Saturday, November 14, 2009

Holidays, Being Superwoman & Finding Time to Write

Now that Halloween is over, I can't ignore what I've been trying so hard to ignore...the holidays are looming. Don't get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving. Who doesn't love a great turkey dinner with all the trimmings and family gathered around? The feast is always at my house and now that some of my kids are grown and on their own, significant others and strays have wandered in and taken seats at our table, which I think is great. The more the merrier means fewer leftovers. Plus, we have a quaint tradition where everyone at the table has to give a reason for being thankful...last year, my brother-in-law gave thanks that his "soldiers were good swimmers" (my sister had just revealed her pregnancy to the rest of us). Okay...

Christmas is really what stresses me out. Shopping, baking, wrapping, hostessing, decorating. Okay, I'll admit it, I'm a scrooge in the decorating area, I hate to decorate and hate to put the decorations away after the holidays even worse. When we sold our artificial Christmas tree before a big move, I dragged my feet for three years before we bought another one. I didn't miss it. But my biggest gripe about the holidays is the time it takes away from my writing. While I'm being superwoman, my characters are talking to me, calling me a neglectful mommy, asking me to please start taking dictation. They get impatient. I get frustrated. I'm afraid I'll forget what they're saying or won't remember that really cool plot twist that came to me while rolling out sugar cookies. As fellow writers, you understand this crushing fear. Well, maybe not the sugar cookie part but you get my drift.

So, my New Year's resolution, six weeks early, is to take time for my WIP this holiday season. Surely I can carve out time in my day, I'm superwoman after all. Simple solution - I just won't decorate. Yeah, that's it!

Happy Holidays and don't forget to write!

2 comments:

Becca Simone said...

I get stressed out every holiday season for this very reason. If I don't write, I get very grumpy.

I, too, don't particularly like decorating. I love having a decorated house, though, so I tell my kids to decorate at will. When they were young, this meant tinsel and garland everywhere. Now, they actually do a very nice job.

Author C. A. Salo said...

You can do it!!! And yes, I do understand the sugar cookie part!! I've all rady asked the family if they want a tree this year, the man said no, the teenager said a small one mum, like a one footer. So I'm off the hook for a big tree *YAY* Hey, does that mean with a 'smaller' tree the presents look "BIGGER"? Now I'm asking myself why I havent done this before, LOL.
Like you and Becca, I get grumpy and frustrated if I don't write. At one holiday function last year, I was actually penning notes and details onto the back of a card, Hehehe.
Hope your holidays go well!!!!