Do you know the difference between simultaneous submissions and multiple submissions? Are you confused about what exactly is meant by a "brief bio"? If one of your New Year's resolutions is to submit work to literary journals, the collection of articles in the link above will help your do so in an organized, professional way. An editor will take you more seriously if you observe a certain protocol, and it's easier to keep work in circulation if you have a system in place. But the most important thing is to get something out there: you never know what might happen.

I'm extending the December challenge into January, to give more people a chance to reflect on the end of last year and submit responses. We've had a wonderful range of submissions already, including a scene involving a couple on their way to a Divali party, a company Christmas party in Madrid, and an American dinner party with a chilling end. Wherever you spent the holiday season, write up a scene and submit it!

With the new year, readers have been sharing stories about how they've coped with writer's block -- defeating writer's block is always a popular New Year's resolution among writers, after all. One writer responded to writer's block by forcing herself to write a set number of pages at one sitting and then rewarding herself with a break or a small reward, like fresh flowers. Another writer said, "I go back to The Artist's Way and re-institute my artist dates." Still another said that she will reread works of her own that she feels really confident about. "That reminds me of my writing voice and brings me back into my own flow," she explains.

Fear, anxiety, a life change, the end of a project, the beginning of a project . . . almost anything, it seems, can cause writer's block. And just as there are multiple causes for it, there are myriad solutions. Sometimes its just a matter of trying different things until something works.

For more ideas on how to address writer's block, see how other readers treat writer's block. And if you have your own advice to contribute, please share!

"Winter Counts" remains one of my favorite exercises in general, and especially for this time of year, when we're not only making resolutions for the future, but reflecting back on years past. Columbia professor Alan Ziegler was inspired by a Sioux Indian record-keeping practice to create the exercise for his students, and he included it in his book The Writing Workshop Note Book (2008, Soft Skull Press).

Do you have an exercise that you particularly like? Share it in the comments. We'll post the best ones on the site.