The holidays are over, another year is officially in the books, and it’s back to your regularly scheduled life.

It can feel a bit like a sugar crash, can’t it?

Here’s how I’m pushing through that, so I can get back into good writing habits and get stuff done in 2018!

Step 1: Take a Day

This is what New Year’s Day is for, right? The whole world just stayed up past midnight, so it feels like a good day for sleeping in, reading in bed, or Netflix binging. If you’re one of the unlucky ones who doesn’t get New Year’s Day off, whatever your next day off is, make it a lazy day. Take the time to crash and recharge after all the holiday hustle & bustle.

Step 2: Make Preparations

After your crash day, spend an evening or an afternoon getting yourself organized. What would you like to get done in the next few weeks? What habits would you like to develop or break this year?

For me, I know my day-job is going to be much busier the next couple of months, so I want to protect my writing time. I also want to try to take care of myself a little bit better, because, you know, I’m almost 26 years old and still hate vegetables.

To those ends, I took some time this past week to pick out a few fairly uncomplicated recipes that require minimal cook time (90 minutes tops, prep to clean-up) and picked up the necessary groceries. This accomplishes goal #2 by providing variety in my diet over the next few weeks and keeping me from becoming too dependent on microwave dinners, but doesn’t really impinge much on my writing time, which is goal #1.

I also took that same afternoon to set up any Christmas gifts that needed put together, exchanging the one item that didn’t quite fit, and cleaning up some of the little Christmas decorations I had (the “tree” has pink & purple ornaments, so I think it’s gonna stay through Valentine’s). This way my space is clutter free & my to-do list empty, allowing me to write without distraction (goal #1).

Step 3: Begin

Even though I didn’t get any writing done this week, I’m not worried. What I did do was set myself up for success in the weeks to come by eliminating potential distractions and allowed myself to recharge. Now, when I sit down to write, it really will be getting back to my routine, instead of trying to work my routine around playing holiday catch-up.