The Motivation of a Jolly Rancher

I don't normally make New Years resolutions, but if I did, I would resolve to have more days like today. At least with regard to my writing life.
So far, 2016 has not been kind. A broken washing machine, a trip to the ER with my mother on New Year's Eve, then a trip back on New Year's Day for myself. My stitched and bandaged hand has not allowed me to un-Christmas the house either.

But today, I got to spend time with writer-people. I even set out some goals for the year, worked on revising the middle-grade novel I can't let go of, and finally, was inspired by my nine-year-old daughter (of course that's where the Jolly Ranchers come in).
She's a lot like me in that we are perfectionist procrastinators who can work wonders when faced with a deadline. Her deadline is tomorrow, and the task was a game board of sorts from her music teacher.  She'd had all of break to complete it, but was determined tonight to complete as many of the boxes that should could. Play a song backwards. Teach someone else how to hold your saxophone. Play with your eyes closed.
And the best part was the difference in completing 10 tasks, or 15. One more Jolly Rancher candy. She could earn one candy for every 5 completed boxes. Yup. Even though there's a bunch of leftover holiday candy in our kitchen, that one Jolly Rancher lit a fire under her like nothing else. So...

I'm going to try to remember to bring a little more 

sweetness to my writing life this year. 

More foamy lattes with writer-people. More sweet words of encouragement to myself. Maybe even a rewards system where I earn peanut butter cups for written pages! (Just occasionally with that last one or I'll have other resolutions that need making.)
Here's to a sweet 2016 for my fellow writers. May the sugar provide the energy for our projects, and may it not be too sticky.