Building writing momentum is about starting now, not waiting for the new year!
If you’ve ever promised yourself that this year would be your year as a writer, only to find November and December rolling around to once again bring disappointment, you may be tempted to throw up your hands and take some much-needed time off.
Sometimes, that may be the right move. But here’s what often happens: if you tell yourself you’ll rest through the holidays and restart in January, your January probably won’t start out very well.
The truth is that if you want 2026 to be your year as a writer, you need to start now. Here’s why waiting until after the holidays doesn’t work the way you think it will.
Why Stopping Through the Holidays Backfires
You probably think taking a break over the holidays makes sense. You’ll rest, recover, buy a new planner, write down some fresh goals, and come back strong in January, right?
The problem is what actually happens.
The first week of January arrives, and you’re recovering from the holidays. By the second week, you’re not really into your routine yet. By the third week, you know you need to get going, but you’re not actually doing it. Pretty soon, the whole month of January is gone and you haven’t even started on the goals you wanted to hit for 2026.
When this happens, you didn’t just lose November or December. You threw away a month of the new year. That delay doesn’t just cost you time—it eats up your energy, breaks your rhythm, and convinces your brain that stopping to rest is normal. You forget what motion looks like. You doubt your ideas. You lose the spark that makes writing fun in the first place.
Then, when you come back into January or February or even March, your brain asks: Why do we want to do this again? Your energy remembers enjoying eating and sitting on the couch more than writing your story.
What you’re actually doing is training your motivation and energy to stay in that rest mode for the whole first part of 2026, making it much more difficult to get yourself going again on your writing dreams.
Building Writing Momentum Means Speeding Up When Everyone Else Slows Down
Here’s the thing: while everyone else is slowing down during November and December, this is actually your time to speed up. This is where you start building the momentum that January can’t give you if you stop.
If you push through now just a little, you won’t be crawling into 2026 trying to restart your engine. You’ll be flying into it with power, confidence, and your creative fire already burning. When you charge into the new year with momentum already building, suddenly it becomes much more likely that 2026 will really be your year as an author.
Three Moves for Building Writing Momentum Before the New Year
If you’re curious about this idea, don’t worry. You don’t need to do a total overhaul or burn yourself out. Instead, think about finishing this year strong rather than taking a big step back.
Here are three simple, powerful shifts you can do right now that will help you carry your momentum into the next year.
Move One: Stop What’s Draining You
You can’t build momentum if you’re dragging deadweight behind you. Most writers are hauling things that quietly drain the life out of creative energy. Maybe it’s a project you’re trying to force through that’s already gone flat. Maybe it’s the guilt of all the things you didn’t do this year. Maybe it’s mental clutter—too many tabs open, too many projects, or too many expectations screaming for your attention.
Whatever it is, it’s stealing fuel from the engine you’re trying to start right now. You want to stop chasing goals that don’t excite you anymore, feeding the habits that drain your focus, carrying stories about what you should have done by now.
Every ounce of energy that you free from what’s not working becomes power you can redirect toward what will work.
Try this tonight: grab a notebook and draw a line down the middle. Label one side “What’s draining me” and the other side “What I’m going to let go of.” Be brutally honest with yourself. On the left, jot down what’s been weighing on you—projects you’re avoiding, stories that no longer feel alive, expectations that feel heavy, and anything that makes you dread sitting down to write.
Then look at that list and ask yourself: “If I stopped giving energy to just one of these things right now, which one would make everything else feel easier?” Circle that one and write it on the right side. That’s your stop. You’re reclaiming your power by letting go of that. You can’t speed up until you cut the drag.
Move Two: Start Something That Motivates You
Once you’ve cleared the drag, it’s time to rebuild your movement. You need a spark that makes you want to show up for your writing life.
Pick one action that makes you feel like a writer again. It might be outlining a single scene or writing one paragraph before bed. It could even be setting a 10-minute timer and letting yourself write anything that comes to mind, no matter how messy or unfiltered it might be.
Then anchor that action to something you already do every day. After your morning coffee or after work or right before you close the laptop at night, do this thing. Attach it to something automatic so it becomes part of your daily rhythm.
Here’s the key: motivation doesn’t come first. What causes it comes first. Whatever typically motivates you in your writing life, whether that’s writing a little, outlining, doing character backstories, or brainstorming new ideas, you want to add more of that into your regular life. The more you do the things that motivate you, the more motivated and energized you’re going to feel.
Move Three: Wake Up Your Creativity With Something New
Now it’s time to wake up your creativity. Look for new things in your life—novel things that wake up your curiosity and help you generate joy and energy. You want to remind your mind that you’re still growing, still alive, and still in the game.
The fastest way to find momentum is in creating it somewhere else besides writing first. Start something new that feeds your energy instead of depleting it.
It could be signing up for that pottery class you’ve been eyeing, getting outside for a walk every morning, starting a new exercise program, or joining a new group. It could be photography, cooking, piano, guitar—anything that wakes up your brain and gives you a sense of motion and joy in life. When you bring novelty in, you feed your creativity because creativity is cross-trained. It doesn’t just live in your writing.
When you start something new, your energy naturally rises and your curiosity expands. Suddenly, your writing doesn’t feel like a grind anymore. It feels alive because you’re doing other things in your life that feel alive. You’re not trying to distract yourself—you’re simply igniting energy with novelty.
Plant Seeds for What’s Growing Next
Finally, shift from reaction to creation. Instead of waiting until January to hand you motivation, create direction now by planting ideas you can nurture through the coming year.
Grab a fresh page in your notebook and write this question at the top: “What do I want to grow in 2026?” Set a timer for 10 minutes and don’t overthink or edit. Just write your answer. Write down the projects, the habits, the feelings you want to experience in the next year.
What do you want your writing life to feel like six months from now? What do you want to be proud of when you look back this time next year? Circle the one that excites you the most. That’s the seed you want to start tending now.
Maybe it’s the book you haven’t finished, building a more consistent writing routine, or getting together with other writers more often. Or perhaps it’s diving into marketing or getting yourself out there more. Whatever it is, start watering that idea right now because even 10 minutes a week is enough to keep that alive and give you the energy you need.
When January hits, you won’t be starting from zero. You’ll already have something growing. That’s how you enter 2026—not just inspired, but unstoppable!
Build Writing Momentum Starting Now
Take these simple steps to create the momentum you need to start the New Year off right:
- Choose one thing you’re stopping and close the door on that.
- Choose one thing you’re starting and do that.
- Schedule one new action this week—just one new spark.
- Choose one idea that you’re going to plant for 2026 and start working on it.
Do these things and by this time next week or the week after, you’ll already be light years ahead of the writer who decides to stop and just wait until after the new year. Finish this year strong!