Today, we welcome Brenda Anderson, author of life-affirming fiction. She has some great tips to share with us about writing during the holiday season.
When considering writing on this topic, admittedly, I doubted I could do it justice. After all, writing during the holiday season has been very difficult over the years. Yet, I’ve always met my deadlines.
This year I’ve got a few different deadlines. My first draft of my current work-in-progress needs to be completed by the end of November. And then I’ll need it back from my critique partners by the end of December when it goes to my editor. In the meantime, I should begin my next book which has a first draft deadline of April 1. Eek! So, no resting in December.
The question then is, How can I get writing in and make the holidays special? Here are a few suggestions that help me:
Make a To-Do List: Include everything that you’d like to accomplish on this list. Don’t worry about time constraints … yet. And don’t forget to include some R&R and maybe a Hallmark Christmas movie or two to help you wind down.
Check Your Calendar: Don’t forget about church and concerts and sporting events and family celebrations and other time-fillers.
Establish Your Priorities: What absolutely needs to get done? How many words per day? Work? Shopping? Decorating? Cleaning? Cooking? Serving? Wrapping? What’s less important? What can be set aside or done last minute?
Set Specific Goals: I want to write a 70,000+ word first draft by April 1, 2019. If I start on December 1, that gives me eighteen weeks. To write 70,000 words, I would have to average 3889 words per week. Considering I typically type 1000+ words per day, that means I should spend four days per week writing. As I like to reserve weekends for family that gives me one full day each week to focus on other tasks.
Be Prepared for the Unexpected: Unplanned events, problems, list additions always crop up. Go into the holiday season knowing that they will happen, so you’re not completely taken aback when they do show up.
Give Yourself Grace: If you don’t mark off everything on your list, that’s okay! If your goal was a thousand words a day and you “only” wrote 900, that’s still fantastic! Give yourself the grace to say you did your best, and don’t beat yourself up over it. Rather, applaud yourself for what you did accomplish.
Spend Time Praying and in the Word. I’m uncomfortable adding this to the To-Do List as then it becomes something that you just tick off on a box and then it becomes all about religion and not relationship. But if you get nothing else done this season, when you pray and read God’s Word you’ve gotten the most important things done.
Remember What’s Important: It’s so easy getting caught up in the busyness of the holiday season that we forget what it’s all about: Celebrating Jesus Birth! Faith, Family, and Friends are far more important than any item you can cross off on a list, so make them your focus.
Hope you all have a very blessed Christmas!
Brenda S. Anderson writes gritty and authentic, life-affirming fiction. She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, and is Past-President of the ACFW Minnesota chapter, MN-NICE, the 2016 ACFW Chapter of the Year. When not reading or writing, she enjoys music, theater, roller coasters, and baseball, and she loves watching movies with her family. She resides in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area with her husband of 31 years, their three children, and one sassy cat.
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For the holiday season, enjoy Brenda’s book, Hungry for Home A Different Kind of Christmas Story…
Hungry … Homeless … Heartbroken
After a troubling encounter with a pregnant teen, Sheila Peterson-Brooks hurries from the crisis pregnancy center into the frigid Minnesota winter where she is mugged and left for dead. After a frantic search, Richard, her husband, finds her, and the police quickly nab the mugger …
A hungry, homeless teen.
The brother of the pregnant girl Sheila had just counseled.
The girl pleads for her brother, and Sheila and Richard choose not to press charges. Instead, they open their home to the boy, a move that could cost them their possessions, and their hearts.
And, in the process, teach them the true meaning of home.
Get your copy today on Amazon Read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited