Write Through the Holidays: Your December Newsletter has Arrived

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Welcome to your December newsletter. As always, I hope you enjoy
it, and I encourage you to contact me with topics you'd like
covered in future newsletters.

Time. It's a concept that's both abstract and real, the currency of
our days (we talk of how we'll "spend" our time). And perhaps it's
never more in demand than this time of year.

"If only I had more time! Then I'd really write." If you're like
most writers who need to earn a living doing something other than
write, that thought is the thorn on your rose.

The fact is, you might be more productive if you had more time to
devote to writing. But you might not. Many writers find that when
they have all the time in the world, they get far less writing done
than they had hoped (but their closets suddenly get organized and
their gardens weeded).

Still, you may not be able to test that. Odds are, you have
obligations you can't push aside when the muse crooks her finger.
You can't tell your young children you'll catch up with them after
high school; you can't expect your employer to pay you while you
take an indefinite "writing sabbatical." That means you need to
apply the creativity and ingenuity and resourcefulness I know you
have (you're writers, after all) to uncover pockets of time for
writing, blips in your day that can peacefully co-exist with
duties like paid employment and child-rearing.

"If you need something done, ask a busy person" is oft-repeated
because it's true. But how do busy people take on so much and
follow through so often? By learning how to maximize time and
increase efficiency, by combining tasks wherever possible.

For example:
***Keep a small notebook in your coat pocket. When you're waiting
for the kids' holiday concert to start or for your turn in the
dentist's chair, be open to ideas that might hit you. If none are
hitting you, write anything that comes to mind: little details
about your surroundings, what you're hoping in that moment, what
you hope for next week. There's no better way to cultivate an idea
than write anything when you think ideas are miles away. Take
advantage of all the waiting we need to do by filling up that dead
space with words.

***Your Aunt Ida appreciates homemade gifts far more than
store-bought ones. Instead of bringing her yet another brick of
fudge that'll go straight to her hips or will have her zinging off
the ceiling, put your hand to paper and write a mini-memoir about
your fondest memories that involve her. Or do some research

***You have to make the rounds of holiday parties, some for your
job, some that involve your spouse's job. You start to dislike
these parties, and worse, you begin to resent the schmoozing that
takes you away from your desk. If you can't get out of the events
(and if you want to keep your marriage running smoothly, you may
not be able to), attend them in a writerly way: open your ears for
bits of dialogue you can use in your own writing. Observe people as
if they were characters you might like to manipulate around a blank
page. Keep a pocket tape recorder in the car and dictate your ideas
on the way home.

Learning this valuable skill also means learning to say NO. Say it
with me now: "I'm sorry, I just can't this year." (And if the
asking party doesn't get it, just say "No" politely but sternly,
and walk away.)

Most of us spread ourselves too thin, usually because we want to
please others and to contribute to the lives going on around us.
But we have a finite amount of energy (mental and physical) and a
finite amount of time. Don't let yourself get railroaded into
non-mandatory obligations you have no interest in or that don't
coincide with your core values.

Make a list (and check it twice), stacking the most important tasks
on top. Draw a pie chart with how your time is spent now. Then draw
one illustrating how you want your time to be divided. Do
everything you can to re-shape your days to approximate the latter
chart.

Set reasonable expectations for yourself. Don't include every shred
of minutiae on your to-do lists, since you'll only feel worse if
you can't get to everything. Include only the most important
things. Give yourself permission to temporarily lower your
standards -- you can always hoist them up again afterwards, if you
must. Is it really necessary for the floor under the bed to be as
eat-off-it clean as the countertop? Will your guests care whether
or not your Tupperware is neatly stacked behind the closed cabinet
doors? (I hope not, because if they do, they shouldn't come to my
house.)

And when you do sit down to write, don't expect your output to be
stunning, breathtaking, or even useable. Declare a victory when you
get something on the page. Polishing can come later.

Although writing is hard, it can be exhilarating, too. Try to focus
on and delight in writing as a pursuit in and of itself, not as
something that pulls you away from other tasks or that you only can
briefly indulge in after the holiday menu is finalized and the last
present wrapped. Enjoy what writing does for you now instead of
what it might do for you down the road.

~Ask for the gift of time.

If only there were a way to add a few extra hours onto the days
when we really, really needed them (like rollover cellular
minutes). But until there's a patent on that, there is a way to
find more time. If family and friends ask you what you really want
this year, ask for time.

How about gift certificates for a dog-walker or grocery delivery or
Merry Maids? Something that temporarily takes the burden of life
maintenance off your shoulders so that you can enjoy some
uninterrupted writing time. Or, if you're thinking bigger, how
about a weekend at a quiet country inn (sans TV, of course) so that
you can tackle the rough spots in that draft. (Hey, a girl can
dream, can't she?)

~Learn to set deadlines for yourself.

Deadlines keep us "honest" and help us focus on finishing
something. You may be one of those writers who works best under
pressure. The pressure is the deadline, and you might wonder how
you'd ever get anything done without a due date, without someone
waiting for what you're producing. So if you know that about
yourself, manufacture your own deadlines.

However, if you're like most people (me included), you'll need
other people to help with this. You're far more likely to take
someone else's deadline seriously than your own, so lean on your
friends and family here. Choose the due date, and then ask them to
enforce it. I know I hate disappointing people, so if I've alerted
my husband to expect a new chapter on a certain date, I really work
to produce it, all to avoid his disappointment if I don't.

Before you decide to postpone this approach until after the New
Year, think about this: Much of a successful writing practice is
achieving and maintaining momentum. If you can make a habit of
regular writing time now, in this busy season, imagine how much
easier it will be to maintain it when life calms down (relatively,
I know).

And when I say "regular writing time," I don't mean three hours a
day. I don't mean two. I don't even mean one. If you've got that
much time, fantastic. But if all you have is a half hour a day,
five to seven days a week, and if you stick to it, it will become
habit. And you'll be amazed at how much -- in the long run --
you'll actually accomplish. Even fifteen minutes a day, stretched
across hundreds of days, will produce an impressive number of
paragraphs.

All the research shows that short, consistent writing stints are
more productive and build more creative momentum than highly
erratic, longer ones. So if you can squeeze out two hours per week
for your craft, try to evenly distribute those hours over the
course of the whole week rather than taking it in one lump.

And remember, it takes 21 days to establish something as habit. So

Hooked: Write Fiction that Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets
Them Go, by Les Edgerton. Writer's Digest Books, 2007.

Is your work-in-progress feeling blah? Tired? Dishwater dull?
Discover the antidote for manuscript malaise. You'll learn
practical tips for injecting your work with fresh excitement and
electricity. Look for it in your in-box on January 15th.