As the holidays fast approach, it’s got me thinking about being a writer around the holidays, and the challenges that accompany that. As we discussed last week, setting deadlines during most of the year is a challenge, so when you add in holiday engagements, those deadlines seem even harder to set and achieve.
This year, my motivation to write is lower than it has been in past years, so getting things done is hard, especially when you consider wanting to be able to feel like you’re getting a break around Christmas. That’s something I’ve been struggling with, actually, since I’m not sure how much time I should reasonably give myself off around Christmas, because I set my own deadlines, and I’m not meeting them right now. I want to give myself a break, but I also want to set myself up for success in the new year.
So, how do I fix this? As I mentioned last week, setting deadlines is something one needs to reevaluate regularly. Because of the holiday season and the low motivation I’m facing, these deadlines have to be very reasonable and adjustable. Sure, getting two chapters written a week, a section of an outline plotted every week and a half, and five chapters edited a week is great to accomplish and makes great progress, but that’s not working for me right now. Easing back on that and figuring out what projects I actually want to work on is hopefully going to make writing during Christmas a lot easier.
Since last week was all about deadlines, I thought I’d also talk about writing about the holidays. Due to the fact that Christmas only comes once a year, and I’m writing pretty much constantly, I’m regularly writing about my characters’ Christmas celebrations at random points throughout the year. As a person who loves Christmas, I don’t mind writing about gift giving and tree trimming in June, but it does sometimes feel difficult to capture the Christmas spirit months away from the actual event.
As for other holidays, Christmas is the most difficult to write around, and basically only the one I write about. New Year's Eve makes an appearance pretty regularly as well, but that doesn’t feel as big of a deal as Christmas to me. Besides, there’s more holiday traditions for Christmas to write about than there is for New Year’s Eve, or most other holidays.
So, the holidays are a time to reevaluate deadlines and in some cases, get your butt in gear to finish things before the new year starts, but they’re also a time to reflect on everything that you’ve accomplished during the year.
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