How to RESET YOUR WRITING LIFE Mid-Year
A 5 step reframe to get back on track and write your little heart out
I’ll start this by saying, I’m an eldest daughter. I love handwritten to-do lists and Notion boards and staying organized. I love the start of a new month or a new week. The new year is always full of possibilities. And even in my thirties, September, back-to-school time, still feels like a reset.
Naturally, this has filtered into my writing life, and I have learned what seasons of my life tend to be the most productive time to write and when I know I’ll be due for a break.
Now that it is June and we are smack dab in the middle of the year, it's a great time to take stock. How is your writing life going? Are you any closer to achieving the goals you may have set in January? Has your focus gotten away from you? Have normal life things derailed your progress?
Maybe you had big plans to finish a novel or publish an essay. Maybe you wanted to get your routine in gear so that it felt like it was working with your life, not against it. Maybe this was the year you were going to spend less time on your phone and more time writing.
Whatever your plans were, it's never too late. Today, I’m going to break down five simple steps that have helped me build momentum and keep my writing life consistent and fulfilling.
・❥・Get Honest with Yourself
This might be uncomfortable, but I think it’s the best first step. If you don’t get honest, you’ll stay busy around your writing without ever truly getting into it. You know what I mean— all those little ways we tell ourselves we are doing the work, but in reality, it's a distraction from what we really want to be doing.
Are you journaling instead of drafting? Planning instead of revising? Posting on social media instead of submitting to a magazine?
Here is a question I like to ask myself: What is really going on? If I dig a little deeper, I consider, what could be holding me back? What is it costing me to stay where I am? Am I benefiting from staying stuck?
Sometimes, staying where you are can feel safer than change. You know that old saying, “If I don’t start, I can’t fail.” Or maybe in this case it’s, “If I don’t query, I won’t get rejected.” Or “if I don’t start this novel, I won’t have to feel guilty about not finishing it.”
For me, this has looked like, “if I keep myself busy with admin tasks, I won’t have to sit with those feelings I want to explore in that essay I want to write.”
Ugh.
Are you holding onto any of this energy?
Without harsh judgment, as if you were your own best friend, take a moment to get honest about where you are in your writing life right now and what negative mindsets might keep you stuck.
・❥・Pick Your Focus Areas
We all love an action step, right? I find that it’s helpful to pick 2 or 3 areas in your writing life to focus on, rather than feeling overwhelmed by the idea that since something isn’t working, everything has to change. Odds are I’m always doing something “right,” and so are you. Just because we want a reset doesn’t mean we need a total overhaul.
Pick three areas of focus in your writing life. This could look like: novel work, writing practice, publishing goals, for example.
Then assess:
What’s working? What feels supportive and energizing?
What’s kinda meh? What is inconsistent? Not terrible, but not great either.
What’s clearly draining you? Or what just feels done?
So, for example, let’s take “writing practice.” Say you have been super consistent with your journaling. You’ve been writing every day, and it feels really aligned with what you need right now. It's your favorite way to start the day or unwind before bed.
Great! That’s working; there is no need to adjust it.
But then maybe you have been thinking a lot about your novel, jotting down notes, journaling about it, but you haven’t actually opened a Word doc to start writing. On the one hand, the daydreaming and idea generation stage is pivotal, and you have been really enjoying that part of the process. But on the other hand, you have this nagging feeling that you want to start actually drafting. But every time you go to do so, you read a craft book or spend more time journaling instead. You aren’t doing anything “wrong” per se, but it's not aligned with where you want to be.
And then say, you keep trying to make 5 am your writing time. You really want to be one of those authors who start their day bright and early with their creative work. But every time your alarm clock goes off, you dread that you made this decision. You drag yourself out of bed, and when you start writing, it feels uncomfortable and like a chore. That is clearly not working for you. You know you can’t keep doing this. That is something you need to let go of.
・❥・Look for Proof You’re a Writer
The thing about writing is that so much of the work is done behind the scenes. There isn’t a lot to show. When people we follow on social media post about their publications and accolades, we don’t see all the time they spend alone on their manuscript. The drafting and revising and revising again. I think this can lead us to forget our own progress or the small wins we have had this year.
There is evidence all around you of the patterns you have shifted or the progress you have made. These things remind you how capable you are. This writing life is not all about output. And if you only focus on what is wrong, you can get stuck in a thought loop that reinforces you are not doing enough or maybe that you aren’t enough as a writer.
So, I challenge you— make a list of visible and invisible wins. The invisible ones can be so important, but since no one was there to clap for us or even see it, we can forget they are praiseworthy.
One of my invisible wins this year is that I rewrote a pivotal scene in my novel for about the 20th time. And it finally works. And yes, my agent saw this and approved, but there wasn’t a fanfare or a grand announcement. But when I read that scene and realized it was finally doing all that I hoped it would, I felt full of joy. (There is nothing like that feeling!) That is a win I will cherish.
If you can’t think of anything, ask— what was difficult that I pushed through anyway? Or my favorite, what did I do this year that my past self would be proud of?
Build your proof that you are a writer. Because you are!
・❥・Raise Your Standards
This knocked me on my butt the first time I heard it: the quickest way to change your life is to change your standards.
Whoa.
When it comes to your writing life, you might still be stuck because you are willing to tolerate that stuckness. Maybe you haven’t written that novel because you haven’t been willing to stop doing something else during your writing time. Maybe you have been willing to give your energy over to your phone instead of your story. Maybe you have been available for every social event but haven’t said no when it falls during your writing time.
I spoke about this recently with a client of mine. She knew she was giving too much of herself and her time over to friends and her novel was suffering because of it. And because of that, she wasn’t able to fully relax when she was with her friends because she knew she wasn’t giving herself the space for her creative life. It can create frustration or agitation when we know we are not honoring our own boundaries and needs.
So let’s make some new standards. These are non-negotiables, which means you are not giving yourself permission to skip them. It's a standard, not a goal, after all. A goal is something we would like to accomplish. A standard is a baseline.
What is your new baseline for the rest of 2025?
・❥・Simplicity is Key
This reset isn’t about a major overhaul. It's about being aware, being honest, and slightly shifting our priorities to focus on our writing life in a way that is in alignment with our true selves. And success comes when we keep things simple. So once you are aware of what needs to change, pick 2 or 3 small moves you can make today or during the week. Things that you know you can actually achieve in that time frame. Sit at your desk for 15 minutes. Put your phone in the other room. Start typing.
Change and growth come with momentum. But that momentum doesn’t have to derail your life. Ask yourself what feels most important today. Focus on one area at a time before you stack on more things. Remember that not all actions have immediate results. That is so important in the writing life, where NOTHING ever feels immediate. Especially when you are working on something like a novel. A novel is all small wins and small moves. And thus, it can be easy to put off. It can feel more satisfying to work on your newsletter than a scene from your novel because you know the newsletter will be read immediately. But is that what you truly value?
As we already discussed, we are raising our standards. Take that first tiny, yet powerful, step today and see what happens.
Speaking of midyear revamps and resets, I just gave my coaching web page and offerings a makeover!
If you are looking for guidance in any of your writing life focus areas —whether that’s getting started and planting a seed, reworking a messy draft, or preparing to query— I have a coaching package for you. You don’t need someone to “fix” your writing. You need someone who gets it, who sees where you’re headed, and who can walk beside you as you get there. I’d love to support you on your journey! Book a free chat with me or check out my new coaching offering!
I needed to hear some of this!
Thanks for this Kailey!