On January 3, 2026, Kasie and Rex took on Goal Setting for Writers in the New Year. Here are the show notes:

Topic: New Year’s Resolutions

Agenda:

• Quick catch up
• New Year’s Resolutions for writers
• Goal Setting and why to do it
• How to do it

Segment 1

Do you have any New Year’s Resolutions for your writing life? What’s the purpose of it and why should we do it?

There are ancient origins for new year’s resolutions including the Babylonians in 2000 b.c. making promises to the gods at the new year to return borrowed items and pay off debts. How many of those promises do you suppose were kept?

In medieval times, knights renewed their oaths of loyalty at the new year. They also promised to uphold virtues and values.

These days, new year’s resolutions are usually not religious, or related to your employer. They’re usually about secular stuff like health and fitness, wellness and mental clarity.

So what makes a good resolution? And is it different from a goal? Yes, new year’s resolutions are typically a change of behavior: drink less, eat less, workout more, read more. And the goal is a measurable plan for how to succeed in that behavior change.

So you might resolve to write more short stories in 2026. The goal would be to write at least 30 short stories. Then you might plan to write every day for at least 30 minutes to achieve the goal. Writing every day, as long as you’re focusing on the short stories, will certainly achieve the behavior change to meet your resolution. 

Segment 2

So what kinds of resolutions do writers usually make? It’s almost always about productivity. We did this topic last year with a plan we built for ourselves. We used categories for those goals, like I do with my students every semester: family, professional, personal, financial. How did we do? 

We also did it back in 2021, so let’s see how far we’ve come since then. That one used the AFI framework, a tool for business planning, to help writers think of their careers as businesses.

I also did this goal setting thing with Alexa Bigwarfe, my publisher, back in 2020. Boy did those goals go awry.

Segment 3

Why should we goal set? What good does it do us? 

What happens when we veer off course or decide not to pursue those goals anymore?

What are some typical writerly goal categories? 

• Community – join a group, get an accountability partner. 
• Publishing – submit more, query more, look into self-publishing. 
• Productivity – whether by word count, page count, time limit or daily/weekly/monthly frequency, writers love to quantify their productivity.
• Events – go to conferences, participate in workshops, sell books at events.
• Inspiration – watch films, go to plays, visit someplace new, read other writers’ books.

Segment 4

How should you do it? Google “New Year’s Resolutions for Writers” and you’ll find dozens of blogs dedicated ot the topic. Writers love to write about writing and they love setting plans for themselves. Planning prevents them from having to actually write, 

Writing, if it is your passion, should be fun. What’s better than resolving to have more fun in 2026?