Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.” ― Robert Burns, To A Mouse

Elisa’s Thought for the Week

Hi friend! I’m back with weekly snippets of writing thoughts. Sometimes they get a bit longer than a snippet, but that happens rarely — promise!

This week, I’m playing a guessing game about YOU.

Ready?

Picture it. Sicily. (Or wherever you might be on this planet.) 2021.

You said all throughout the year that you wished you were writing more.
…that you wished you knew what you wanted to write about.
…that you had a plan and process for sitting your butt in a chair and knocking your Great National Opus.

In all those thoughts and wishes, you muttered to yourself “I’ll do this more in 2022.”

Now it’s the end of January. 2022.

And you still aren’t writing more. You still don’t know what to write about. You still aren’t sitting your butt in a chair and knocking out your Great National Opus.

What are you going to do about it?

But really. I want to know! Please hit REPLY if you have goals and dreams for your writing plans in 2022. What are they? How are you getting there? What do you want to achieve and accomplish?

What You Missed on Craft Your Content …

Our articles have the same mission we do — to help you to make your own words even better!

  • Are you actually experiencing writer’s block, or has your brain been conditioned into believing your writing must follow a strict, repetitive structure to be any good? Writer Libby Walkup shares why you may be struggling with building a writing practice, and what can help.

CYC Elsewhere ...

Other places we’ve popped up around the interwebs.

  • Artists express themselves in various ways through their lives — from the first novel to the paintings (or stick figure art) you make at home. In 'Why I Am Not a Painter’ , my feature on the Music Talks podcast, I was asked to choose one song to represent each decade I’ve been alive. Do you know how hard this is?! Listen to my song picks from the five decades I’ve been kicking around this blue marble, and learn about the song I use to decide if I should break up with someone.

In Other Reading This Week …

Need more insights and inspiration for your writing and mindset?

  • In some of the best tweet-length marketing advice we saw last month, GARRET PR compiles tips from 22 marketing experts to guide brands as we move into the new year.

  • Going on a journey to discover yourself? Like the asker in this column your cabin-in-the-woods self-discovery may look a little — or a lot — different than you thought. Check out this advice by columnist Blair Braverman for some strongly recommended reflection.

  • Our brains peak in productivity at certain points in the day, also known as our biological ‘prime time’. In this post by Trello, learn what a biological prime time is, how to discover yours, and how to use that knowledge to get more done each day.

  • Did you know there’s a word for your next-door neighbour? Or for someone so boring they’re only tolerated because they pay the bill? No? We didn’t either. In this volume, Merriam-Webster shares their first Great Big List Of Beautiful And Useless Words.

  • Of funny, weird, beautiful things: Austin Cleon’s “I declare it art.”

Weekly Writing Tip …

A quick chance to learn from the masters.

Being a reader is sort of like being president, except reading involves fewer state dinners, usually. You have this agenda you want to get through, but you get distracted by life events, e.g., books arriving in the mail/World War III, and you are temporarily deflected from your chosen path. ” ― Nick Hornby, The Polysyllabic Spree

For the Upcoming Week …

Because we all need a good chuckle to start things off right!

…Poor buoy.

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(Image Credit: War and Peas on Instagram)

Till next time!

Elisa