New Years Resolution and Writerly Advice

It’s New Years and I’m glad. In fact, I’m not sure if I’ve ever been more glad to see a year come to an end. 2013 was both fair and foul, full of the highest or highs and the lowest of lows. I’m not sorry to see it go. Then again, part of my excitement for 2014 has no doubt something to do with Avalon coming out in three weeks with The Nightmare Dilemma following shortly after. Two books in one year–within 6 weeks of each other if you want to get specific–is pretty gosh darn amazing. It’s also humbling.

Which leads me to the point of this post. It just so happens that I only have two New Years Resolution. These resolutions are also the same two pieces of advice I would offer to all the other writers out there, both those debuting in the next year and those still in the querying trenches. And here they are:

1. Stay humble

2. Write deeply

The humble bit might surprise you, but after going through my debut year I can say with full authority that staying humble is the only way to stay sane through the up and down that is publishing. In this business it’s easy to get discouraged. Writer depression is a very real, very serious thing. Humility is the best remedy. I’m grateful I get to do this. Grateful for every reader, every review, for an awesome agent and editors. My goal has been and will continue to be to treat every good thing as the best thing. Don’t read reviews (for the record, I never read them and I have no regrets). Love your readers. Every email from every reader, every tweet, every interaction is a miracle.Treasure them all. Stay humble and be content with every little thing.

The write deeply advice and goal is just what it sounds like. It’s the inverse of Stephen King’s “Don’t come to the page lightly” advice, which I’ve written about at length in other posts. For me, this means that every time I come to the page I want to come to it fully, lying aside all distractions, all fears, all doubts and hopes. Letting the writing be the center and focus when you’re doing it. Let it be king. Then when the time to write is over, set it aside and be humble, focused on the little things.

Anyway, there you have it. Thanks to everyone who has supported me throughout this debut year, everyone who’s taken the time to drop a kind word or offer encouragement. You are the best.

Happy New Years!