Musings of a Chocoholic Romance Author: Holiday Season Writing Tips

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Holiday Season Writing Tips

It's official, at least in my book, that with the passing of the Election Season, it is now the Holiday Season. I much prefer the Holiday Season to the Election Season, for obvious reasons. While both have their turkeys, only during one season is it appropriate to stuff the turkey and serve it with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet taters...Or, I could opt for ham. Truth is, at Thanksgiving, I do both ham and turkey.

But I digress.

Keeping up with the writing during any season isn't easy, but the holidays can make it more difficult. There's baking, shopping, company, kids' school vacations---all sorts of lovely distractions that take our attention away from the current Work In Progress. So how to combat this? Good question. I have a few ideas, which I'll share, but I'd like to hear from others...What do you do to keep up with your writing during the Holiday Season? Do you even try?

Holiday Season Writing Tips

1. Write in between baking sessions. It's also a good opportunity to taste-test the goods. Wouldn't want to serve up inferior cookies, would you? ;)

2. Take your Neo, Alphie, Notebook/Pen, Notebook computer...and write while you're standing in the layaway or check out lines, or while standing in the line with your li'l ones to meet Santa. There's always a line during the Holiday Season, capitalize on it. GGG

3. If you have company, grab your portable writing device and hide in the bathroom.

4. Christmas Eve night, for those waiting for the li'l ones to fall asleep so Santa can visit, use that time to write. Or nap. It's a toss up at that point, which would be more beneficial. Do what's best for you. (ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....)

5. Grab any random spare moment that presents itself.

6. Plan ahead, know what you want to get accomplished and get it done before the true insanity of the Holiday Season takes hold. That way you can really enjoy the best part of this time of year---spending time with your family. :)

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Happy Holiday Season Writing...and Happy Holiday Season. :D

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Quotes About Writing

For your born writer, nothing is so healing as the realization that he has come upon the right word. ~Catherine Drinker Bowen

Forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing. ~Melinda Haynes

My purpose is to entertain myself first and other people secondly. ~John D. MacDonald

Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else. ~Gloria Steinem

A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. ~Thomas Mann

Easy reading is damned hard writing. ~Anonymous

We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to. ~Somerset Maugham

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. ~E. L. Doctorow

The secret of becoming a writer is to write, write and keep on writing. ~Ken MacLeod\

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards. ~Robert A. Heinlein

Never throw up on an editor. ~Ellen Datlow

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write. ~Stephen King

There are no rules in writing. There are useful principles. Throw them away when they're not useful. But always know what you're throwing away. ~Will Shetterly

Books are never finished, They are merely abandoned. ~Oscar Wilde

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. ~Jack London

If you wait for inspiration, you're not a writer, but a waiter. ~Anonymous

We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. ~Ernest Hemingway

You never learn how to write a novel. You just learn how to write the novel that you're writing. ~Gene Wolfe