you to say it. Your truth is unique, made of every day you’ve lived and every thought you’ve had, and will help lift your authorial voice above the din.

#2 - I resolve to reserve my most creative time for writing

I’ve talked about this one before. I will talk about it again. Mostly because, while it is the easiest and best tool for me to get to the end of a 100,000-word book, I still can ignore this tenet: I will guard my most creative time and do nothing but write during it.

My most creative time is from the instant I wake up until about 1 p.m. If I sit down to write as soon as I’ve exercised and washed my face, then the words are relatively easy to find, the big ideas of a book come to me, dialogue flows, and the puzzle pieces of a book fit together. At about 1 p.m., those connections start becoming fuzzy. My brain just doesn’t work as well. I can get a second writing wind at about 4 p.m., but at that point, afternoon meetings and family life begin to intrude.

For years now, I’ve known that morning writing works best for me, and yet I’m still so often tempted to work on social media in the morning. To schedule meetings during that time. To write a little article for Patreon. Even with proven success, I still screw with this.

Discover your most creative writing time – it could be first thing in the morning or in the middle of the night – and as often as you can, keep this time sacrosanct for your writing. Getting successful words on the page will plant the seeds for more successful words on the page.

To keep reading and discover my other three resolutions to help you get words on the page, subscribe to my Patreon at the hyperromantic Author level.

How to Create a Monthly Social Media Calendar

You've hit that mid-year lull, haven't you? That time when, instead of creating social media posts with an objective, you're posting a lot of cat videos. Instead of planning goal-oriented posts that express your personality, appeal to your fans, and move you closer to your business goals, you're re-sharing the tired memes from your friend's feed.

It's all right. The annual social media calendar we created in January can get a little dusty midway through the year. Today, we'll clean that calendar off and give it new life in your monthly social media calendar. A monthly social media calendar allows you to know what you're going to post EVERY DAY!! It helps you balance promotional posts with fun and personal ones, it insures you're talking about themes and topics important to you and your audience, and it focuses you so that your social media posts are moving you toward your goals.

And the time investment for this ease and focus? Only about two hours at the end of each month. Here's how to build your own monthly social media calendar:

Step 1: Write down your list of topics from your annual social media calendar.

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If you created an annual social media calendar, then you already have a list of business goals, content topics, and personal events that you want to focus on in your blog writing, Facebook posts, Instagram photos, and other social media content this month. If you didn't create an annual social media calendar, then make a quick list now of those items.

Should writing this list give you ideas for specific posts, go ahead and write those down now, too. For example, I have "summer entertaining on deck" as one of my topics. I need new outdoor pillows, and I figured it would be a fun Facebook post to quiz my lifestyle-and-home-focused followers about what color scheme they prefer for the deck.

Step 2: List the dates of any business, personal, family, holiday, or fun events you having coming up.

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Use these events to inspire posts. I have a professional organizing client whose college-age son came home for summer break. We used his homecoming to inspire a Facebook post about how to help your almost adult get and stay organized over the summer.

Step 3: Determine the topics and dates of your blog posts for the month.

Your blog post can be the foundation of a week's worth of social media posts. By creating posts that direct traffic to your blog, you are directing eyes to your website, which is property that YOU control. It's great to get Facebook and Twitter love, but traffic that stops there is ultimately benefitting Facebook and Twitter most.

Step 4: For each weekday, decide which social media channel you're going to post to and the overall theme of your social media posts.

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I don't post to every social media channel every day, and I don't require it of my small business clients. Who has the time? Determine which social media channels you're going to post to on which days.

Also, you can insure your social media streams are both useful and entertaining by balancing your business-related and personal/fun posts. Choose now which days you will post "business" posts and which day you will post "entertaining" posts. You don't have rigidly hold to this, but it does help you to remember in case all of your posts are listing to one side.

Step 5: Now, begin to fill in your calendar.

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Fill in your blogs first. As I mentioned, your blog posts can be the inspiration for many of your social media posts that week. The days before you publish your blog, you can build interest by posting a photo or tip as a "teaser." After the blog is published, you can continue promoting it by listing a new fact, thanking the sources mentioned in the blog, or giving a shout out to sites where readers can get more info.

Step 6: Fill in date-specific events.

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Use those book signings, holidays, and special events in your life to create posts that give your audience greater insight into you or connect you with your audience on a larger scale. Post a picture of your Mom on Mother's Day, post a picture of a fan from a book signing, show off your spangly gala dress, and give a thank you to that organization that invited you to speak. Your followers love the peek into your life, and they also love it when you show appreciation!

Step 7: Fill in the rest of the calendar using unused ideas on your list.

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Now that you have the "must-haves" filled in, you can use the rest of your calendar to discuss the "like-to-haves," the topics that are important to you and help define your message. Promoting my wonderful clients, providing tips on social media best practices, and highlighting fun things to do in the D.C.-area are all topics that are important to me and that I'll make sure to include now. Other go-tos to fill in your monthly social media calendar include:

• Ask people to follow you on other social media channel
• Promote other people or services in your community
• Share an article that might appeal to your fans
• Use an easy app like Recite.com to create and post a quote you enjoy
• Post a pic of your pet
• Re-share older blog posts from your website
• Ask your audience a question

Happy calendar building! And feel free to contact me if you need any help!

What's one topic or theme that you're interested in that could make your social media stream distinctive this month? How could you use that topic or theme creatively in a post?

Re-starting Your Goals Once You've Stopped

I started 2016 like the president of the student body-head cheerleader-valedictorian, that girl that we all love to hate. I was focused and goal-oriented and ready to kick some ass. I even wrote a totally obnoxious blog about it.

This is what my goal planning calendar regularly looked like.

This is what my social media calendar looked like.

And then life kicked in.

In the six weeks between spring break and now, I traveled six times. That's six hotels. Four car trips. Two plane trips. I toured four separate college campuses. I ate so many burgers. I had A LOT of cocktails.

During that time, this is what my goal planning calendar looked like.

And this is what my social media calendar looked like.

So now it's the beginning of May and I've finally gotten to unpack my toiletries and do some laundry and wake up in my own bed on a Saturday. And I've looked down the pathway of May and realized that those goal posts and milestones I'd set up for myself earlier this year...they're gone. Obliterated by reality. Shadowed by the goals of March and April glaring back at me with disapproval and disappointment.

Sorry. I anthropomorphize.

When our goals have slipped away from us, it's easy to beat ourselves up. It's easy to pull up the anchor of goal planning -- of setting our sights on a more meaningful objective and working toward it -- and instead get carried away in the tide of the day to day. And it's exhausting to goal plan when you're just trying to play catch up.

Don't let the negative voice get in your head. Even if it's Beyonce's.

But I gotta believe that those larger goals -- for our careers, our families, our relationships, our personal health -- are worth putting down stakes for. I gotta believe that the hoped-for results are worth the planning.

So I'm doing a few things this month to get my goals back in place. First, and I think most importantly, instead of beating myself up for what I didn't accomplish, I'm acknowledging what I did. I helped my kid choose a college. I helped raise some money for my writing chapter. Seldom are we just sitting on the couch eating bonbons and lazily watching the opportunities to fulfill our goals pass us by.

Secondly, I'm letting go of what I couldn't accomplish. As my dear friend Paige Trevor said today, "the world doesn't stop spinning because a few things were shoved under the bed." I may not be using the quote in the best way (sorry, Paige!), but it is valuable for me to remember how few of the things that I get worked up about will make the world stop spinning if they don't happen. Like, none. 

Third, and this is the hardest part, I'm going to put one foot in front of the other and begin again. Re-starting -- making those lists, writing out those calendars, confronting the to-dos that I thought would be completed already -- always feels like the most daunting and frustrating task. But even daunted and frustrated, I can start. I can do. I can be powerful in my ability to overcome my own inertia. 

In my office. Ready to begin again.

What is a goal that you've let slide that you would like to begin again?

Resolve to Create An Annual Social Media Calendar in 2016

I was honored this week to guest blog at Writers in the Storm, a popular blog named one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writer's Digest for the last two years. Since following through on New Year's resolutions seems to be my theme right now (see last week), I figured I would help these writers with their own social media resolutions. The result: A blog about how to develop an Annual Social Media Calendar. While the article is addressing writers, these steps can be used by anyone hoping to put their best social media foot forward in 2016:

For busy authors -- or anyone building a brand or a business -- one of the most daunting tasks we face every day can be sitting down to post to social media.

"What should I say?" we think. "Who's going to care?"

Wouldn't it be phenomenal to sit down every day knowing exactly what you're going to blog, post, and Tweet? And hitting "enter" with the confidence that what you post will reflect your personality and interests, appeal to your fans and move you toward your business goals?

If you're resolving to do better with your social media in 2016, an annual social media calendar is the key to making your New Year's resolution a reality.

Here's how to build one:

Step 1: Make a list of your business goals for 2016.

While writing is a creative endeavor in the search for truth and beauty, and social media is a wonderful forum for giving virtual hugs to your fans, writing is also a job. Social media is the advertisement. So instead of letting social media pull you away from your job, make it work for you. This list will insure that your business goals for that "creative endeavor" are front and center so that you can integrate them into your social media throughout the year.

Step 2: Make a list of your personal and professional events in 2016.

We can forget to post our special events on social media in the midst of a hectic writer's conference or anniversary vacation. And that's the fun stuff -- the stuff our fans love to hear about. Writing these professional and personal dates down now will allow you to remember them later. Sure, you probably won't forget to promote that new book, but seeing it coming up on your social media calendar will remind you to start building a plan for promotion months ahead of time.

Step 3: List holidays/seasonal events that are important to you.

Scroll through the months. What are nationally recognized days that speak to you? Christmas, Hanukkah, spring break, first day of school, National Doughnut Day? Use these days to connect with your fans and to let them know you have the same excitement about Santa, the same relief about the kids going back to school, and the same interest in candied-bacon doughnuts as they do.

Step 4: Write down 4-5 themes that distinguish you.

Themes are the rocket fuel of your social media calendar. Your themes are what distinguish you, your writing and your philosophies from other authors, and they are what will set your social media posts apart from other posts in a fan's stream. Themes -- you're an animal-loving, travel-seeking rock climber who writes sexy small-town contemporaries and loves men in kilts -- give your fans something to hang onto. Staying consistent with your themes gives you a foundation from which you can grow an audience that loves you.

My themes in my annual social media calendar are:

• Social Media/Writing -- Of course.
• Being "In Between" -- Issues of being in my 40s: old enough to have a senior in high school and young enough to still like going to live music shows.
• Ways I Can Help -- How I'm a strategic thinker, storyteller, cheerleader and accountability partner for my clients.
• Fun in D.C. -- Tips on best restaurants, drinks, events and outdoor activities in the D.C. area.
• Community -- Applauding and promoting clients, friends, writers, advice givers and others I admire.

I have a vineyard-owner client whose themes are:

• Evolution of a Vineyard -- Discussing the evolution of this relatively new vineyard.
• The Growing Season -- Tracking the annual cycle of the Pinot Noir vines from pruning to harvest.
• Russian River Valley Winegrowers -- Supporting the winemakers and growers of their area.
• Around the Vineyard -- Celebrating the gophers, family visits, new barn doors and bocce ball games of living on a vineyard.
• To Dos in the Russian River Valley -- Promoting the people, wines, geography and events of Russian River Valley in Sonoma County.

Think big picture when you're developing your themes. Make sure your themes include a mix of professional and personal interests, and -- because social media is "social" -- make sure at least one of your themes focuses on promoting others.

Here are some questions to help you decide your themes:

• What are your books about?
• What do you like to do in your free time?
• What did you study in school?
• How would your friends describe you? 
• Is there a cause or charity that you're passionate about?
• Do you have any hobbies?
• What do you day dream about?
• Are there community or writer organizations that you want to support?

Step 5: Build your template.

This step is easy. Click here, fill in your email, and you'll receive the above template to build your annual social media calendar.

Step 6: Enter your business goals at the top of the template under "General."

Installing these goals at the top will insure that they are top of mind as you're developing your social media plan of attack for each month. Make sure your goals are accomplishable within a month (you are only human and you need to sleep), and break large goals, like "Finish a book", into manageable monthly bites, like "Write 20,000 words."

Step 7: Enter your themes on the side of the template.

I like to include details about the themes that will jog ideas when I'm filling it in later.

Step 8: Enter your "Events" at the bottom.

Step 9: Fill in the blanks.

Now you will use your themes as a guide for coming up with content ideas for the rest of the year. Wha...?! I know, sounds daunting. But it's easier than you think. And a little blood, sweat and tears now will prevent you from having to bleed, sweat and cry EVERY TIME you sit down to post for the REST OF THE YEAR.

1. Keep your ideas general. This is just your annual calendar. Your ideas can get more specific when you work on your monthly calendar (more on that later). For example, if you love to cook and one of your themes is "Eating Healthy," a February idea could be "Cooking with root vegetables." What will be in the pot? Who knows? But seeing it on your calendar will help focus you when the time comes.

2. Connect the holidays/seasonal events you listed with a theme that focuses on you personally. My "In Between" theme allows me to talk about my personal life. So in it I will talk about my New Year's resolutions in January, Mother's Day in May, the fact that this will be the first Father's Day without my Dad in June, and my son going off to college in August. Connecting my life events to the holidays and seasons gives "me" a platform to talk about "us."

3. Find a category and stick with it. A writer who writes stories about sexy ski bums could fill his social media feed with pictures of awesome ski resorts. He could highlight a different ski area -- Colorado, California, Switzerland, Chile -- every month. A writer who loves to objectify the male body -- I know I do -- can focus on a different body part every month. Like I said, this does not have to be difficult.

4. Don't re-invent the wheel. I have a professional organizing client who uses online tools like Dropbox and Evernote to help people eliminate the paper clutter in their lives. So guess what? In January, she spotlights tips on how to use Evernote. In February, she offers tips on Dropbox. In March, it's another tool, then another and another, until July comes around and we start with Evernote again. Offer information that you already have and don't be afraid to repeat yourself.

Step 10: Putting your annual social media calendar to work.

Your annual social media calendar will:

• Insure you're hitting all of your business goals by highlighting a goal every month 
• Provide you with blogging ideas that enrich the message of your website 
• Guarantee that your day-to-day social media posts communicate a consistent message of who you are as a writer 
• Remind you of important events to insure you're posting and promoting them 
• Provide an outline for your monthly social media calendar

Pantsers can take a look at their annual social media calendar whenever they're stuck and instantly have a social media idea to get them back on track. Plotters can use their annual social media calendar to fill out their monthly social media calendars, a day-by-day listing of what they're going to blog and post about so they'll never have to wonder. But THAT is for another blog post (or you can contact me for more info).

May your social media posts be easy and fruitful in 2016! 

Don't forget to sign up for your free annual social media calendar template.

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What is one social media challenge you'd like to conquer in 2016? Let me know in the comments section.

Resolving to Find the Fun in 2016

Me in 2014.

2015 kind of sucked for me.

I dealt with painful "getting old" back and leg issues, my son was immersed in junior/senior year stress (and we all went along for that ride), and my Dad died. There were many blessings, too: a trip to Vegas, a great writing conference, new clients (yay!), and the continued health and contentment of most of my family.

But in 2016, I want to focus on being happy again. I believe happiness takes a certain level of mindfulness, and I want to be mindful of discovering joy, rather than passively suffering through the misery. At my age, I know joy doesn't consist of just vacations and mani/pedis. True joy is found in your day-to-day, in taking care of your family, partnership, health, work, friends and home.

So, to succeed in this year's theme -- "Find the Fun" -- these are the New Year's resolutions I've made to be responsible for my happiness and to kick the blahs out the door. I only succeed when I'm held accountable, which is why I'm posting them here. I'll blog again in February about how I'm doing.

Family resolution

I resolve to create more moments when we can be together as a family. 

It's amazing, when your children are teenagers, how easy it is to live with people that you never connect with. We're home together a lot, but the boys are working as hard as I am on "the future," and when we're not working, we're relaxing on devices -- I'm as bad as they are. I'm trying to keep this resolution simple, i.e.. accomplishable: I'm resolving to eat more meals at the table and to plan one event a month that gets us out of the house together. I've already got this month's event on the calendar: We're going to the Harper Macaw chocolate factory tour in northeast D.C. Could there be a better lure? And yes, there will be a blog.

Marriage resolution

I resolve to find one new adult event to explore every month with my husband.

My man's a blast, he's pretty much up for anything with only mild convincing, and we have a lot of fun together. But with the stress of last year, we went out less and less, and when we did go out, it was generally to the same place. We both enjoy life with a few surprises, so in 2016, I'm committed to finding the Kennedy Center performances, bourbon tastings and hiking trails that will offer them.

Health resolution

I resolve to feel better.

Resolutions about weight and health are rife with controversy, and I thought long and hard about how to phrase this one. But the thing is, I don't feel good at the weight I am. I think it's hard on my frame. The end of last year was a "eat-and-drink-my-pain" fiesta and in the four days that I've been eating better, exercising every day, drinking more water and cutting back on alcohol, I already feel better. The proof is in the pudding, even when I can't have any.

Work resolution

I resolve to post to social media every day, skill build two hours a week, blog every week, and make a certain amount every month.

As a busy social media manager who helps my solopreneur and small business clients learn, plan and post their social media, I forget to do my own learning and planning and posting. The prime directive I give to all my clients is to take control of their marketing and messaging. And yet, I can let my messaging passively dribble out, too. However, with a child soon in college and a directive about how much I have to make in 2016 from my financial planner, my business and income is something I can no longer be passive about. Need help with your social media resolutions? That's what I'm here for.

Friends resolution

I resolve to entertain more and be more entertaining.

Oh, my lovely friends. Does it feel like your digits are gathering dust on my phone? Friends and their information, advice, laughter and love inject a huge dose of fun into my life, and I will use the excuse, "I'm sooooo busy," no longer. I've already got a couple of gatherings at our house planned -- look for your invite -- but I'm also going to remind myself that seeing my friends does not have to be a production. Over coffee, with a glass of wine, or during a joint trip to Target is a great time to enjoy my friends.

Home resolution 

I resolve to do what our financial planner says.

While being in our 40s doesn't make my husband and I feel any closer to adulthood, we are trying to behave like adults. We finally met with a financial planner at the end of last year, and she has given us our marching orders. It's calming to know we're driving down the road of our financial future with our eyes wide open, rather than squinted shut while hoping everything is going to be okay. It's also nice to know someone is there to help us handle the dips, rises and inevitable potholes. 

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What are your resolutions for 2016? Do you have any suggestions to help me with mine? Please comment below. I need all the help I can get.

And please check in again in February to see how I'm doing.