Take some time this weekend to look at your major ongoing projects and decide to kill, commit, or transform each one.

Just those two practices – preparation and continual tidying – make cooking easy and enjoyable. This year's resolution, therefor, is to try to apply those two practices to other activities in my life.

As you prepare for the new year, think of something you are passionate about that you wish other people would better understand or just appreciate. How can you tell its story and move them to a point that they get it? 

I suggested we start a diet together. So far the rule is simple: eat what you want but write everything down. 

Your goal was to write and you've written. Congratulations.

Tomorrow I'll wrap up the month with some thoughts for those of you who reached your goal or who just got a significant amount of writing done. Today I want to take a minute to talk to those of you who think you failed.

There are examples and explanations that didn't quite fit into one chapter that you are able to use in another chapter. But at some point enough is enough. If you insist on using your left over material you will be harming your book and not helping it.

Connect with your reader. Think of what you know about your reader. Who are they? What do they like? How old are they? What experiences do they share?

Why don't we serve the pie first in our books. Not all the time. That could be bad for us. We might fill up on pie and never eat the vegetables or protein. But once in a while why not switch things up.

Read, think, discuss, and then play with what you've learned. As a "what if" or "how does that apply to this other situation" and the thought is no longer what it was when you first picked it up and looked at it.