General advice

1 Plan your year

There’s a huge amount of value in saying clearly to yourself what you want to do in writing terms in 2021. Is it to write a novel? A couple of novellas? Five, ten, twenty short stories? Write that poetry collection? Deciding on some key goals before you even start gives you extra focus and helps you to envision your success.

2 Let go of perfectionism

The old saying goes, ‘Don’t get it right, get it written’. Far too many writers stymie themselves by not writing on days they don’t feel totally creative, or hamper the progress of the first draft by correcting and editing as they go. For me, the best thing for any writer is to silence that inner critic and let the writing flow – and worry about editing and drafting later.

3 Build up a routine

If you don’t have a writing routine yet, 2021 could be the perfect time to start. If you can really enshrine a time of day and a place to write, you take away the guesswork and the questions of ‘should I write or not?’ It doesn’t take long to form a habit, so if you can stick at a routine for a week or two you’ll find this becomes a positive habit before you know it.

4 Set targets

Alongside this routine, there i great value in having a word count target on the go. You could set this per day or per week, but if you can hit small goals on a regular basis then you’ll be achieving those big goals in no time. Even 250 or 500 words per day can see you make great ground on your projects, and if you can manage more than that then all the better.

5 One project at a time

Some writers are able to mix and match and write numerous projects at a time, but this is something I’ve always found impossible. Sometimes leaving a project and coming back to it has a risk that you might not be able to recapture the voice, tone and feel that you were really living and breathing a while back – focusing on one at a time feels like less of a gamble.

6 Get people involved

I’m writing this in November, which of course is NaNoWriMo month, a really positive and collaborative environment. The more you can replicate this in your everyday writing, the better. Join a writing group, club together with some creative pals, get involved in a forum… the less lonely writing can be, the more likely you are to finish your projects.