From Edie: Choose a One Word for your writing year and rediscover joy, focus, and momentum. Learn how a theme word can restore your writing schedule, creativity, and confidence in 2026.
One Word for Writers: How a Theme Word Can Restore Your Writing Life in 2026
by Tammy Karasek @TickledPinkTam
It’s January and you’ve probably seen posts and comments about a one word for the year. Folks choose one word and often a scripture verse to go along with that word to pray over for changes or focus for the coming year. If you are one to choose this one word each year, I ask you this: have you ever chosen a one word specifically for your writing? No worries if you haven’t, you’ve done nothing wrong. I haven’t done this for myself.
Then the one word chose me and become obvious it was to be a major focus in and over my writing plans, not necessarily over my life for the year.
In 2024, I felt led to the word Release. My thoughts were to spend time that year and pray over any thoughts I still allowed to pop into my brain which I would let take up far too much time in my overthinking habit. An odd problem happened. Half way through the year, I looked at the comments in my journal and found many of the thoughts to release were those which I’d been holding onto regarding writing. Some were words I’d been taught regarding certain writing rules, misinformation or styles. Others, were hard statements about my writing—some said with harshness and rejection that became lodged in my brain and were hard to ignore at times.
I worked hard to release all of them and to pray them away.
I believed I had come to a good place and figured my word for 2025 would be to Restore. After all, I had made peace with so many of those items from 2024, I felt that was the next step. To restore my desire to write.
What happened is what often happens when “I” choose the word for the year. God shows up and gives a more appropriate word, and the one I am to pray my way through. By the end of January 2025, that new word kept coming up in all sorts of ways. Apparently I’m not the sharpest crayon in the box, it took me a bit to accept it. Mostly because I didn’t understand it. But who am I to question God, right? That word was Pivot.
Pivot? What in the world does this have to do with me and what I would need to change or turn away from in my life? Then the aha moment came somewhere around April. The pivot wasn’t necessarily in my life, but rather in my writing journey. Again. And like a mad toddler, not getting my way, I threw one giant hissy fit. Why do I need to pivot? What would I pivot from? What does this have to do with my writing? Why, what, how come? They swirled through my mind. I wanted an answer.
It's so true though—watch what you ask for?
God showed me places in my writing schedule (and sometimes lack thereof!), items which needed to be removed—such as social media groups that no longer fit where I wanted to go with my writing, some of those rules and ways I tried to follow from others’ suggestions that wore me out trying to do it exactly as they did, because after all they talked with authority. He showed up and made my chasing of certain writerly things that added no value to my journey so clear that I was embarrassed of the time I’d wasted on them.
The year of the pivot was hard. Very hard. I gave up things I “thought” I needed to do which I held with a tight grip. I won’t lie. I wrestled with a lot. In the end, once I let them go and a bit of time had passed, I saw the good in the pivot.
Which brings me to my one word for 2026. That word is now Restore, the one I thought I was ready for in 2025. I obviously jumped too fast after the year of Release and needed more work before I could Restore my writing plans.
In November, when I began to put thought to what my word would be in 2026, Restore jumped in front of me a few times. In truth, I ignored it. I prayed over it and wondered why God had brought it back to my thoughts. I had an overwhelming feeling that it was if was giving me permission and I thought—I’ve released, I’ve pivoted, now I can restore. Restore what, you might ask. The list of five things below is what I will be praying for in this new year and with the One Word—Restore as my direction and the Lord as my Director.
Five things I will work on to Restore my writing plans for 2026:
- 1. I will Restore my love and enjoyment of writing and putting words to paper.
- 2. I will Restore my writing schedule according to how my life works. I won’t stress trying to write on a plan or schedule that works for someone else.
- 3. I will Restore my love of sharing about writing for those that are new to the writing journey, giving them ample resources for them to learn about writing and how to figure out their own personal journey.
- 4. I will Restore my love of meeting with other writers to encourage them – even if I can only do that online at the moment. Zoom and email at my fingertips!
- 5. I will Restore the stories within my writing projects that received harsh comments and apply things I’ve learned since those were delivered. Unfortunately, those comments caused my desire to write anything to freeze up. Constructive critique is one thing, rude and hurtful comments are another.
What about you? Have you chosen a one word before? If so, did you ever have a word that became obvious it was regarding your writing? If not, might you consider a one word for your writing for 2026?
Share your comments below—let’s talk about this!
TWEETABLE
Tammy writes romance—with a splash of sass. Her book, Launch That Book, second edition, released December, 2025. She’s also published in several compilations: Sustaining Life’s Victories, The PAC Method for Writers, and Cool-inary Moments—A Divine Moments book. She’s also a regular writing team member for The Write Conversation, Blue Ridge Writer’s Conference Blog, The Write Editing and New Mercies Cafe. Contact: https://www.tammykarasek.com.
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