New Year's Resolutions - Literary Style! Writers Share Their 2019 Goals

Every December, we make a list - not the one for Santa, but the other one: our resolutions. Whether it's hitting the gym more (*muffled laughter*), meal prepping every Sunday, or always taking the stairs, it seems like the same good intentions get bandied about every year. 

This year though, we want to know a different kind of resolution. So instead of asking about step counts and closet clean outs, we asked some of our favourite writers about their literary goals for 2019 - whether related to reading, writing, or otherwise. And they didn't disappoint! We got a great list of submissions that cover everything from finding the joy in reading to publishing new books. If you want to get inspired to pen your own literary resolutions, read on to hear from Lisa de Nikolits, Stacey May Fowles, Naseem Hrab, Jael Richardson, Rebcca Rosenblum, Daniel Scott Tysdal, and Vikki VanSickle.

Lisa de Nikolits:

My resolutions are to publish The Occult Persuasion and the Anarchist's Solution in Fall 2019 (with Inanna) and to write more short stories and try my hand at poetry at which I am not at all adept, but it's a great way to to give one's creative muscles a rigorous workout! 

Lisa de Nikolits' newest book is Rotten Peaches (Inanna Publications)

Stacey May Fowles:

Because I was on maternity leave for a large part of 2018, reading went from something I did for work to a rare, stolen moment of pure pleasure. Having these wonderful, quiet moments alone with a book, moments I previously took for granted, changed not only my relationship to reading, but *what* I was reading. I stopped picking up what I was "supposed to," or what I was assigned, and started reading a vast array of things I might not have considered in the past -- across genres, and subjects, and decades. That more expanded approach has totally rejuvenated my love of reading, and in 2019 I aim to maintain that love affair, regardless of what the new year brings.

Stacey May Fowles' newest book is Baseball Life Advice: Loving the Game that Saved Me (McClelland & Stewart Ltd.)

Naseem Hrab:

I'm really good at hiding behind comedy, so my goal is to be more real and vulnerable in my writing. AND BY "MY WRITING," I MEAN "MY LIFE."

Naseem Hrab's newest book is Ira Crumb Feels the Feelings (Owlkids)

Jael Richardson:

I can get really energized by creating. I have a good draft of my novel, a first draft of a graphic novel, and a few short stories I made that seem awesome to me, in theory. But there are problems with all of them. Some big structural problems in some and some smaller fine tuning issues in all of them. In 2019, I want to focus on FINESSE and FINISH. I want the things I’ve already created to reach their full potential. 

Jael Richardson's newest book is The Stone Thrower (Groundwood Books)

Rebecca Rosenblum:

I think I'll try an outline for my new novel in 2019. It'll be a first for me in a long time, and I've never successfully outlined anything, but my last book took well over a decade and I've heard you can tighten up the process a bit with an outline. We'll see...

Rebeca Rosenblum's newest book is So Much Love (McClelland & Stewart)

Daniel Scott Tysdal:

My New Year's resolution is to create more opportunities to teach contemporary Canadian literature and to bring the authors to class (whether physically or via Skype (which creates an amazing classroom-as-the-bridge-of-the-Enterprise experience)).

Daniel Scott Tysdal's newest book is Writing Creative Writing: Essays from the Field (Dundurn Press)

Vikki VanSickle:

My literary resolution is to give plotting in advance a go. I am more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants, meandering kind of writer, but my next project requires more preparation and exacting detail (time travel! Am I right?!).  I'm excited to see how the other half lives. 

Vikki VanSickle's newest book is The Winnowing (Scholastic Canada)

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Happy Holidays and warm New Year's Wishes from the whole Open Book team. Thanks for reading and for your love of great Canadian books! We'll be back with more literary goodness in the New Year.