The stretch of time between Halloween and New Year’s is usually jammed packed with places to go and things to do. Make sure you dedicate some time for books — whether it’s reading, writing, or both.
Here are some ideas for infusing writing time into your holiday time:
- New Moon Girls has a brilliant post: Are You Brave Enough to Attempt NaNoWriMo as a Family? What a fantastic idea! Spend 30 days (technically all of November, but any month will do) writing a novel with your family. With plenty of time to polish it up after the 30 days, maybe the idea will actually find publication someday.
- Explore your literary imagination with travel/tours from Literary Traveler.
We all know that traveling sparks the imagination — the setting for your next book is out there waiting for you! Themed tours include Magic in JK Rowling’s Edinburgh, The Fitzgerald Museum in Alabama, Bookstores in Brooklyn, and many more.
- Read or write a poem a day! Take a breather from the holiday rush and read/pen a few lines each day.
Take a look at Poetry Soup — tons of poems for reading and inspiration for writing. (Tip: a friend of mine writes haikus on small strips of paper with a ribbon attached. She decorates the inside and outside of her house…doorknobs, bushes, and her Christmas tree!)
- Follow a writer a day on Twitter! Seriously, so many great writers are on Twitter and following their tweets can not only be fun, but full of information — book recommendations, speaking engagements, up-and-coming authors, etc. The famous ones (@JK_Rowling, @johngreen, @neilhimself are easy to find, but so are lesser known, talented writers — follow a few and Twitter will make recommendations for you about others!)
- Goodreads — if you’re a writer/book lover and don’t already have an account, sign up! Read and rate books, discover new titles, and connect with other book lovers! Each year Goodreads hosts a Reading Challenge — with 2016 fast approaching, get ready to start.
Jennifer Mary G 