Use Your Skills to Envision Your Perfect Writing Year

I employ one additional exercise each year to help me create a perfect writing year. I put this to use in addition to creating a vision map and writing goals and lists, as I discussed in previous posts. I put my writing skills to use to envision my year.

Writing a vision can prove a fun writing exercise for writers — especially very creative writers. Here’s what’s involved:

1. Write about the upcoming year as if it has already occurred. In other words, imagine it in the past tense. I usually start mine by saying, “It’s January 31st, 2012 (or whatever year it might be), and it has been the most wonderful, perfect, fulfilling, rewarding, and surprising year ever!”

2. Write about what happened to you during the year in detail. Include every aspect of your writing life . You can, of course, include your personal life, too, if you like.

3. As your write, try to really place yourself in the situation so you feel the excitement, pleasure, satisfaction, joy, etc. Fill your writing with descriptions that elicit emotions. Show…don’t tell. Draw the reader into the piece.

When you are done, commit to reading your vision at least one time per day.

Seem like a silly task? I have a friend who does this each year. She is vigilant about reading her vision. I’ve never known anyone who achieves her goals and manifests her dreams as consistently as this friend. I’m not anywhere near as good about sticking with it. However, I know from my friend’s experience that it works. And when I do read mine consistently, I do, indeed, see results.

Put all these tools together, a written vision, a vision map and your goals and to-do lists, and you will definitely achieve your writing goals this year.

Have a great weekend! And consider joining me  in New York City for the Writer’s Digest Conference. This is a great time to catch up with me on the East Coast! Use this code: WDCSPEAKER12 and you’ll save $115 on the full conference registration (new registrants only). Register here: http://bit.ly/WDC2012