WRITING DURING THE HOLIDAYS

Being a writer often means working on my own timetable. I don’t punch a time clock and I don’t work “regular hours” like many who report to work at an office. But I put in as many—sometimes more—hours than someone who “works a regular job.” I will often put in three or four hours at the computer after supper and work until 11:00 or midnight. If a friend wants to go shopping or out to lunch, I can usually adjust my schedule to make room for that. And of course there are the inevitable errands—grocery shopping, run to Walmart, take kitty to the vet, haircut, Home Depot, etc. Not to mention the hours dedicated to church-related activities.

That said, how does a writer work around the holidays? In past years, many of my well-intentioned writing schedules fell by the wayside as added holiday activities encroached on my already-crowded schedule. That manuscript I planned to finish by January stretched into February, and my poor critique partners thought I had fallen off the face of the earth waiting for me to send their chapters back to them. I knew I needed to come up with a better, more efficient plan.

In September, I thought long and hard of all the holiday planning I needed to do. Christmas shopping is something I’ve always done early—normally starting in the spring and tucking gifts away. I pondered over my gift lists, thinking I’d make it easy on myself this year by purchasing gift cards for the kids on my list. At least that sounded easy until I realized they all have their favorite stores, so running hither and thither will still take a whole day. Making a gigantic batch of my homemade trail mix to send to sisters and other kinfolk means trips to at least three different stores to find the ingredients.

Of course I needed to plan days for cleaning and decorating. We bought one of those pretty electric fireplaces for the sunroom, and I didn’t have any decorations for that, so I scheduled a run to Hobby Lobby. I didn’t find exactly what I had in mind—either in autumn or Christmas decorations—for a price I was willing to pay. So I perused the craft aisles and picked up assorted artificial foliage, blings and baubles, and holiday embellishments. Oh, don’t forget a container and Styrofoam. And a pack of glue sticks. And ribbon. Now I needed to schedule time to get crafty and put all this stuff together into something creative that looks better than the ready-made stuff in the store.

Time to sit down and write. Well, I got one scene written before I realized I must get that autumn arrangement done because we had company coming. And while I’m at it, this cornucopia needs refreshing. After a few hours in my basement workroom, the autumn arrangement for fireplace is done. Tossed out old cornucopia and made a new one (after another trip to Hobby Lobby). Scarecrows and pumpkins and gourds, oh my!

Did someone mention cooking? Oh, yes. I am cooking for Thanksgiving. Two days needed for making pies, homemade stuffing, praline sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry relish …

Sit down at the computer and work on the next scene. Study synopsis. Change synopsis. Of course, my characters decide to be uncooperative, so I sit up arguing with this fictitious person until well past midnight, trying to coerce him back into my planned synopsis, when right in the middle of writing it hits me—I forgot to buy new candles for the table. Another run to Walmart in the morning. Okay, now do I have time to squeeze in some writing time? Oh my foot, I forgot to put Thanksgiving napkins on my list. Back to Walmart.

Of course, I have to clean the house again as I take down autumn decorations and put up Christmas decorations. Oooh, that door wreath looks awfully tired and worn out. I should really make a new one this year. Back to Hobby Lobby.

To eliminate more running around, I will make an exhaustive list of baking ingredients for Christmas so I can get everything in one trip. Yes, not only am I cooking Christmas Eve supper and Christmas Day dinner, I’m also baking Christmas cookies—LOTS of cookies—for two separate Christmas activities at church. Did I say LOTS of cookies? Like fourteen different recipes? Somewhere in the neighborhood of seventy dozen cookies? Hmmm, how did I get lassoed into that? Oh, that’s right, I said, “Sure, I’d love to do that!!”

I hear a voice calling my name. It’s … it’s … my character from my manuscript. He has an idea for a plot twist. Of course it will mean re-writing five previous chapters, but hey, I have time for that. Right?