Some years ago I ditched New Year’s resolutions, which felt more like giving up something for Lent—i.e., depriving myself of something I wanted—than evolving myself into the person I wanted to become. In place of making a resolution, I began choosing a “word of the year,” a strategy I learned from then singer-songwriter Christine Kane, now president and founder of Uplevel You. Choosing a word for the year is akin to setting an intention that guides you toward your purpose, moving you from where you are now to where you want to be. Instead of pushing upstream toward a hard-to-achieve resolution, you embody your word and allow it to permeate your consciousness. In a sense, you become your word as you take action in your day-to-day life that puts your word into practice. Your life, then, begins to mirror your word. Your word becomes your M.O.

Over these past couple of weeks, as I reflected on 2013 and set my sights on 2014, I realized that in previous years I’d unintentionally chosen Writing Words, words that would help me to “uplevel” my writing. In hindsight this is not surprising given the fact that writing holds my sense of purpose, my sense of self. Indeed, like most of the women writers I work with, writing is the foundation of who I am. When I prioritize my writing, I am more present in every other area of my life. Life goes better. On the flipside, if I allow my writing to slip from my priority list, a restless anxiety and hard-to-place irritability pervade my daily life. I feel drained and out of sync. No wonder I have unwittingly chosen, year after year, a word to guide my writing: my writing guides me.

What better way, then, to begin a new year than to deliberately choose a Writing Word that puts your writing in the spotlight of your life and encourages you to become the writer you want to be?

How to choose your Writing Word

First, take stock. Notice the gap between where your writing is now and where you want it to be. What word or phrase will help you to bridge this gap? If you are an aspiring writer, perhaps the word write will move you from where you are—apsiring—to where you want to be—writing. Write the word write on an index card and post it in your writing space. Allow it to remind you of your intention to write. Then, act on your word: write.

On the other hand, if you are someone who has been writing for years but who has drawers full of incomplete writing pieces, perhaps the word completion would return you to your work with a renewed commitment to complete one piece at a time. Post the word completion in your writing space and allow it to permeate your consciousness; become a writer who completes her writing projects.

Your Writing Word can be a word that underscores a tangible outcome you want to achieve in your writing, such as publish or submit. Or your word might echo a next step you want to take; for example, if you write alone and never show your work to others, your Writing Word might be a phrase: write with others or writing community.

Perhaps you are successful in one area of writing, such as scholarly or academic writing, but you want to write your life experiences. Your Writing Word might be memoir or personal writing.

Notice how the Writing Word in each of the above examples heeds a want or desire. That is no accident. The purpose of your Writing Word is to help you become the writer you want to become.

If a Writing Word does not come to you immediately, write your way toward it. Pose the question What do I want for my writing in 2014? in your journal or notebook. Set your timer for ten minutes and allow the answer to this question to emerge from the tip of your pen. Be gentle with yourself if it takes you a while to discover what you want as a writer. As women, we often become separated from our deep wants and desires (and, yes, writing is a deep and worthy desire). Sometimes it takes time and space and reflection and an honest tuning into ourselves for our desires to re-emerge.

Ultimately, your Writing Word should put you in sync with your Self. When you light upon it, it will resonate to your core. You will experience a full-body knowing. A smile. A yes.

This year, I’ve settled on vision. Writing memoir is about seeing our deeper story clearly and making sense of that story for our readers. I want to trust my vision for my memoir. The word vision reminds me to “see with my true eyes” and write what  only I can see the way I see it.

How about you? What’s your Writing Word for 2014? Let us know in the comments below or on the Writing Women’s Lives facebook page. Together let’s encourage each other to become the writers we want to be in 2014.

Happy New Writing Year!