Writing and the Holidays

I know it’s not one of the other. 100%. However, when this time of year comes ’round, I find the writing stops. It starts as a trickle. “Oh, I’ll catch up on the weekend” or the infamous “I mean, I wrote sooo much this November”.

Then it’s the self-indulgent lies. “It’ll just be a few days.” “I’ll read tomorrow night.” “No, I didn’t bring my laptop or a book.”

For me it’s the shopping, the dining out, the meeting friends, or more honestly the video games. The holiday season is the season of gift giving. I often find myself getting things I wouldn’t normally buy or indulging and buy them myself because “Hey, it’s that time of year!”

This month I’ve indulged in these distractions far more than normal. To an obscene level, I’ll quietly admit. Then comes the treats, the vacation, the food comas, the hurrahs, and more than a glass or two of tequila/vodka/rum. Not in one night, mind you, but enough to induce a wave of the hand and another “that’s for tomorrow Lisa to worry about!”

I wish I could write this time of year but the home/staycation and the strange time portal that is the month of December through until the second week of January seems to swallow me whole and transport me into a realm of indulgent frivolity and distraction. I love it! It’s great.

Until this week hits. I then realize I haven’t written a word of fiction, read a chapter, edited a page, or critiqued a damn thing since December 12th. Commence a facepalm on my underused keyboard (at least for writing).

So, writing and the holidays. I know it’s not one or the other. 100%. But this year, like last, like the one before, and I guarantee like next year, I did not and will not get a damn thing done. And that is a-okay. We all need a break to recharge, relax, and (yes I’ll say it again) indulge.

All that said, happy holidays and a splendid new year to us all. May the months ahead be blessed with exciting tales and yarns for the ages.