Instead of setting ourselves up for disappointment, we can break that big yearly vision into something more flexible and achievable: quarterly writing goals.

This week we are going to dive into things that can help to trip us up six to eight weeks out from our grand plans. We will look at how to stay motivated as a writer through those tough days we all have. This week will focus less on specific goals and more about sustaining creative energy, which drives us to a the end.

According to U.S. News & World Report around 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February. So, if you have made it to March, you are doing better than 80% of people already! Behavioral psychology research tells us that motivation drops significantly 6-8 weeks after initial goal setting, and in a study done by University of Scranton Research only about 9% of people report actually successfully achieving their resolutions at all.

It all started with a bad ending. I have always loved writing. I have stories saved that I wrote on summer vacation when I was in third...