After much thought, I’ve decided that my writing plan for next year will be to not plan. Which is a bit backward as far as New Year’s Resolutions go, but with everything on the horizon adding writing goals on top is just begging for disaster.

So beyond posting the Saturday Story Prompts, I’m hereby declaring I am making no declarations! Not even if I will do NaNoWriMo or not… That’s right y’all, I’m going to pants 2021!

A Plan for Making No Plans

I’ve found that every time I start a project I go in search of Grand Plans to follow. I need spreadsheets, story maps, index cards, character sheets, sketches, printouts, wikis– all things that really aren’t needed to start writing.

So in 2021, I’m going to let myself play in all of that busy work.

I’m going to fix formatting issues, setup blog pages, build wiki’s, and organize drafts. I will make images and tag lines and Twitter quotes– all the things that are writing-tangential without really moving forward.

I’m going to spend 2021 doing a bunch of semi-useful nothing… and then in 2022, I’m going to start writing again for realz.

What’s the Point?

If I don’t need to do these things, why bother? Why not just throw up my hands at the 2021 chaos I know is coming and take a proper vacation?

Because when I do that, I tend to stop writing for years.

So I will keep doing things that aren’t really writing (and maybe some writing) and that will keep all my stories fresh in my mind. Like a long walk in the woods, maybe 2021 will help shake loose ideas that will fix plot holes and missing motivations.

With luck, 2021 will be spent dumping things in the stew pot and 2022 will be time to break out the ladle!

Keep your fingers crossed for me! 😁🤞