My Revolutionary Resolution by Deborah Lytton: January Theme

I was talking about the January blog theme of Resolutions with my daughters, trying to decide how I wanted to share my ideas about beginning a new year.  My fifth grader, who is studying the birth of America, thought I said Revolution rather than Resolution.  She is getting ready for her Colonial Faire, so it's not surprising really. But I realized that she was onto something.  We, as writers, need to revolutionize our writing. We need to turn our systems upside down and try something fresh.  A new storyline, a character so unusual that it can spark an entire manuscript, or even a string of words never before put together in just that way. So this January, I am going to revolutionize my writing by changing the way I work. For this entire month, instead of beginning my writing sessions by diving into my WIP, I am going to go back to something I did when I was first exploring writing. I am going to warm up with writing exercises. One day, I am going to prompt myself with a word, and the next with a quote from a favorite book. The third day, maybe I will just outline a character sketch without any plans to use it.  I am going to stretch my creativity, challenge my imagination and hone my skills all at the same time. I challenge all of you to do the same.  Revolutionize your writing and try something new.  Share your ideas with me--I have 31 days to fill and lots of new ideas to explore.
Happy 2015!

Comments

  1. I love this idea Deborah. Perfect for stretching the rusty writing muscles. I started a jar of "bits" that I pull from on days when I just need some inspiration. It's stuffed with scraps of paper...favorite quotes, names, dialogue bits, plot ideas, etc. Maybe I'll pull some out and see where it leads...

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is SO true. This year, I'm shaking these up by doing additional indie work. I don't think anything's helped me grow quite so much. I feel like I've made real progress with this upcoming release...in many ways.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, I do love this, thinking in terms of "revolution" rather then "resolution." Aux armes, citoyens! Auz armes, auteurs!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment