Along with the new year come the resolutions to do better, be better, and strive for better. Of course, not everyone is a resolution maker — as we all know, most good resolutions can’t compete with bad habits. As Mark Twain once said, “Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever.”
Well aware of the odds, yet ever hopeful, I tend to be in the resolution makers camp, and as 2022 was winding down, I started worrying that I might miss the Dec. 31 deadline for coming up with a resolution that felt worthy of 2023 — let’s face it, toning up and going to the gym feels oh-so-pre-pandemic.
Seeking inspiration this year for a writing-related resolution, I asked some Island-connected writers about their resolutions. Below is an edited sampling of the responses I received.
Nancy Slonim Aronie: Right now I’m reading Rob Delaney‘s “A Heart that Works,” which is a memoir of his son’s cancer and death, and it’s making me wonder if I sugarcoated a lot of the sorrow and details of my story with my son Dan’s illness and death in my memoir, so I’m going to reread my memoir and start rewriting.
Elizabeth Bell: Use the time between my first sleep and second sleep (I don’t call it insomnia, it’s just my sleep pattern) to think about the characters in my novel instead of checking the news on my phone, scrolling through Instagram, etc. And always keep a steno pad and pencil on my bedside table to jot down ideas, snatches of dialogue, whatever, that come to me in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning.
James Dale: I am trying not to do writing projects I really don’t want to do. That may seem obvious, but I’m sometimes not good at it. I have to learn to say no to the project that isn’t right for me earlier so I don’t have to say no later.
Nicole Galland: I resolve to sing with other people as often as I can. Singing is the best counter-stretch to writing novels I can think of. It’s a group activity, not a relentlessly solitary one, and I get to blend into a larger whole rather than forging a distinctive voice.
Brenda Horrigan: I just started “The Art of Noticing” by Rob Walker, and my resolution is to take a challenge from that every day, and write about it. (Yesterday I was noticing color in unexpected places. There’s a lot of yellow in Vineyard Haven that I never saw before.)
Peter Kramer: Less distraction, deeper trance, freer writing.
Gregory Mone: I’d like to write some profoundly inane poems.
Holly Nadler: My chief resolution about writing is to inhabit the Nike slogan “JUST DO IT!” This is because I tend to lie back against pillows and give in to total lethargy, even making little deals with the fates to let me take a teeny nap right now.
Laura Roosevelt: I am resolving to put writing hours into my book, so I have an appointment to write. When I don’t do this, too many other things can get in the way.
Jennifer Smith-Turner: My resolution for 2023 is to stay connected with deeper connections to other writers.
Elisa Speranza: Read more poetry. Paying more attention to poets’ lyrical way with language is helping me to become a better writer.
Nancy Star: I’m pretty allergic to New Year’s resolutions because I am so unhappy when I make a goal and then don’t meet it (which, being a writer, is a good chunk of the time!). But I’ll close my eyes and give it a go. Three resolutions:
First: no writing emails until after my morning writing work is done.
Second: less revising of emails and more revising of book! (I guess there’s a theme here.)
Third: Finish writing new novel in 2023! (I left myself some wiggle room because what does finish really mean?)
So what did I finally come up with for my own New Year’s resolution? To take creative risks, make the difficult calls, and listen to the good advice.
“Around the Writers’ Table” is a column about writers and writing on the Vineyard. Please email kate@mvtimes.com with your writing-related news.