How to achieve your new year’s writing goals
BY Katie Smart
1st Jan 2025
Whether you’re launching into a new writing project or trying to wrap up your current one to start pitching to literary agents, the new year is the perfect time to refresh your creative goals, look at where you're at on your writing journey and think about where you’d like to be.
The key to sticking with any resolution is to make sure the goals you set are attainable and sustainable. Start small and work your way towards your ‘big’ goal – whether the aim is to write a complete book, edit a manuscript or just to write something (anything) every week.
Read to the end of the blog to find out about our writing goal themed #WriteCBC challenge taking place on Bluesky from 2 Jan to 3 Jan! (Take part and you might win a free course place worth £230).
Our top five tips for making this year work for your writing are:
1. Set your ‘big’ goal for 2025
Do you want to finish the first draft of your novel by the end of the year? Perhaps you’d like to get to work on your memoir? Maybe you want to turn your notebook thoughts and ideas into poetry? Or write at least four new short stories and submit them to competitions? Whatever your ‘big’ goal is, write it down. Put your ‘big’ goal on a post-it and stick it somewhere you can see every day or lock it away in a drawer and return to it when you need motivation.
Now you can plan what small steps you should take to make your bigger goal a reality. Set yourself more manageable goals along the way to reach it and establish the habits that will help you get a bit a closer to your dream. This could be anything from word count targets, sticking to a writing routine or taking a writing course to help you on your way.
2. Develop your writing routine
Find your groove and get into a regular rhythm. If you’re serious about working on a book, the best way to show yourself and your writing respect is to find a regular time you can dedicate to it. A writing project can be both exhilarating and, at times, a difficult slog. It’ll completely fall away if you don’t keep it up. It’s hard to hold your whole story in your head, so that you can get down to work quickly and easily – if you leave long gaps between writing sessions and work erratically, you’ll be giving yourself an uphill struggle and you’re much more likely to give up.
What a writing routine actually looks like will vary from person to person. It could be the famous dawn session that many people wake up to each day. It might mean grabbing an hour to write every afternoon while your child sleeps, or taking your laptop or notebook on your train journeys to and from work. Perhaps you can manage three hours on a Sunday afternoon but none during the week at all. Regularise those writing hours as much as you can – stick to the schedule and make sure that others around you understand that it’s important for you to be able to do this. Every little helps, so just keep putting one word in front of the other, and try to write as often as you can so you have some continuity.
3. Read widely
Great writers should also be great readers. You need to understand trends and know what’s working in the market, as well as learning your craft by examining how the experts do it. Why not make yourself a long list of books to read this year? Include the latest prize-winners and bestsellers, classics you haven’t got around to yet, novels that have been turned into films. Ask friends what their favourite books are and add those to the list. Be sure to read within your chosen genre, but also remember to read outside of it. You never know what helpful techniques you’ll discover and be able to borrow for your own work. Note how language and sound are used for effect in poetry, how worlds are constructed in fantasy, how suspense is created in thrillers and how chemistry is crafted in romance.
4. Free yourself up
Much as a writing routine and goals are important, sometimes those words just don’t come flowing out. If you get stuck, try stepping away from the keyboard and doing some work in a notebook away from your desk – perhaps working on a scene concerning one or more of your characters that isn’t even intended for your work-in-progress – or just doing some free writing with prompts. You may not be adding to your manuscript’s word count, but sometimes it’s good to take the pressure off yourself, and you might find yourself making real progress when you least expect it.
Take the pressure off writing and return to the joy of it. Try some automatic writing exercises – for example, set aside ten minutes a day to write, without the goal being for it to be read by anyone else. By writing what comes to your head without stopping to edit or criticising, you’ll stretch your writing muscles. You’ll be surprised what gems you’ll discover when you write just for yourself – rather than aiming for something polished or finished.
5. Find your writing community
If you’re feeling a bit stuck, writing courses are a great way to find a group of fellow writers who are actively engaged in honing their skills – you never know you might just find a beta reader for life. You could also consider joining a local or online writing group or reaching out to other authors on social media.
As well as providing moral support, connecting with other writers might help you to discover a new writing process or gain useful feedback on your work. Receiving critical comment can be difficult but it’s a vital part of learning to write well. Listen to what your readers say they like and don’t like. Ultimately, it’s your work and their ideas might not resonate with you at all, in which case you can ignore them. But if they’re questioning something, it’s always good practice to ask yourself why.
Courses to help you achieve your 2025 writing goals
If your goal is . . . Establish a writing routine
If you want support as you embark on the mission to writing regularly, our 30-Day Writing Bootcamps are perfect. For just £40 you’ll get an energising and enriching 30 days of writing, supported by online lessons. We have two writing bootcamps, each comprise 30 days of teaching videos, tasks, writing tips and prompts – created, designed and delivered to you by CBC’s founder and MD, Anna Davis. The first bootcamps of the year start on 13 Jan.
If your goal is . . . Start a new project
Our Writing Your First Page course is perfect for anyone who wants to start writing – or who wants to rethink the opening of a story-in-progress. On this one-day intensive Zoom course, award-winning author Kirsty Logan will share her advice on how to develop characters, build a story-world and explore the themes you want to write about – and then how to use one or more of these key elements to generate a killer first page. We are now open for enrolment for this course to run on Zoom from 10am to 5.30pm on 22 Jan and again on 19 Mar.
Discover all starting to write courses
If your goal is . . . Take your writing seriously
Our flagship Writing Your Novel courses are designed for writers who are serious about developing their novel to its full potential. You can choose to study with us online or in London for three or six months. You’ll get teaching from acclaimed authors and publishing professionals as well as feedback during writing workshops and one-to-one tutorials. Our Writing Your Novel – Six Months courses start in Feb, apply by 19 Jan.
If your goal is . . . Finish your manuscript
Reach the end of your tricky first draft on our online Finish Your Novel – Eight Months course, with teaching and feedback from three expert author-tutors and a supportive peer group. This course will run from 17 Mar to 11 Nov. Apply by 23 Feb.
If your goal is . . . Learn how to self-edit
Discover our founder Anna Davis’s tried-and-tested method for editing. On our one-day Zoom course The Rewrite Doctor Anna will walk you through ‘The Rewrite Doctor’, her novel editing method (as featured in our bestselling Edit & Pitch Your Novel course). This is the perfect next step for writers who have finished the first draft of their novel and want to learn how to knock it into better shape. The course will run from 10am to 5.30pm on 29 Jan and again on 20 Mar.
If your goal is . . . Submit to literary agents
Learn what literary agents are looking for and what makes a successful pitch on our one-day Pitching Your Novel course (runs on 28 Jan and 20 Mar). Or to get the inside track from a top literary agent with over 30 years of experience, enrol on our four-week online The Literary Agent – with Jonny Geller course.
Discover all edit & pitch courses
#WriteCBC Jan 2025
To celebrate the new year, for this month’s #WriteCBC we’re asking you to share your 2024 writing goal with us on Bluesky @cbcreative.bsky.social.
We can't wait to read your goals! One winner will be awarded a free short online writing course place (worth up to £230). Two runners-up will be selected to win £50 course gift vouchers.
The competition will start at 11am on Thurs 2 Jan and run until Fri 3 Jan. To enter writers should reply to the pinned post on our Bluesky account with their writing goal for 2025. Remember to use the hashtag #WriteCBC.
Enter by 10am on Fri 3 Jan for a chance to win. Prizes will be announced at 11am on Fri 3 Jan. (Times stated as GMT.)
Congratulations @fitcherslane.bsky.social, you've won a place on the online writing course of your choice (worth up to £230).
Well done @hjpriestley.bsky.social and @larab84.bsky.social. You have each won a £50 course voucher to be used on our online courses.
Please email help@curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to claim your prizes.
Full prize T&Cs below.
Terms & Conditions
- Only one entry per person per month, please.
- Over-18s only.
- This competition is just on Bluesky – there isn't another way of taking part.
- Winners and discount winners can redeem their free place/£50 voucher for use on any of the short online courses listed on this page. Prizes are not eligible for use on courses that are not found on that web page.
- If you're in receipt of more than one discount offer, you can only trade in one per course enrolment.
- Free places valid only on courses running in 2025.
- Winners and runners-up cannot exchange their prize for cash.
- If a winner has already paid and enrolled on all the applicable courses (yet to run), we will refund the £230/£50 fee discount (as relevant).
- If a winner or runner-up has already taken all relevant courses/bootcamps, they may gift their prize (as relevant) to another writer.