Give Your Writing the Gift of Grace this Holiday Season

The holidays are upon us and with them come disruptions galore. We are busier this time of year squeezing in more parties and tree lightings and school holiday sing-alongs not to mention adding shopping and cookie baking and wrapping to our already busy schedules. Our writing time can often be the first thing to go when we need to make room.

And that can be okay.

I am in the midst of an aggressive revision schedule in order to get the next draft of my manuscript to my critique partner by January. The first week I did great managing my time and even got a little ahead. The next week–last week–I managed half a chapter on Monday and that was it. As a result, I am technically a week behind in my schedule.

But I’m not panicking…anymore…I’ll be honest, I had a few moments of desperate thinking. Then, I took a beat and regrouped.

Why?

Because last week I chose to focus on Thanksgiving prep. I was hosting our joint family gathering again after the surreal pandemic years and needed the extra time to ease myself back into prep for such an undertaking. I wanted to enjoy my Thanksgiving, which meant I needed to give myself adequate time for shopping and preparation and self-care during what can be a stressful time. And it worked. I had a lovely day, the food tasted great, the company was joyful, and I didn’t end up in a collapsed heap of exhaustion after. I mean, I did spend all of Sunday on the couch reading a book from cover to cover…but that had more to do with a rainy morning, a good book at my fingertips, and an empty calendar.

Once I reminded myself that I had made a choice and that choice had been the right one for me in the moment, I was able to move on from the panic and recenter myself in my edits.

As of this morning, I have caught up on what were last week’s planned chapters. Will I be able to complete the originally scheduled chapters for this week? Maybe. Maybe not.

Revisions are tricky to plan for in general. One chapter may need just a little smoothing over, while others need complete transformations, and still others have yet to be written. To account for the uncertainty, I’ll keep an eye on my progress this week and reassess my schedule as I go.

But I will also give myself grace. Grace to not always meet my daily goal. Grace that the work won’t suffer as a result. Grace to still provide time for movement every day as well as ample time for some mental self-care this holiday season.

And I will also ask for help. I’ve already offloaded the gift buying responsibilities for some of our list onto my husband. He always helps with our own kids, but the list of nieces and nephews usually falls to me. It felt freeing to ask someone else to share that load for a change.

I will also be honest. With myself and with my calendar. And here, with you, fellow writers. I had every intention of coming to this space today to provide a list of ways to stay writing during the holiday season, but frankly, you don’t need that kind of added pressure. I’m guessing you’re already feeling that on the days you don’t get to the page. I am here to encourage you to, yes, still write during this time of year, but to also give yourself permission to not write some days if that means you are better rested and your creative well isn’t depleted.

So, if I have any tips for you it is this: if you can, make a plan. Look at your calendar and perhaps block off an hour a week that is just you and your project. If it can be more, great. If not, no worries. You still have that one hour to keep your hand in your story. Maybe you’d rather block off ten minutes a day. That works, too. It doesn’t have to be large chunks of time, you can write entire novels in the gaps of your day.

And give yourself some grace. You may not progress at the pace you wanted this season, but progress is still progress. Don’t let your inner critic take over this holiday season and ruin your writing time and your holiday. Acknowledge and move on. The work will still be there after you watch Elf for the 30th time with your family.

And since Elf is set somewhat in a publishing house, it’s kind of like research anyway. Win win!

If you want more writing routine tips, sign up for my newsletter and use my quick start guide to help you stay on task this holiday season. A new issue is out today!

Featured Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash