Start the New Year with Some Non-writing Tasks

Now that 2013 has kicked off, it’s time to get busy writing, right? Sure, except that it’s not always easy to shift gears after weeks of, well, slacking. Even if you have a list of writing goals for the new year, you may not know where to begin or how to begin or whether you should just scrap your list and start over.

Getting motivated to be productive during a long, cold month can seem daunting, for sure. But here’s an idea: why not begin with some easy, fun tasks that don’t actually require writing? I can think of three that might actually help kick-start your New Year:

1. Get involved in the writing community. Take a class, sign up for an event, or check out local resources for writers. In Minnesota, there are lots of options for writers to get involved. I recently stumbled across this handy list of Resources for Minnesota Writers, provided by the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library.
   

2. Consider writing something you’ve never written before. Have you always wanted to pen your memoirs? How about putting together a family history book or researching a person’s life and then writing a biography? Writers aren’t limited to one genre; in fact, writing something completely different can be highly rewarding and liberating – even if you don’t go on to publish it. So give some serious thought to a totally new project.

3. Read, read, read. If you want to become a better writer, it’s what you have to do. Gather a pile of reading material, from magazine articles to a list of interesting blog sites to books. Then spend some quality time enjoying and learning from other writers and authors. It can be the single most important thing you’ll do all year.

Not quite ready to start writing? Give any of these prewriting tasks a try, and see how quickly January - and your writing slump - slip by.

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