5 ways to enjoy a writerly Christmas (without annoying), by Deborah Jenkins

Please excuse this short and partly silly post. I justify it by a) assuming, you're probably too busy to read much b) hoping that if your Christmas is tinged with sadness (and whose isn't?) I might raise a smile.

Dos and Don'ts for a writerly Christmas, without annoying others: -

DON'T: -

• Leave casserole simmering while writing up ground-breaking plot-twist until you smell burning
• Overcome initial shyness about your book/WIP, by inappropriate over-sharing (with everyone from the postie to the cold caller)
• Buy a recent book you enjoyed for everyone you know, forgetting you already recommended it to everyone you know (they will now have two)
• Rush through activities so you can get back to your writing, accidentally posting cards without signatures/stamps/addresses
• Zone out during family games to a dream world, being interviewed on a well-known book programme. Zone back in to a stunned room when someone whispers, 'Who's Mariella?

DO

• Cook/wrap with love, even if not good at it. Food and presents are the season's love letters. Keep a notepad and pen somewhere handy for (short) writerly thoughts
• Share about your writing - it's a big part of your life - but like any part of your life, too much detail will bore/annoy people, unless asked for. Ask questions, encourage dreams, listen
• Keep all gift receipts in an envelope marked Receipts, preferably emptied of last year's receipts and several years' worth of 'lost' dry cleaning tickets
• Schedule in writing time to save your sanity, but be creative: early mornings/late at night/during afternoon snoozes or movies. And tell them you're doing it, in advance
• Pay attention. Christmas can be messy and tiring - it was ever thus - but it could also be the last Christmas you'll spend with someone. Be generous with the most precious thing a writer can give - time

Do not ignore the quiet call of air and bird. Walks bring out the best in most.

Above all, know that the Christmas child, for whom all contributors to this blog ultimately write, sing, give, cook and generally make merry, came at such a time as this.

Deborah Jenkins is the author of textbooks, educational articles and a novella, The Evenness of Things, available in paperback and as a kindle e-book.

Her novel, Braver, will be published in the summer of 2022 by Fairlight Books. You can read the press release about it here

Deborah wonders aloud about the crazy, inspiring and inappropriate, on her blog, stillwonderinghere.net

All images, apart from that of the author, are from Pixabay