Writing through the Holidays

Did you just get your writing practice going again? Or had a smooth-sailing few months this fall? Oh no, look out! Here come the holidays!!

If you are like most of us, the holidays – no matter how you may feel about them: good, bad, indifferent, annoyed – are disruptive to routines. Kids out of school, strange travel plans, loads of things we’re supposed to buy, or make, or events to attend.

So what’s a writer to do? It can be hard enough to carve out time to write when things are a bit calmer so how do we manage when things are more chaotic? I’m not sure I have grand words of wisdom, but I have at least a few suggestions.

Advance Planning Step 1:

Find a time in early December when you can plot out a game plan. Grab a piece of large paper and sketch out which days between then and early January are just out of reach for you-time.

Mind-set Changes Step 1:

Accept that this is a different time of year and that your writing might take second place.

 Flexibility Step 1:

Plans change. People change plans. Your calendar might not look the same the closer you get to the dance recital, the Christmas Eve service, the special meal you are preparing. Stretch your thinking….

Advance Planning Step 2:

After crossing off the major days that are devoted to holiday and family/friend time, count how many days you haven’t crossed off.  Is it two? Ten? Eighteen? It doesn’t matter how many or how few; what is important is that there are some openings.

Mind-set Changes Step 2:

Really. It doesn’t matter how many or how few days you have available – there is wiggle room to write.

Flexibility Step 2:

Be gentle with yourself and your calendar. The point of the advance planning is to have carved room. But that carved time and space might land a bit differently than you intended. The worst thing you can do is self-sabotage the time you have to write because it didn’t follow the plan.

Advance Planning Step 3:

Create a habit-task-action loop. This is so that when you can grab ten or fifteen minutes in one of your open spaces, you can dive right into writing.  For me, this would be getting three different colored index cards and writing one small step on each; for example, mine would say 1. Get your phone and open the saved eleven-minute timer 2. Grab your laptop and open a new google doc in your writing section 3. Turn on timer and Write!

Mind-set Changes Step 3:

Notice the monkey mind and the repetitive mind and the discouraging mind. All of those voices have a lot invested in you doing the same thing:  not writing. Notice them and say “Thank you for being here, but I’m not interested in listening right now.”

Flexibility Step 3:

Best laid plans and all that….   if you aren’t flexible with this, you’ll likely get discouraged and give up. Flexible means bending; it doesn’t mean surrender. So bend with the time …. Tuesday didn’t work but Wednesday is now available? The kids need a ride to the T station? Leave ten minutes early and drop them off early and sit in the car and write. You get my drift….

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About the Author: Learn More about Midori Evans, Author