new year’s resolutions for 2017

My goals don’t change a lot from year to year and while I did get some things done in 2016, I (once again!) didn’t accomplish as much as I wanted to. According to this post I wrote a year ago, I wanted to finish the first draft of Vivid, post something on Wattpad, and write a book for NaNo. The reality is that I had to ditch Vivid because I realized it was slightly problematic and I needed to do more research. I posted a few things on Wattpad and then unpublished them because they weren’t as good as I wanted them to be. I didn’t write a book for NaNoWriMo because I was busy writing poetry to submit to literary magazines and writing contests.

What Did I Do?

I finished the first draft of The Deadline and at 38,000 words, it’s the longest thing I’ve written so far. It’s a YA contemporary about a Indian girl who tries to write a book during the summer. The first draft definitely didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to – it’s basically a hot mess. But this is a book I’ve wanted to write for a few years now so I’m going to keep pursuing this idea. I absolutely love the characters in it and I want to further develop them. I also wrote four or five short stories and three (?) flash fiction pieces…some of which I deleted last week. But one of my mini goals, this year, is to edit old stories that have potential. I was published in fifteen literary magazines and a few other websites/collections curated by writer friends. (If you’re interested in reading my work, click here!) I also did an online mentorship (run by The Adroit Journal) and a one week creative writing course at NYU. I joined the staff of two literary magazines. Other things I did: self-published a mini poetry collection online, posted a bunch of poems on my tumblr blog, started a newsletter (and unfortunately discovered I couldn’t keep up with blogging and emailing subscribers), blogged about both bookish and writerly things here, and made an ‘official’ website. I also started outlining a book inspired by Hindu myths. 

Now for the resolutions..

1.Write, write, write.

More specifically:

• Finish the writing projects that I start.
• Write more short stories and flash fiction.
• Write at least three times a week.
• Keep track of my progress on different projects and plan out my time wisely.
• Keep writing poetry.
• Write a book! Edit a book!

I definitely need to rewrite The Deadline  (goal is 50,000 words!) and write the first draft of my Hindu myth book (goal is 80,000 words).

2. Be brave with my writing.

More specifically:

• Submit my writing to more places.
• Ask for feedback and apply it.
• Tell IRL people about my writing.

3. Read more diverse books.

I want to continue to seek out diverse books and especially buy work from and support marginalized writers. I’ve also been thinking of joining reading challenges like #DiversityBingo2017 (which is explained in this tweet!).

4. Blog, blog, blog.

More specifically:

• Review diverse books!
• Blog at least once a month.
• Do a few discussion posts.
• Schedule posts before going on a random hiatus

5. Take care of myself.

More specifically:

• Exercise more often.
• Eat healthy
• Get 8 hours of sleep.
• Believe in myself.

It’s Tuesday evening and I’m ready determined to have an amazing year. Now, I’d love to hear from you guys! How did 2016 go for you? What are some goals you have for 2017? Are you excited? Nervous?