A.J.’s 2016 New Years Resolutions

My New Year’s Writing Resolution for 2016: To Overcome Fear 

“Always do what you are afraid to do.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“He is able who thinks he is able.” ~Buddha

Melanie Bernard asked me what my New Year’s resolutions for 2016 are. Excellent question. I’m planning my year rather carefully, contemplating on what I want to achieve the next year, as I work towards publishing my book “A Heart of Fire”, which is the first book in a YA fantasy series, and is currently written in Norwegian.

What is the next step on my way to become a published writer? I know what it is – and it is time to face it.

My main New Year’s resolution for 2016 is to beat my writing fears.

Two of my fears are fear of failure and fear of success. 

What if my writing is bad and nobody reads my stories? Yet what will happen to my life if someone DOES like and read my stories?

Being a writer holds so much uncertainty! It feels like a paradox, the fear of failure and the fear of success, but I actually think they are a rather common combination, and a very restraining one.

How can we beat our fears? In addition to acknowledging them, learning to relax and imagining desirable outcomes, I believe the main way to truly overcome fears is to feel the fear and then to do it anyway.

That’s basically my plan.

I’m going to start small. Baby steps will get us there just fine! So I will start out with something I do know that I can do. I will do it and feel good about it. Then take another baby step. With baby steps I plan to conquer a mountain. Although I will probably not have reached my main goal in 2016, I will at least conquer the next mountain on my way to become a fulltime writer.

So here they are, my three very concrete New Year’s resolution steps to conquer my writing fears:

1. Translate “A Heart of Fire” from Norwegian to English – I’ve already started and you can follow my word count progress on my blog.
2. Hold a crowdfunding campaign for “A Heart of Fire” to be able to pay an editor who is an English native speaker (which I’m not), offering copies of the finished book in different forms (e-book, paperback or hardback copy) as gifts to the contributors.
3. Self-publish “A Heart of Fire” as e-book on Amazon.

I already have the cover. All I need is the text in English. It is doable. With baby steps.

“Baby steps” is my motto for 2016.

Good luck with your next year of writing, fellow writers! What is YOUR plan and YOUR mountain in 2016? Break it down to baby steps. Then do it.

Remember to celebrate every success! I’m cheering for you!

Best wishes,
A.J. Lundetræ

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Author bio short:
Hi, I’m A. J. Lundetræ, a writer of YA fantasy, epic fantasy and historical novels (Viking era). I have created three series and one stand-alone book, all of which are still unpublished. I am currently translating “A Heart of Fire”, the first book of a YA fantasy series, from Norwegian to English, planning to publish it as an e-book in 2016.