Friday, December 18

Posted by Laurel Garver on Friday, December 18, 2009 7 comments
It's less than a week till Christmas and chances are the holiday hubbub is upon you: attending and hosting parties, decorating, cooking, baking, shopping, wrapping, attending school programs, entertaining out-of-town guests, participating in worship services and perhaps preparing to travel. Many of you, like me, have day jobs (mine, thankfully, is 3/4 time). You have normal day-to-day responsibilities with maintaining a home and caring for family.

How do you maintain a writing routine at a time like this? Do you set writing on the back burner? Or do you steal a few minutes while the wassail's on the back burner? Do you decline invitations? Sleep less? Lower your expectations? Trim the to-do list to clear "essentials"?

How are you coping (0r not) with having a writing life in a busy season?
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7 comments:

  1. Good Question! I lower my expectations of how much I write, though I strive to continue to write something each day. I have declined a couple of functions that I knew wouldn't be important that I attended. This year, I don't have family around, and no one is coming in from out of town, so I have one less problem there

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  2. There's just less time to write, isn't there? I tend to make do with less sleep...

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  3. I've had to choose between writing and blogging for the holidays. I chose blogging, because it IS writing, sort of, in a far-fetched kind of way, right? Plus, I just can't give up all my blogging buddies for that long! ;-)

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  4. Like Shannon, I've looked at blogging as my December writing plan, (a little is better than nothing at all). Come January, I'll get back into routine.

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  5. Because my crit group is still meeting (we are hardy) I will be doing some writing despite it all. And I'm glad for that nudge.

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  6. Holi-daze is right. I feel rather dizzy dealing with it all. Husband, kids, extended family, gatherings, shopping, wrapping, planning...and then manuscripts to write or edit, blog posts, twitter, CP reading and commenting...

    Endless list, isn't it? I love the holidays, but it's a lot of work! Good luck to you!!

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  7. I find myself becoming itchy and irritable because I've had so little time to write lately. I figured I was not alone in this!

    Kristi and Tricia: I'm with you, trying to do a little here and there. My crit group is five chapters into my novel and eager to see more.

    Shannon and Elle: I'm glad that you are keeping the blogosphere from going completely dark these busy days. Thanks for being such great encouragers!

    Simon: I've never mastered sleeping less, not even in my younger years. Hats of to you to being able to function sleep deprived.

    Carol: do you also find an inverse relationship between holiday effort and holiday enjoyment (the more I do, the less fun I have)? Hope you get a chance to sit back and just chill, my friend!

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