Instead of a typical goal-setting exercise to kick off the new year, I’m walking you through some writing prompts to get your creative juices flowing. Think of it more as a new year vibe check to help you ease into the year. If you want to set some goals for 2026, I encourage you to join us inside the Freelance Editors Club, where we’re running those exercises!
Instead of a typical goal-setting exercise to kick off the new year, I’m walking you through some writing prompts to get your creative juices flowing. Think of it more as a new year vibe check to help you ease into the year.
If you want to set some goals for 2026, I encourage you to join us inside the Freelance Editors Club, where we’re running those exercises!
Welcome to The Modern Editor Podcast, where we talk about all things editing and what it's like to run an editorial business in today's world. I'm your host, Tara Whitaker. Let's get to it.
Hello. Welcome to the first episode of The Modern Editor Podcast of 2026. Ah, it's wild. But we're here and who knows what's gonna happen between when I'm recording this and when you are listening, but at the moment, I am cautiously optimistic for what this year will bring, and I'm very excited to have you all here with me again in the new year.
And I thought we would kick off on a fun note, and we're gonna have a little exercise today with a twist on the usual goal-setting that we typically see in January. I'm gonna be sharing some prompts with you.
I've also got a worksheet that you can download in the show notes. If you go to TaraWhitaker.com/Podcast, under this episode, you can grab it there. You don't have to, you can just follow along. But these prompts are meant to help you think of the upcoming year in a little bit of a different way.
We're not setting goals today. We are doing that in the Freelance Editors Club if you wanna join us. Today we are more getting our creative juices flowing and we're checking the current vibe and we're seeing how we want to move forward in 2026.
Now these are writing prompts, and if you've listened to the podcast before, you'll know that I don't exactly identify as a writer. Maybe that will change in 2026, but it's not my favorite thing to do.
But I did these prompts when I came up with them and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a lot of fun. So if you don't identify as a writer either, that's totally fine. I think you might still enjoy them. And I'm going to read these off, which is gonna make for a very short episode, but feel free to work on these however you want.
So if you want to listen and then pause after I say a prompt, and then do it, and then hit play and then keep going, that's totally fine. Or you can probably listen straight through because it'll be short and then you can do the exercises. It's totally up to you.
And you don't even have to write them out if you don't want to. If you wanna just think about them, that's fine too. You, you make the rules. All right. So grab your pen, or your pencil, or your keyboard, or I guess your brain if you're not writing or typing, and let's get straight into it.
All right, so number one, shout-out to Janice de Jesus for this awesome prompt. I think it might be my favorite prompt of all time, so I had to include it here, and that is, if the story of your life was a book, how would you title the chapter you're in right now? If you want a bonus question to that, what would you like the chapter title of 2026 as a whole to be? That's a good one. Ugh. So good, Janice.
All right, number two. If you could get a phone call from someone in the future, can be anyone, what one question would you want to ask them about yourself and why? I know future things can be a little eh. Some people wanna know, some people don't. Would you ask them if you accomplished something? Would you ask them if you started an editing business? The sky is the limit. What would you ask?
All right, number three. Are you ready? What if everything worked out? What would that look like? I know that's a, it's a bit of a doozy, but what if everything worked out?
Number four. Imagine you're pitching your memoir, your story, to an agent. What would you say and what would you include in the pitch? What would your memoir be about? Kind of flip the script, right? Usually we're on the other side as editors. Now let's pitch your own story. What would you say?
All right, number five. Describe your ideal day. Now you can go into the weeds as much as you want with this. I have seen some that are, I mean, I wake up in my California king-size bed in my 8,000 thread count sheets that I made myself and put my feet on the plush carpet. I mean, you get the picture. What does your environment look like? What are you eating? Who are you with, if anyone? Are you working? Do you have a business? Anything. Your ideal, perfect day, what would it look like? And this also doesn't need to be, like I just said, it doesn't have to be opulence or wealth in terms of money. It can for sure, but maybe it's simply I wake up without an alarm and I get up and I get to have coffee in silence. You know, whatever the case may be. But it is your ideal day, not what anybody else thinks.
All right, number six. When you think of the phrase “successful business owner,” what exactly comes to mind? Again, anything goes. Is there a particular person or people that come to mind? Do you think of yourself? Do you think of certain attributes? Do you think of certain industries or professions? What is a successful business owner? What pops up?
And last but not least, hooo this one, what are you waiting for? Mm-hmm. Take that any way you would like. It is a very open-ended question. It might bring up some things. It did for me. But what are you waiting for?
And like I said, that was short and sweet. That was it. That was the seven writing prompts that I came up with to help ease you into the new year. And remember, it is not a race. We have time. It's January. It doesn't mean like, the bullhorn went off, you know, for the race to begin. It's fine. It's just another month. It's okay. Take your time.
Thinking about the prompts and the answers, you don't have to do them all in one full swoop. Come back to 'em, add to them, keep 'em handy so that you can tweak them as the days, weeks, months go on.
And if you want, I would love to hear any answers you're willing to share with me at Hello@Tara Whitaker.com. My inbox is always open.
If you didn't grab your worksheet at the beginning of the episode, you can grab that at any time. It's at TaraWhitaker.com/Podcast. And then if you want to join us inside the Freelance Editors Club for that 90-minute goal-setting workshop where we actually do sit down and set the goals, you can go to TaraWhitaker.com/Club and you can start your free trial and join us for free.
So until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and I am very much looking forward to taking on 2026 with you and the entire Modern Editor family.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. If you enjoy The Modern Editor Podcast, I would be so grateful if you left a review over on Apple Podcasts or wherever you consume podcasts. And don't forget, you can head to TaraWhitaker.com to connect with me and stay in touch. We'll chat again soon.