The end of the year is here. The Christmas spirit is in and everyone is rushing to get everything ready for the 25^th. Some companies will shut down for the week of Christmas and many people take vacation time to visit family. These are the holidays. In a way we become so busy that we don’t even get to take a break during this vacation time. As writers, this poses the question… are holidays for writing?

There Is No Relaxing During the Holidays!

This is a common thing people say. Especially if you have a large extended family. It becomes almost a chore when December comes around. We are bogged down with many commitments throughout the month. Work has Secret Santa and the Christmas Parties. Mandatory gifts for family which will destroy your wallet. All this planning and executing can become quite exhausting.

Family First

I truly believe family is important (blood or not), should take priority in your life. Take some time to enjoy your family during the holidays. These are the people who you cherish.

So where does writing fit into the holidays?

This is not for everyone, but as the previous post mentioned, you can focus on your yearly author plan. The holidays can be an excellent time to disconnect from your regular routine and even do a “digital detox” and disconnect from the online world.

Clear Mind, Clear Ideas

Much like any other vacation, the Christmas holidays can offer some insight that you wouldn’t normally see because we are in the thick of our lives all of the time. If you choose to take time off during the holidays you can use it to get to that manuscript you’ve been wanting to work on. Or use it to work on your yearly author plan. Maybe even use the time off to experiment with new writing styles.

Travel

A lot of people travel during the holidays, any travel is a good time to conjure new ideas for writing. If you are travelling, maybe bring a note book to jot ideas down.

How Much Time Do I Dedicate to Writing?

It depends on your personal agenda during the holidays. You may have more commitments that are not easy to avoid during this time. Personally I like to use the holidays like a winter writing camp and do some heavy writing. Much like in November for NaNoWriMo these weeks are used as an investment into writing without a lot of outside distractions.
Regular life can be quite chaotic for timing throughout the week so most of my writing is done late at night or early in the morning. The two weeks that the holidays offer allows me to extend that throughout the day.

Do you use the holidays for writing?

If you do, it’d be great to hear what you do during them. Even if you don’t use it for writing, how come? Share in the comments.