Top 5 Writer Resolutions for 2011

As a rule, I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions. I used to set too many lofty and rigid goals for the New Year and then I felt frustration and disappointment when my resolutions seemed unattainable. I prefer to think of my New Year's goals as intentions, directions or plans. For three years, I've been a content provider for web sites, and at the end of each year of writing, it's been useful to review the year that has passed and look ahead to what I'd like to achieve as a writer in the upcoming year.

Now that it's a few months in to the New Year, I find it helpful to take stock of my freelance writing career and set a few intentions for my writing business. Here are my top 5 "writer resolutions" for 2011.

Develop Writing Specialties

When I began writing in the summer of 2007, I was just happy to get published and wasn't thinking too far ahead to branding myself or becoming well known as a certain kind of writer. I knew I wanted to write travel and my first published story was a local travel article. However, in search of page views and higher revenues, I digressed into publishing a wide variety of other types of articles, such as product reviews.

There's certainly nothing wrong with publishing lots of product reviews, but now I'd like to get back to my roots and focus on a few writing specialties, like travel writing. In the New Year, I'd like to work more on developing some writing specialties in a few categories like travel, and eco-friendly living. By specializing more in my writing, this will help me "brand myself" and become better known as someone who writes about travel and green topics.

Begin a Parallel Career

My quest to write about travel led me to search for a second, complementary career, one that would pay the bills, offer meaningful work, and give me adequate time to write. I spent a lot of time looking for a new field, or a "parallel" career that could provide additional income and enhance my freelance writing. After considering lots of new fields like graphic and web design, I finally settled on education.

What could be more perfect for someone who wants to be a travel writer and cares about literacy? In my opinion, being an educator is a fantastic second career for a freelance writer. This year, I've been working toward a teaching assistant certificate and plan to work with preschool through second grade kids. I was blessed with a fantastic start in life, knowing how to read and write my name before I went to kindergarten, so I want to help children learn to read and write (plus all those summer vacations will be a boon to my travel writing career!)

Finish Solo Show

When I became a freelance writer, I shelved my dreams of being a professional actor. In 2009, I had the brilliant idea to have the best of both worlds (acting and writing) by creating my very first one woman show. The thought of writing and performing a solo show was scary and exhilarating. Armed with a few books about how to write a solo play and a burning desire to tell my story, I started writing the first draft of a one person show about my spiritual journey.

My play is an autobiographical solo show in the vein of Spalding Gray, memoir as performance told in twelve distinct chapters about my life. I even had dreams of self publishing my play as a small book with original artwork that illustrates important themes in my story. The writing flowed more easily than I anticipated and I was so proud to make it all the way to the final chapters, but one day, I stopped writing my solo play.

Why did I stop? I could say it was because of busyness, writer's block, or personal distractions, but I believe it was fear. When the first draft of my solo play is completed, it transitions from being a private work to a public performance. I realized I have certain hesitations about baring my soul onstage and revealing personal details about my journey. On the other hand, finishing my play is a cherished dream and I'm sure that performing my solo show will be a life altering experience for me. In 2011, I vow to push myself past my fears, finish the first draft of my play, and take my one woman show off the page and onto the stage.

Break into Print

When I wrote my first article in a travel writing workshop, I always believed it would be published in a print publication. But I was thrilled to have that first story published on a really cool travel site called Bootsnall.com, and after that, I kept on going writing for web sites. I really enjoy being a content provider and I'm proud of the work I've done online. It's great being able to communicate with my readers and get feedback about my articles.

Lately, I get the urge to see something I've written published in print, and I'd consider it a nice complement to the work I do as an online writer. How does a content writer for web sites break into print? In my opinion, it's done by thinking small and going local! If I set the writer resolution of breaking into the travel section of a large nationally renowned newspaper, I'm only setting myself up for heartbreak. It's smarter to write for my local weekly paper, a small press or perhaps get my foot in the door at a trade publication. In this New Year, I'll be thinking about getting my foot in the door at a local newspaper, or submitting an article to a smaller magazine, which should help me break into print.

Diversify Writing and Develop Income Streams

I'm a creature of habit, and when I find a site I like to write for, I tend to settle in. As a content writer, I've enjoyed the writer communities and income possibilities at sites like Associated Content and Xomba.com. However, I've been guilty of not diversifying my writing enough or actively developing new income streams.

In the New Year, I'll be looking for new opportunities within the Yahoo! Contributors Network, to write for other Yahoo! sites in addition to Associated Content. This year I was excited when one of my articles was picked up for distribution and appeared on the web site of a major U.S. company. Yahoo! offers all sorts of interesting and profitable opportunities to diversify my writing beyond Associated Content and I'll be exploring the Assignment Desk even more.

I also work with Google AdSense, and in 2011, I intend to search for some new sites to write for that will help me develop new income streams. I'll continue to work on Xomba, but I'll look into writing for other sites like Hubpages. As an online writer, it's important to diversify your efforts across a few web sites in order to develop multiple income streams from freelance writing.

I have a few more small goals for next year, like backing up my work and printing out copies of all my published articles and organizing them in binders, but these are my top 5 writer resolutions for 2011. I hope I've inspired you to review this past year as a writer and then set some reasonable and inspiring intentions for the rest of the New Year, and above all, keep on writing and dreaming!

Sources:

Personal experience as a freelance writer

http://www.google.com/adsense

http://www.xomba.com

http://www.Bootsnall.com