Writing Assignment: Write Your Writing Plans For The Next Year

The new year approaches. You can sit down every day and ask yourself, “what should I write today?” or you can work from a plan.

Either might work for you. But writing from a plan can free you from the anxiety that comes from the blank page.

A writing plan can be very broad. But it does require real details.

• A plan is not a resolution. Resolving to write every day is not a plan.
• A plan is not a goal. Committing to write 2,000 words every day is not a plan.

A plan is the how. A good plan has just enough detail to get things moving and yet allow you the freedom to make changes when needed.

Here’s an excerpt of my 2014 Writing Plan:

1. In early January I will review the compiled research on the Thurber/McNulty plan.
2. I will read through the completed script pages.
3. After the first two steps are complete I will rewrite a full script outline.
4. With the outline I will dissect the existing script and reassemble it to the new outline.
5. At that point I will begin writing new material and rewriting the existing material, as needed.
6. When the draft is complete I will begin making inquires to arrange a table read with actors to hear the script and make notes and collect impressions.

And so forth. There is no “write x words per day” or “Act One complete on January 28.” The plan is the how. That’s enough for me to figure out the steps in-between.

For today’s assignment, write a writing plan for the coming year. Select your projects at a high level and create enough of the “how” to be confident that you can complete the plan. If you are not confident, add steps that will help you find out what you need to know and move on with your plan.

And one more thing: A plan is not a contract. When you discover that you can’t complete the project they way you planned, throw out the plan and write a new one.

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Randy Murray

Writing Assignment: Write Your Writing Plans For The Next Year by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.