Late late resolutions!

So far this year I have mostly sulked, fretted, refreshed my inbox and wondered what on earth I keep punishing myself for. I have not done much writing or actually had any enthusiasm to do any. The spreadsheets that I downloaded at the end of last year, ready to fill with my wonderful daily totals, are there in Excel but other than share them with my Minxy friends I haven't done a thing with them.

Something occurred to me after we Minxes had one of our wonderful Skyping sessions, during which I was given several gentle kicks up the rear. For the last couple of years at least I've worked so hard at writing within the boxes that category romance requires. I've tried to venture out of the box a few times, or at least bend the sides a little, but that didn't seem to work.

But there's something I haven't done. I haven't kept going with the next ms while one is away. I've sat and found other things to occupy me. Fast tracks, pitches, contests. If I see any of those words I'm totally there. With bells on. Even if it's a genre I don't usually write. When really I need to work on a ms and see it through.

So my resolution as we are heading towards the second month of the year is to spend the next 11 months ignoring anything that promises* a shortcut to being published. I have had a long talk with myself (I do this a lot, please tell me I'm not alone) and convinced myself that by working hard and writing the stories I want to write I have a much better chance of success.

What do you do when it all seems so hard and it would be easier to quit writing and do something much easier instead?!

*these opportunities DO NOT promise a quick way to publication but somehow that's how my brain interprets them.