5 Tips for Writing through the Holidays

We all run into it -- the busy, busy period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.  How can you find time for writing during those hours when the days grow shorter and the "to do" lists grow longer? That doesn't include those couple of weeks when relatives are coming to visit or the kids are out of school.  How can you find time to devote to yourself, let alone your writing or writing projects.

Here are five tips to survive the Holidays and still come out ahead once you've drunk your last drop of eggnog or champagne and eaten that last cookie or piece of holiday candy.

1. Schedule at least half an hour of the day for some writing time.  I don't normally schedule when I am going to write. I like to let the muse strike me, but sometimes if people are in from out of town or if the kids are around for days on end, you need to schedule some time away from everything and for yourself. Scheduling first thing in the morning or getting up before everyone is up can work. I always do that when visiting. I get up early and get in a little time for writing.

2.  Work on editing yesterday's material or your NaNoWriMo book when you're waiting. How many times do we have to sit and wait while presents are wrapped or when meeting someone for dinner and they're late. If you save your work to your phone or ipad you can keep it with you and look over your writing and make notes on what needs fixing.  I keep a little notebook handy in my purse at all times for making notes or even writing while waiting.

3. Don't try to work on something new -- finish up an old project. This can be the editing on that November novel you wrote, or it can be something you want to have done to submit in the new year. If it's already edited, put it in your phone and again, read it when you have a few moments to see how it will look and feel for readers when they buy it for their kindles and e-readers.

4.  Try outlining a new project to get started in the new year.  If you're almost finished with this year's work, it's a good time to look forward and start thinking about what you want to start writing come January 1st.

5.  Get some inspiration from the craziness around you.  Holiday shopping is a great time for watching people and situations.  I'm a constant eavesdropper so if I hear a mother correcting her kid in the booth next to me at a restaurant, I'm not above writing down her better lines. Listen and learn from the relatives who come to visit. Pick the brains of those who might have a special knowledge of what you're writing or want to write next. Or look over the crazy relatives and think of how you might place them in a story!

Lots of writing fodder out there during the holidays. Keep your writing eyes and ears open and look for ideas to use in the new year.

5 Tips to Getting Back on Track

This is the time of year when you suddenly realize what happened to those goals you set just last month at the beginning of the year.  Are you keeping the goals you set?  And if you haven’t been meeting those goals, why not? How can you get back on track? Let’s look at some ways that might get you back in gear and in line to meet your writing targets. It all starts with looking back on what you have done for the past month:

1.      Review your writing goals. It’s always good to take stock of your goals and see if they are realistic. If you set the goal of a thousand words a day and you find you just can’t meet that target, maybe it will help if you lower it a little. Not everyone writes that quickly and not everyone can maintain that sort of target. Try 750 or keep a record for a week and see what works for you.  If you are writing 500 words a day on a regular basis, maybe set your goal a little higher, say 600 until you are comfortable with that. Then you can consider raising it.

2.      Applaud and celebrate what you have done right.  Look back on what you did accomplish. Did you write the four weekly blogs you intended to write? Did you go out of your way to promote your upcoming book in a way you had not originally planned to do? Celebrate those small steps. They make setting goals worthwhile. Take yourself out to lunch or take a friend. Give yourself a day to just read or visit the library and research

3.      Try a new writing project.  If you have been wanting to write a blog, then this might be the time to try it.  Writing non-fiction can be a good way to stimulate the creativity of writing fiction

4.      Try a new creative project. I attended a lesson last month on ways to stretch creativity and came away with a new appreciation for drawing, painting and just doodling on scrap paper. It gave me a whole new outlook on ways to expand my ways of thinking creatively and as I worked on just doodling I found myself coming up with a new way to approach a troublesome scene.

5.      Try stepping away from your book for a day or two. Give yourself permission to take a day or two off. Don’t let the time be too long, because you might not come back to your project, but sometimes a couple of days off can help you if you are overthinking a situation.

So take stock of what you’ve been doing and look forward to what you might do to get back on track to meet those goals you set last month. And if they are unrealistic then think about how to change them. (Editing never hurt anyone)