This is the time of year when - before I became published - my writing faded to nonexistence. As a wife and mother … um, as a member of the human race, I was simply too busy. Too busy cooking, baking, decorating the house, sending off Christmas cards, shopping, shopping, shopping, wrapping, wrapping, wrapping. Oh, and the travel -- the fun driving across the state to events and gatherings hosted by both sides of the family.
Of course, none of this has come to an end. It still goes on as life tends to do, but this time I am a contracted author that can’t take a month off. So, I’ve come up with some survival tips. Well, really one critical survival tip. Never schedule a delivery date in December. Believe it or not I have done this very thing for the last three years! For the first time, I don’t have a book due in December this year. Whew. The relief! I didn’t know how tranquil things could be. I’ll never schedule a December delivery again if I can help it.
And yet that doesn’t mean I’m commitment free. What I’ve done is plan for the “lighter” albeit necessary writing chores this month. For example, I have an outline due. It’s something kind of fun actually. Amid the chaos, clutter and stress, I’ve got a notebook open that serves as a beacon of escape. I’ll dive into it and jot down scene notes and let the vision of the story unfold without a lot of worry about whether that word is right or wrong. Every writer needs time to breath, decompress … to just let flow what flows naturally. Basically, this month I’ve give myself permission to do that. I hope you’ll do the same … take a moment to enjoy yourself, eat a few cookies (in my case a few dozen!), relax (ahem, read a few good books) and look around yourself, take in everything that you most appreciate in life and simply exhale. That’s my plan! Happy Holidays!
Happy reading,
Sophie Jordan
Sophie Jordan
2 comments:
If I can get through this week I will be able to sail through the rest of the month . We are in a new house this year so all my Christmas decorations (and there are many) will have to be set up differently and I had such a great system with the old house . On top of that tons of my light strings aren't working. But, I will prevail and the house will smell like gingerbread by the end of the week :)
Have a great month! I myself am recovering from a move so will be taking lots of me time around Christmas.
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