By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
No other time of the year can be more difficult to write than at Christmas. We writers are simply distracted with all the fun and preparations. Besides the season involves creativity, and we simply can’t resist the urge to simply BE in the moment. My excuses race from one exciting activity to the next.
Time
Shopping.
Wrapping gifts.
Baking cookies.
Reading Christmas cards.
Planning Christmas parties.
Attending choir presentations.
Decorating the tree and house.
Viewing my favorite Christmas movies.
Figuring out what to wear to holiday events.
Napping because I’m tired from all the above.
Gotta write.
Gotta write.
Gotta write.
When I’m caught up in the moment, I have but one solution. Time to give a gift to readers and fashion what I do best—emerge a reader in story.
Here are five tips to ensure our writing is completed during the holidays while we enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.
- Grab our laptops and head to our favorite coffeehouse where music will warm our souls, the scent of coffee will tease our tastebuds, and all the while we add to our word count.
- Reward ourselves when the temptation to get involved with Christmas preparations threatens to postpone our writing. It’s psychological, but self talk works. “Okay, All American Writer, write the next chapter to your Bestselling Novel and then you can wrap gifts.”
- Waste not a single moment. When pies, cakes, and cookies, must be baked for guests, writers are prepared. We plant our laptops on the kitchen counter and write while those delicacies are baking.
- Ride alongs are amazing. What do I mean? While husband or wife drives us to a Christmas event, we can write on our laptops. Some writers use their phones or iPads as a help while in the car.
- Place our characters in the middle of a Christmas scene and live our lives vicariously through theirs. After all, that’s what our readers do!
No matter how you fit writing into your life at Christmas, don’t forget the meaning of the season. Embrace the love and joy God’s gift brought to mankind through a wee child.
How do you wade through the tinsel and lights to write during the season?
DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards; and been finalists for the RITA, Daphne Du Maurier, 
Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests. Library Journal presented her with a Best Books 2014: Genre Fiction award in the Christian Fiction category for Firewall.
DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, a member of Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Suspense Sister, and International Thriller Writers. She is co-director of The Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference and The Author Roadmap with social media specialist Edie Melson. She teaches writing workshops around the country. DiAnn is active online and would love to connect with readers on any of the social media platforms listed at www.diannmills.com.
The Conversation
DiAnn Great tips. I get up early plug in the Christmas tree and write. I listen to Christmas music as I write. I know some people need silence–not me. I let my family know the best gift they can give me is time to write. Yesterday we had a Christmas open house. Friends and family came with cookies to swap, food to eat, and stories to tell. We save time having everyone here instead of visiting everyone separately. I get cookies for the season, more time to write and stories to tell, with permission of course. Online gift purchases are a time saver also. Thank you for all you do, DiAnn. Merry Christmas to you.
Thank you, Cherrilynn! Merry Christmas to you.
Great post. I use my AlphaSmart for numbers 3 and 4 all the time. It is amazing how many words get written while making homemade soup, roasting or baking. Since Hubby always drives, I get a lot of writing done in the car. Years ago during NaNoWriMo we had to drive from NJ to VA for a military funeral in Arlington. I wrote all the way down and back with much crying in between.
I also loved Cherrilynn’s idea of writing early with the Christmas tree lights on. Not sure about the music for me though.
I learned in my first NaNoWriMo participation that I could write in a café and tune out all the distractions while still participating in a write-in. NaNoWriMo is a great way to learn about YOU the writer whether you hit the 50K or not.
Love that car writing. Sure beats the husband driving me elsewhere. I breathe my Jesus music. It’s one way of keeping my soul and sanity.
Been trying to figure out how to juggle writing and family and church without dropping the ball, before Christmas got added to the list. My first impulse is to run and hide from this whole messy madness called, Christmas in America.
While you all are out there writing about jingle bells and away in a manger, my post this week is,”How Can A loving God Send People to Hell?” Not exactly the holly, jolly fare everyone expects, but that’s okay.
“Lord? I obeyed you. Only you can give the increase. Amen.”
But then again, I can’t think of any better gift to give than truth wrapped in love, especially when that Truth and Love is God incarnate, born to die so we could live. So here ya go. Hope you’ll drop by for a visit and say hi. Feel free invite some other folks over too. Here’s the address: https://tattooitonyourheart.com/2016/12/08/in-answer-to-the-question-how-can-a-loving-god-send-people-to-hell/
I suppose I ought to consider putting another piece out there with a pinch of merry and a dash of jingle before the big day. Hmm… Can I recycle this?
Thanks for the tips, Dianne. A holly, jolly, merry, Christmas to you and yours. And don’t forget to throw a little jingle in the pot as you dash out the door with your treasures.
God bless.
Rachael M Colby