Some people hate all the hype surrounding New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. And many people will tell you making resolutions for 2014 is a waste of time. I’m not one of those people.

New Year’s Eve is my favorite holiday. And New Year’s Day is a close second. I call them a night of hope and a day of dreams. I love spending New Year’s Eve partying with my pals, reflecting on the year we’ve had. And I kick off each New Year by having brunch (my favorite meal) and putting the finishing touches on my list of goals for the year ahead.

I understand why many people are reluctant to set goals and make resolutions at the start of the year. You’ve resolved to write a book before, but the words just wouldn’t come. You tried to exercise daily last year but failed.

But this year I invite you to view resolutions in a new way.

I’m a lady of letters so I turn to the dictionary for help with this. Yes, to resolve does me to make a firm decision about something, but it also means to find an answer or solution to something, to make something clear and understandable, and it can mean to separate something into constituent parts.

Let’s make use of this definition as we set our sights on the year ahead. Instead of simply resolving to write a book or lose weight, break down your goals into steps and helpful habits. Consider what you can do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to make your dreams come true.

This year I want to increase the readership for See Jane Write Magazine and my personal blog, WriteousBabe.com. I want to grow See Jane Write Birmingham and I want to promote myself more as a freelance writer and public speaker through my new website Javacia.com. Just staring at those goals can be intimidating, but breaking them down into daily, weekly, and monthly tasks makes them much more manageable.

Here are my writing resolutions for 2014:

• Engage on social media (specifically Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+) daily. 
• Comment on someone else’s blog daily. 
• Update WriteousBabe.com at least three days a week. 
• Update SeeJaneWriteMagazine.com weekly. 
• Update SeeJaneWriteBham.com weekly (with announcements about events and magazine content).
• Share a blog post on BlogHer weekly.
• Host a See Jane Write Birmingham event each month. 
• Pitch a story idea to one of my favorite publications every month.
• Guest blog or be featured on a blog at least once a month. 
• In December 2014 let go of any projects that aren’t working. 

WHAT HELPFUL HABITS WILL YOU ADOPT THIS YEAR TO HELP MAKE YOUR WRITING DREAMS COME TRUE?

A few days ago Beyonce turned the world of music, the land of social media and the lives of her fans upside down when she released a surprise album. As a die-hard Bey fan myself, I spent Friday caught between disbelief and elation and couldn’t wait to get home from my day job so I could immerse myself her eponymous fifth studio album.

Coming out of what was supposed to be a month-long hiatus from my personal blog, this weekend I wrote about what Beyonce’s album means to me as a feminist. But I’ve been thinking about what it means to me as a writer too.

When it comes to typical music marketing strategies, Beyonce broke all the rules. And it worked. Just as Mrs. Carter is doing things on her own terms, I want to see more women writers doing things on their own terms too and doing so successfully. Ladies, let’s not wait around to be picked as if we’re a lonely wallflower at the school dance.  It’s time to make our move and get on the floor.

Here are five things I think we women writers can learn from Beyonce’s surprise album release:

Be brilliant. Beyonce’s new release could have been a simple 10-track mixtape and it still would have garnered plenty of attention. But you don’t become the Queen (or the King) through mediocrity. Beyonce’s new album is a cohesive body of work that includes 14 tracks and 17 videos. Who does that?! She does. And you should follow suit. This is especially important for women writers looking to self-publish. Allow me to be frank: There’s a reason self-publishing has been looked down upon for so long. Too often self-published books are of sub-par quality — in desperate need of an editor and a decent cover design. Self-publishing should not be seen as a last resort after your work has been turned down by other publishing houses. Self-publishing should be the route you take when you want more creative control. And whether you’re self-publishing or not, you should always present your very best work.

Be bold. Beyonce’s new album is unlike anything we’ve seen from her and this surprise release is unlike anything we’ve seen before in music. Women writers, don’t be afraid to try something new. That crazy idea you have for a book or blog just might work. That wild story idea you have for your favorite magazine just might be the pitch the editors have been waiting for.

Be tireless. Beyonce didn’t need months or weeks of marketing to promote her new album. Instead she just hit the stage or as she says in the song “Ghost,” — “I don’t trust these record labels/I’m tourin.'” The hard work she puts into her shows was all the promotion she needed. And be honest, can you think of a performer who works harder on stage? Now it’s your turn. What’s the hard work you need to do to set the stage for your success as a writer? Do you need to write every day so you can finish that book? Do you need to pitch publications every week so you can make a name for yourself in magazines? Do you need to launch a book or blog tour of your own? Guest blog for other websites. Be active on social media. Seek out speaking engagements. Build your brand.

Be transparent. Beyonce’s fans love this album, I think, for the same reason we love her documentary Life Is But a Dream and her website Beyonce.com — it gives a glimpse into the life of Queen Bey. We enjoy seeing beyond Beyonce the brand and getting a peek at Beyonce the person. Believe it or not, your readers want the same from you. Don’t pretend you have it all together. Don’t pretend to have all the answers. Be vulnerable in your writing. Be willing to show your scars so others can learn how to heal.

Be a Queen Bee. Beyonce affectionately calls her fans the BeyHive and when this album dropped you better believe we were buzzing. In fact, Beyonce’s surprise album release even surpassed Sharknado in social media buzz. Women writers, we must be the Queen Bee and build beehives of our own. We each need a group of loyal readers — people who are more than followers, but fans. Jeff Goins calls this building a tribe. Regardless of your name for this process, it’s one that must be done. But do so sincerely and selflessly. Focus on building up your readers, not yourself. Consider what can you add to their lives with your writing. Consider how you can make their lives better with your wisdom and skills. You can build your beehive through a blog or even by starting a networking group like See Jane Write Birmingham. Uplift your fans and they will uplift you.

Earlier this year when I decided to start See Jane Write Magazine and decided to start charging for some See Jane Write Birmingham events I knew I needed to turn my labor of love into a business. And so See Jane Write LLC was born. While I’m certainly not looking to get wealthy from this venture (I’m only trying to avoid going broke from funding See Jane Write programming out of pocket), I am always eager to get business advice. Earlier this fall I had the opportunity to chat with Sean Mabey, senior vice president and director of small business strategy at Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo prides itself on being more than a bank. Small businesses, Mabey says, can come to Wells Fargo for more than just a checking and saving account, but for business advice as well. “We, across the country, are hiring and training over 1900 bankers right now that specialize in small business and four hundred of those are in the Southeast,” Mabey says. “When they meet with the small business customer they can give them more than the basic checking and savings account. [This training] is going to allow them to do cash flow analysis. It’s going to allow them to understand how to run their business successfully.”

Mabey had these tips to offer for aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs.

You shouldn’t always trust your gut. Mabey says so often he sees new business owners who had an idea and some money and just jumped right in to entrepreneurship. Don’t plan to run your business on your gut. Do your research.

Never stop learning. “You need to look for ways to learn every day,” Mabey says, whether you’re learning from a CPA, a banker, a lawyer, or another small business owner.  “You need to seek wisdom every day and there’s so much free information out there it’s more of a case of finding it than anything else.”

Get help. “Surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing,” Mabey says. “You have to get yourself with a team of people that know what they’re talking about.” This team could include a banker, an attorney or advisors who have been successful in their own business ventures.

Develop the perfect pitch. Whether you’re drafting a formal proposal to potential investors or just working on your elevator pitch, Mabey says you need to be sure you can do two things: “Can you explain how you plan on making money and can you quickly explain what you do so that anybody understands it?”

Listen to Vanilla Ice. You read that right. Mabey, sharing a lesson he learned from Chris Hanks of the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, says that Vanilla Ice’s famous track “Ice, Ice Baby” is actually chockfull of good business advice. You remember how the song starts: “Stop. Collaborate and listen…” Entrepreneurs need to get people to stop and pay attention, they need to gather people and work well with others and they need to get folks to listen to them. The entire song can be tied to entrepreneurship, Mabey says, “even all the way down to ‘Word to your mother.’ You need to pay tribute to all the other small businesses that came before you because you have to learn something from them.”