A new year’s resolution for you — get into writing in 2026

You’ve probably heard of all the standard New Year’s Resolutions: Exercise, lose weight, save money, and read books. All can be good ideas. But you could also mark 2026 with a new resolution: writing, either a book, short story, poem, or even a column or memoir.

There’s some debate about who first came up with idea of New Year’s Resolutions. Some credit a Boston newspaper in 1813. Others say it dates back to the Babylonians sometime in the B.C. era, where they celebrated “Akitu” in the Spring, where people would thank the gods and “resolve to return their neighbors’ farm equipment” according to Iowa Public Radio. You hear that Homer Simpson? Give Ned Flanders back his stuff!