Talking 'Bout A Resolution by Marsha Diane Arnold

Merging on a road in New Hampshire. (photo by Marsha Diane Arnold)

I’m often the last adopter, the one taking the road less traveled, but it is January and everyone is talking about resolutions, so I’ll merge onto the highway.

There’s a school of thought that believes you should keep your resolutions to yourself. Another school thinks sharing them helps you stay true. I suspect both ways work.

This January, the members of my Cliffhangers writing group decided to share our resolutions with one another. One member is organizing them and emailing the list to each of us, so we can remember in December what we promised ourselves in January. We are laying our dreams bare. The plan is to help keep one another on track. If you have a supportive writing group, I encourage you to try this method.
 

Some folks believe you should only make a resolution that’s practical, one you know there’s a real possibility of reaching. That would be a resolution like writing thirty minutes a day or sending out five queries to agents within the next two months. Others think that visions are acceptable on your resolution list. Visions might include things that are not in your hands (or that most people believe are not in your hands.) They'd say that you can’t set a goal to win the Caldecott because that's in the Caldecott committee's hands.

The Cliffhangers decided to make resolutions in both areas. But even visions may need tempering. If you have yet to be published, writing down a vision to win the Caldecott might be skipping ahead too far. Instead, try making your vision getting published by a good publisher, then set goals that will help that vision come to fruition.

The Cliffhangers: Deborah Davis, Liz Scarpelli, Dashka Slater, moi, Alisha Niehaus Berger, Rachel Rodriguez. Writer friends "to die" for.

There are lots of things and lots of emotions that can take us off track as we pursue our resolutions. Becoming discouraged and being anxious are two of them. There’s a quote, often attributed to one popularly known as Lao Tzu, that may help in side-stepping these negative emotions. "If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” We as writers often become despondent over rejections, but a rejection is in the past, even if you just read it. We are frequently anxious about whether we will ever find an agent or an editor who wants to publish our book, but anxiety doesn’t help our writing. It’s never beneficial. To move forward, the best place for us to be is the present, writing our story.

Resolutions. Goals. Visions. These are all ways of reminding us that our talent will rise and shine only if it moves hand in hand with action. 

Have yourself a rainbow vision! (photo by Marsha Diane Arnold)

Marsha grew up on a Kansas farm many years ago, but she still loves cows in the pasture, going barefoot, and baking her Swiss-German grandmother's poppy seed Mohnkuchen.

An award-winning picture book author, Marsha has six upcoming picture books/board books slated for 2015/2016. The first, Lost. Found., from Neal Porter Books, will be out this fall.

Her Writing Wonderful Character-Driven Picture Books course has helped many published and aspiring writers to write stronger characters. Read more at www.marshadianearnold.com or hop over to Facebook to like her author page.