It’s that time again…

It’s a new year! A new you! For only $19.99 per day, you can have the ____ of your dreams!

It’s a new year, so what are your goals? Be sure to write down everything you’ve ever wanted to achieve and make it a goal in January!!

Obviously, I jest, but I often feel a bit of pressure in January to be “new.” There’s nothing wrong with that—after all, we are called to be new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17) and the start of a new year is the perfect time to evaluate goals and priorities—which is good!

However, sometimes January can feel overwhelming. All those shiny conferences, groups to join, classes to take…the list of possibilities are endless, and I want to do them all!! I usually jump on the bandwagon of new possibilities, beginning January with fresh ideas and new goals. It’s refreshing—except when it isn’t.

And for me, this year, it isn’t.

This year, I want to get rid of old things. In fact, I want a “light” year and that means I must let go. Simplify. It feels like the process of revising in writing. I’ve set up goals in previous years that I’m still working toward and now it’s time to weed out what isn’t necessary. It’s akin to “killing your darlings.”

If you haven’t heard this phrase, it means to cut precious words from your manuscript. William Faulkner wrote, “In writing, you must kill all your darlings,” equating self-editing to a dire process.

Tips for Letting Go

Does anyone else struggle with doing this? I KNOW I need to get rid of words in my story. I KNOW I need to cut back on some commitments in life. However, in some ways, they all seem important. How do I know which things I need to let go of? Here are a few tips I’m considering this year:

1. Redundant Information. In writing, we don’t need to say it twice. It’s repetitively redundant. Readers are smart enough to catch it the first time. In life, one-and-done. In the same way, once a situation is over, we don’t need to do it again. Replaying it in my mind over and over again will never change the past. We get to focus on the present and the future.
2. Drop anything that doesn’t move the plot forward. There may be room in our written work for a descriptive sentence here and there, but readers need to feel that every sentence is taking them further in their journey. And we do, too. Feeling stuck in life can be a result of dragging extra baggage around that isn’t moving us forward in our goals.
3. Get rid of tangents or distractions. If we are writing a story about a child looking for a lost dog and suddenly, we spend two pages talking about a bunny, readers will wonder what is going on. It won’t make sense. Likewise, if we have a goal of writing x number of words each day but spend precious minutes scrolling social media (couldn’t be me…), it leaves us questioning what’s important.
4. Beware complex sentence structures. Any sentences that are too long or convoluted must be simplified for clarity. In life, anything that is confusing or weighing us down needs to be clarified. Maybe it’s a confusing relationship, so we have a conversation. Maybe it’s an overly full schedule, so we pick our top three-five commitments that must stay and get rid of others.

Whether it’s in our writing or in our lives, if we aren’t quite sure what to let go of, we can continue to seek the heart of God and ask Him to guide us. He faithfully leads us, always. Isaiah 48:17 (The Message): “I am God, your God, who teaches you how to live right and well. I show you what to do, where to go.”

Do you have anything you’re letting go of in your life or in your writing? I’d love to hear them so we can all learn. That way, as we all revise our writing and our lives, we are more able to focus, providing clarity for what is truly important.

Marci Whitehurst is a former educator, theater and speech coach, a children’s author, rancher’s wife, and mother of three who lives on a cattle ranch in Montana. Her passion is sharing His Light and Life with a wounded world through stories, poems, and blog posts. She blogs about connecting with the kid inside all of us at www.marciwhitehurst.subtack.com. She can also be reached through her website at www.marciwhitehurst.com. Find her on X(Twitter) at @marciwhitehurst and on instagram @marci_whitehurst.