I’ve got a square Post-It note on the pin-up board above my desk that’s a little bit overflowing with writing-related paraphernalia. Luckily, though, since one of my cats developed an obsession with drawing pins, she’s managed to pull down a lot of the stuff I didn’t need any more (along with some sharp pointy drawing pins that I’ve found her chewing away on at times, and chased her round the house to retrieve. She has a death wish).

Anyway, since she removed one layer of junk, this Post-It note has become highly visible again after a few months of hibernation. It’s a note I made after reading some blog post somewhere – actually I suspect it’s from Men With Pens when they were doing a lot of fiction writing posts. The note says:

Choose one thing to write today, and write it well.
My addition: this should be writing that I’m not getting paid for.

I really liked this idea at the time, and think it’s important for my fiction writing, but I’ve never stuck to it. However, since my work has become so computer-based I’ve lost the habit of journalling those tiny fiction writing ideas or prompts that still do jump into my head. For example, just now I thought of a strange conversation I had with a colleague at school this morning about what his wife said and what she really meant, and it seems like there’s much more of a story in that. This is the kind of thing I’d like to do some free-writing or fiction extract kind of writing about each day – this is the kind of thing I could choose to write every day, and write well. And on days when I have enough time to get some really “serious” fiction writing done, then I can be sure I write that well, too.

That’s my resolution, from today, to write one thing every day, and to write it well. Fiction. Good fiction. A bit of a novel, or a bit of a short story, or a bit of something that could turn into either. Even though I have times where relatively good fiction flows out of me, I’m still somehow out of practice, and can’t always write “beautifully”, and this should help. So I’ll keep that sticky note in front of me – thanks to my cat for uncovering it!

Next day edit: The cat decided to pull down that Post-It note last night and I’ve just found it face down on the floor underneath my desk. Hope this is not a sign of things to come for this resolution.