Writing Plan for 2024

Structure is the foundation for creativity

Happy New Year to you all. I embraced my annual week of being in ‘Goblin Mode.’

It’s the one time of year when no one expects an immediate response and is in holiday mode, even if they have to work for part of it.

I switched from ‘producer’ to ‘consumer’ for the week and enjoyed immersing myself in other people’s worlds. I read David Copperfield which was a delight. How Dickens produced that in serial format, I have no idea. The characters and settings were a delight.

I also finished, Edith Mirrielees’ ‘Story Writing’ (more on that below).

I watched wonderful movies too: ‘Wonka,’ ‘The Wizard of Oz, ‘The Big Sleep’ (Bogart version), ‘Casablanca,’ ‘Zulu,’ and ‘King Kong’ (1933 version).

And, the usual Christmas stuff of board games, walking and spending time with my family.

I am refreshed, invigorated and ready for 2024.

What are your writing plans for 2024?

I say plans, rather than goals because it seems that many people have goals that are unwritten and unplanned. In my day job as a sports coach, I tell athletes that ‘An unwritten goal is a wish.’

‘I wish I could write more.’ ‘I wish I could write a novel.’ ‘I wish I could lose weight.’ And then a list of reasons appears at the end of the year as to why nothing changed.

Consider this statement:

‘I am going to stay off my phone until 08:00 and spend ten minutes writing with pen and paper at the kitchen table at 07:00 every morning.’

That seems like a plan. The aspiring writer knows that the phone is a distraction and has put a specific time, place and method into their plan.

You may think it is modest compared to a grandiose statement, but it is better to be consistent and build from there rather than fail under the weight of obligation and lack of structure.

So, I ask again, what are your writing plans for 2024?

My writing plan for 2024

My overall goal is to be more structured in the planning stage and to be ruthless in the revision stage.

1. Write a short story using the ‘Lester Dent Pulp Fiction Formula’ as a blueprint. January 2nd-12th. Let it sit in the metaphorical drawer and revise it 4 times before submitting it.

2. Revise and restructure my 80,000-word YA Historical Fantasy Novel, ‘Stone and Water.’ January 13th-February 28th.

3. Plan, outline and write the first draft of my next novel, ‘The Letter,’ March-June. Leave it in the drawer for a month, and write the second draft from August to October. Third draft November and December.

4. In June, my novel, ‘The Poster,’ will be published so I will be promoting and organising around that. The awards ceremony is on July 18th so I anticipate work around that.

5. I shall continue my online weekly ‘Write-Ins’ for inspiration and support.

Caveat: I have applied for a writing mentorship programme and won’t find out until March if I am successful.

Improving my writing

Mirrielees taught Steinbeck at Stanford.

Reading the above book was a delight. It is not for the beginner. Mirrielees writes like a school madam from a 1930s school dishing out strict instructions and lashing samples of weak prose with acerbic wit.

It’s amusing from the sidelines but I winced as I recognised all the mistakes I have made over the past 5 years in her criticisms. Reading this was a much-needed kick up the backside. I am inspired to improve my writing this year. I shall quote more from this book in my next post but I shall leave you with this.

“Writing can never be other than a lonely business. Only by repeated, unaided struggles to shape his yet unwritten material to his own purpose does a beginner grow into a writer. There are a few helps towards general improvement which it is feasible to offer, there are many specific helps in the work of revision, but help in the initial shaping of a story there is none. That is the writer’s own affair.”

I hope you are inspired to write and to create a plan. Thank you for reading.