As you’ve probably read from me before, I think Mercury Rx gets a bad rap. Sure, this frequent (4x/year) planetary event can wreak havoc on communication of all kinds, technology (including our computers and cell phones), travel plans… and more. But it’s also a good time to slow way down (maybe even stop), reflect, rethink, reassess, revise…

This one went retrograde on 12/29, and it’s in practical, over-achieving Capricorn. So, think: order and organization, reviewing and redoing—to get it right. This Rx will go a long way in helping us all recalibrate and return to lapsed projects, as well as providing us with the time and head space to reconsider how we might achieve goals and complete projects in the months ahead.

So… if you have a writing project that’s gathering dust, or if you finished one and could use a little time to reread and polish before you start submitting it to publications or querying agents, now’s the time.

Here are five tips to help your writing practice and get 2023 off to a satisfying start:

• Revise your work—Whether you’ve written an essay or a short story, a memoir or a novel, give your prolific brain a respite, take your piece of art, and settle in for a read. Chances are, any revision that’s needed will make itself crystal clear to you. Read “First Draft Finished. Now What? The Difference Between Revising and Editing.”
  
• Remember your body—As I’ve written many times, writing is a whole body experience, so now is a great time to get back in touch with your unique physicality and give it what it needs. To start with, incorporating a writer’s walk into your day is a great way to clear your mind. When you tend to your vessel in this way, it will repay you with not only the benefits of low-impact exercise, but it will also maintain the flow of your creative life force (your chi). Read “Five Non-Negotiable Must-Dos to Maintain the Health of Your Writerly Body and Soul.”
  
• Recommit to you—It’s way too easy to get distracted from our creative impulses and goals. Living in a capitalist culture, which is designed to direct our focus to working for others to survive (and support their growth in the process), it takes a warrior spirit to keep a clear eye on your own creative projects. If you have the impulse to create—whether it’s writing or some other artistic form or medium—it’s a sign that the world is responding to your innate abilities and asking that you add to the profound life energy that moves in, through, and around us every day. And as I have always told my clients, when you honor your impulse to write, it’s an act of self-love. Read “Want to write? Invest in yourself.”
  
• Reassess your writing goals—Sometimes, we start a project and find ourselves stuck, unable to move forward. It could be that we need a break from it to give it time to reshuffle in our brains and our hearts. It could also be that it’s a project that we can let go of—if not indefinitely, at least for now. Give yourself the compassion and latitude to put projects to rest when they—and you—need it. Read “The Power of Slowing Down to Create.”
  
• Rethink how you spend your time—Getting caught up in our day-to-day routines can happen slowly and insidiously because the afore-mentioned capitalist culture we all live in can keep us distracted, even numbed. Carve out a few hours and take the time to plot out a new approach to your minutes, hours, days… Let go of unhelpful habits that interfere with your time and ability to write… Read “Why You Aren’t Writing — Reason #4.”

If taking on all five of these tips feels overwhelming, pick one or two. Starting somewhere is starting… And it’s what we have to do if we want to finish.

Wishing you a fulfilling and productive writing life in 2023.

And as always, sending you mad writing mojo…