The holidays are upon us and with them come the holiday parties, family gatherings, lots of celebration that will lead us straight to the new year, and many yummy foods.
If you’re asking why even write during the holidays and why not just rest and recharge. Well if you take this time to recharge then you must need that, but if you just taking this time to be less productive or you just don’t know how to write during this chaotic time, well for that I wrote this post.
For me this is the perfect time to push through, start new things and not slow down, so that my new year will start better and stronger. There is nothing wrong with taking a break especially at this time of year, but for me and many others, we slowly fall into the writer’s block or slump, after not writing for so long. So I try and keep writing, even if it’s just a little each day, a few lines or just an idea, a dialog… Just enough to keep the writing juices flow in the next year. It makes getting back to my writing routine much easier.
So I gathered the best tips I use to write during these holidays and I hope they will help you enter the new year with strong writing motivation.
Read your favorite book
Reading always brings new ideas into my mind but reading one (or a few) of my favorite books seems to do that even easier. If you are going on vacation or visiting family, bring with you a book or two (ebooks if you don’t want to carry them with you) and a notebook or just use your phone and jot down any idea that you like while reading, a great dialog, a nice description anything that would later help you write faster and get more motivated to write.
Listen to music and make a playlist
I love to use Spotify and there are so many great writing playlists out there that will surely spark your imagination. I love making character playlist but also a place my character is going at or living in. The possibilities are endless and music always seems to help me get motivated and inspired.
Learn to write on your phone
Our phone is a wonderful tool, almost like small computers. you can capture an image that helps you describe things better, write in your notes (or other apps), and even record your thoughts and ideas. With your phone is like you are carrying an endless way to help you be a better writer. So, grab your phone and start writing, even if it’s just a few lines or random words that seem to spark an idea, anything that will later help you combine all of these things into a great story.
Do shorter but effective writing sprints
Even we are surrounded by endless parties and family gatherings, we still have a bit of time for ourselves, if it’s in the early mornings or before we fall asleep. Find these little moments and do some short writing sprints. put on a timer for 5 minutes if that is all you have and start writing. If nothing comes to mind then just journal in these 5 minutes. At least you are writing and that what’s important here, not what you are writing but the fact that you are… Writing.
Join the parties and the conversation, you will have tons of ideas later to write about before you fall asleep.
You have no idea how much I love to listen to random conversations, lol (I know, I’m weird), but look around you, try to listen to others or join the conversation if you want and can, soon enough you will find that even these random conversation with family and friends, coworker and strangers ca spark many ideas and inspiration to a few lines and description that you will later be able to jot down in your notebook or you can use your phone.
Don’t stress if you didn’t write, there’s always tomorrow.
If you still can’t write a day or even two, don’t stress and don’t be hard on yourself, just try again tomorrow. There’s always tomorrow to try again. And if you can’t seem to write anything, I would try to just journal about my day for a few minutes.
Bonus tip:
Build a small reward system not based only on food or shopping.
Try not to reward yourself with food alcohol or shopping. Find the rewards that will really excite you and bring you more motivation and inspiration. For me at least, I love to reward myself with more youtube if it’s just for fun or inspiration. I know that I earned that after all my writing, hehe. Rewarding with food, alcohol or shopping is fun as well but it can lead to bad behaviors that we do not wish to have. So choose your reward wisely and something that will feel like you earned that.
Do you write during the holidays? Any tips to share?
As always, thank you so much for reading ❤
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