Encouragement for Your 2026 Writing Goals

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that.” ~ Galatians 6:4 (MSG)

Much of this post I shared with you last year in my New Year’s blog post. I did not set out to
repeat myself this year, but as I read last year’s words they spoke to my heart again and I pray
they might to each of you also!

My house is decorated. The shopping is done. It’s time to start some baking and enjoy this last week before Christmas Day (as I write this post). Christmas in our house looks much different these days. When you spent years with a household of four energetic boys and their friends at Christmas it is quite an adjustment to go back to just being two of you. I am actually still learning to cook for two instead of six! We can get so tired of leftovers.

I love the lives my sons have created for themselves. I celebrate whichever ones we get to see
over Christmas. And even with the quietness of the house nowadays, I still love the magic and
miracle of Christmas!

But this post is for New Year’s Eve. The thing is I am not big on New Year’s Eve celebrating.
Once I finally got old enough to stay up and watch the ball drop I found out it was not as big a
deal as I thought. I’d much rather spend my New Year’s Eve at home in front of a roaring fire in
the fireplace, beside the light of my Christmas tree, reading a good book, and drinking French
Vanilla Mocha. Care to join me?

As you read this post everything on TV has already switched to after-Christmas sales, the year in
review, and New Year’s resolutions. Ugh! Yep, another thing of which I am not a huge fan. I
know very few people who keep their resolutions. And I know many people who beat themselves
up when resolutions are broken.

In the beginning of this year I did set a list, a lofty list, of my writing goals for 2025. And, guess
what? Pretty much none of them were met. But, also guess what? That’s okay. Years ago at an
ACFW Conference, Allen Arnold taught about writing WITH God and only WITH Him. I wrote
WITH Him this year. We didn’t get my manuscripts completed, but we did get a couple of Table
Talk speeches written for the women’s group at my church. And we have two almost complete
manuscripts to finish and publish in 2026. And I feel His hand in everything I write. This writing
process, while it is slower, it is a more beautiful one. I end this year, with nothing I had hoped to
publish published. But I end this year with two better stories that should be edited and published
during 2026—if that is the plan my Savior has for us to do together the coming year.

Did you make writing goals for 2025? Did you meet them? My friends, I think those questions
are not the important ones. Try these two: Did you do life WITH your Savior this year? Did you
write WITH Him this year? And, know this, he is not waiting to judge or condemn you, He loves
creating WITH you.

I have shared these before, but at the end of the year and before we start a new one with its goals and challenges, maybe these little tidbits from other authors will help you begin 2026 writing WITH Him. And once again, Allen Arnold, I thank you for your teaching.

“To experience the fantastical you have to step into mystery.” ~Allen Arnold

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end!” ~Allen Arnold.

“We owe our readers fresh words to describe the rain.” ~By Cunning & Craft, page 28

“Good writing is supposed to evoke in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feel of
being rained upon.” ~ E.L.Doctorow

“Don’t look for the right word… look for the exact word.” ~Angela Hunt

“The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as that between
lightning and a lightning bug.” ~Mark Twain

“A writer begins by breathing life into his characters. But, if you are very lucky, they breathe life
into you.” ~Cary Phillips

“It’s time to stop telling stories and start making movies—on paper.” ~Jeff Gerke

“God doesn’t require that we succeed. He only requires that we try.” ~Mother Theresa

“A writer must have all the confidence in the world when writing the first draft and none
whatsoever when editing subsequent drafts.” ~ T. Davis Bunn

“Anyone can write one book and perhaps even sell it, and in the rarest of circumstances, become
famous from it—because lightning does strike. To make a career of writing, though, you must
take up the burden of making lightning strike regularly, where and when you want it.”
~Holly Lisle

Friends, enjoy your Christmas, loaf a while, but not too long. The world needs your stories.
Here’s to hoping you make lightning strike! And in the words of the Greek artist, Apelles, “Nula
dies sine linea,” which means ‘not a day without a line.’

Chandra Lynn Smith is a Certified Professional dog trainer and writer of contemporary fiction filled with inspiration, intrigue, romance, and dogs. She is a 2015 American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Contest winner with her novella, Turtle Box Memories. She has also been a 2-time semi-finalist with To Follow a Dream and To Chase a Dream. Coming soon are To Rescue a Dream and Song in the Night, the sequel to The Light Holding Her. Chandra and her husband live on a small farm in South Central Pennsylvania which is often filled with all four sons, wives, beautiful granddaughters, friends, and anywhere from four to nine “grand dogs” Find Chandra at www.amazon.com/author/chandralynnsmith.