APPROACHING THE HOLIDAYS
I have had a very long year. I know we all have with the stresses and such of the pandemic, and then other factors making life just hard for a lot of people. I always do love this time of year, the weather not so much, but the atmosphere of it is something I adore. I like getting to wrap presents and surprise people with gifts. It helps that when the holidays are over, I get to celebrate my birthday not too long afterwards, so it's another boost to my system when things might have seemed bleak.
That said, I also don't really stop working over the holiday period. I don't know if it's because I'm always up so early any way and don't have much else to do, or if it's just that I love writing while in the midst of so much fun stuff. The mood is often catching and it allows you to lose yourself in some of the brightness. I know there can be darkness too. The fact that it's dark so early in the afternoon doesn't really help with things like depression, but it's possible that I've adjusted to that because I'm usually awake when it's dark out with my early mornings and the like. Who knows?
Of course, there are those among us who will also be working over the holidays on their writing. Either because they have a deadline, or because it's just part of what makes things fun, so I thought I would give you some of my holiday tips when it comes to trying to juggle writing and absolutely everything else going on. I know that had I been born in the US, I would probably be writing a post like this in November because their holiday season starts super early, whereas here in the UK, there's a little bit of leeway between Halloween and beyond.
#1 COMMUNICATE
By this I mean, if you know that you need to write for x amount of time on any given day, make sure your loved ones, your friend, your colleagues, all know that that time is for writing only, and you need to dedicate all your brain power to it. I have an easier time of this because I work when no one else in the house is awake, but there have been times when that hasn't been the case. When that happens, then I find I have to warn everyone that I plan to spend a certain time period in my office working.
#2 PLAN AS MUCH AS YOU'RE ABLE
I use a planner as well as my ipad calendar, and I find that it really helps me to know when I'm going to be needing to do things. If you're not someone who usually plans your time, then try it out and see. It might take a few false starts to get into it, but it really can be something that helps you in the long run. Make sure you have some idea of what the day, the week, the month, ahead hold for you and when you're going to be wanting to do what.
#3 PLAN DOWN TIME
This kinda feeds into the last point, but along with planning your writing/working time, then be sure to plan some time when you are free as well. There can be so much to squeeze into the holidays and it's so much better to know what you're going to need to do when. Like this year we're going to see my dad and step-mum on Christmas Day, but I know that it'll be a late night, and then a long journey home, and I will not be up to doing any work on Boxing Day, I also know I won't be up to seeing anyone else either, so that time is not for writing, it's not for other visits, it's solely for me to rest and recover from the day out.
#4 GIVE YOURSELF ROOM
While I do advocate planning, I also wanna be sure that you know that it's okay to not plan every hour of your day. I don't do this, I never have because it's something that would stress me out beyond belief. This way, if I'm late starting or something takes longer than I thought it would, I have space, I have room so that I'm not going to be making myself behind with everything else. The goal here is to keep your stress levels down, letting yourself have room to breathe does that.
So there we go, those are my ways to help with the holidays approaching. I know we still have a way to go before it's all over and done with, but I do wish you all a happy holiday season!
Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!
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