Writers share with us their New Year resolutions for art, creativity and life

Apart from research notebooks, I’ve never been one to keep a daily journal and I’d like to cultivate that habit this year. Also, I’m in awe of authors who write books that are succinct yet memorable, so I will be spending time reading and learning from shorter texts.

I don’t usually make New Year resolutions (I never keep them anyway) but this year I wanted direction, an anchor point to hold on to. So, my resolution for 2024 is to “live as closely to the art as possible”. That means writing the new book, but also cooking the meals of my novel world and drawing the illustrations that capture its tone. It means dancing (on land) and swimming in the sea and looking at my relationships with the unflinching but tender gaze that art asks of us – to see clearly, always, but with love.

Firstly, I’d like to set aside at least a couple of hours each day for reading, to explore new writers and genres, particularly science-fiction and horror, which I’m not familiar with and would like to explore. Secondly, I’d like to spend more time outdoors in nature. I think both these things will help me in my writing journey.

I think the only practical (and boring) resolutions I had were: Finishing the ongoing projects and travel for some time in the first half of the year and write something new from scratch in the second half of the year. Also, protecting my writing hours a tad better than what I did in 2023. And yes, need to write more poems in 2024 even if nobody reads poems anymore.