December 17, 2008

Bah Humbug!

Made you laugh, didn't I?

That's a good thing to do this time of year. We all need a little laughter mixed in with this joyous but trying season.

So the bad news is that due to unfortunate circumstances Jackie was unable to post this weekend. And the good news? Well I've stepped in to lighten your day (I hope). And what does this have to do with writing you may ask. Just follow me and you will see.

The holidays are a stressful time and most of this stress is produced by a conscious decision. You decide to do a little shopping (a lot), eat a little too much (a lot), spend a little too much money (a lot) or even spend a little time with the family (never enough). The month of December goes by so fast and in the flurry and stress of the to do lists as long as Santa's we forget the joy and happiness that is the hopeful finial result of all the hard work. Why can't we be happy every day? What can we do to ease the stress and turn up the happy?

Exercise a little: take a walk around the block (even if the sun don't shine) and with all that oxygen going to your brain go home and write about what you see, hear and smell.
Talk to family and friends: this is the time of year for reminiscing and when your sister (brother, mother, friend) reminds of that awful or embarrassing time you did something you would rather forget, remember it and use the idea of it for a character in your writing.
Remember family traditions: do you open gifts on Christmas eve or Christmas morning or do you have a special recipe that has been handed down to you or one that has become your new tradition. You can use these special treasured (carved in stone) traditions to form the internal basis of conflict for your protagonist.
Use your curiosity: This time of year our level of anticipation increases and like little children we wonder what could possibly be in that big box under the tree and we also wonder what our neighbors could be getting in that big delivery van that just drove up? Give this streak of snooping to a character and you are on your way to a mystery.
Take a nap: when all the hussel and bussel of the season has you worn down I find the best thing to do is nothing. It will all be there when you wake up and if you are a dreamer like me any chance to sleep brings dreams and sometimes you forget them and sometimes you remember so remember to keep paper and pen close by when you wake. Sweet dreams.
So if you love to write then I hope all these ideas will turn up the happy.





1 Comments:

At December 22, 2008 at 8:22 AM , Blogger Dorinda Ohnstad said...

June:

Holidays can be very difficult, especially when there are added stressers in our lives. However, since I started writing again, I find that it is much easier to survive it all. At least for a while I can be someone else, go somewhere else via my writing and at the same time feel like I'm making forward progress.

 

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