“Tomorrow is the first 
blank page of a 
365-page book. 
Write a good one.” 
Brad Paisley

If you’ve been thinking about making a new year resolution, or if you’ve been considering how best to utilize your time productively in 2026, consider this: Write your book. Yes! Write YOUR book.

For years, I’ve been telling people that everyone has a story to tell. I am constantly encouraging people to overcome their self-limiting belief that they don’t have the ability to write their own story. Everyone has this ability. When you are writing about yourself and your own lived experiences, you have all the knowledge necessary to write the story. “But I’m not a writer!” many have said to me. My response is that if you can read a book, you can write a book.

Getting started is the greatest challenge. Perhaps it helps to begin by realizing that there is nobody in this world more qualified to write your story than you. Spelling? Punctuation? Grammar? Don’t sweat it. Just write it! It’s always possible to find someone to edit your work after you’ve written it, but it’s not possible to edit a blank page.

“But who would be interested in reading my story?” Yes, this is another common barrier to getting started. My friend Roland Merullo, author of more than 25 books, identifies this as one of the many obstacles to writing in his insightful book Demons of the Blank Page. It doesn’t matter if anyone reads your story. You’re not writing it for someone else. You are writing it for yourself. When you finish, however, you may be surprised to learn that many others resonate with what you’ve written. It’s possible that your words might be exactly what someone needs to fill an emotional void in their heart.

We can all be inspired by the words of Albert Einstein who said, “There comes a time in your life when you need to stop reading other people’s books and write your own.”

American novelist Melinda Haynes offers her encouragement, too. “Forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing.” There is definitely a therapeutic value to writing your own story, even if no one else ever reads it.

“Start telling the stories that only you can tell,” author Neil Gaiman advises, “because there will always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that — but you are the only you.”

The perspective of Canadian writer Charles de Lint should be considered by anyone who feels as though they don’t have the authority to write a book. He said, “Don’t forget — no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.”

With all this said, I’ll end with the powerfully encouraging words of prolific writer Stephen King. He said, “You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough, you will.”

As the sun sets on 2025, look back with gratitude, look ahead with confidence, and get started writing your book. Make 2026 your best year ever!