First, congratulations to everyone who participated in NaNoWriMo 2017. I hope most of you did better than me, but I'm proud of all of you for trying. Proud of me, too -- I gave it a shot, which was fun, and tried some new things, which seems to be my latest trend.
I'm writing through the holidays this month, but I've decided not to use that as an excuse to avoid all the merry and bright stuff. I'm not a big fan of the season, but my crew is, so I'm going to try to do a little something every day to get me in the spirit to celebrate with them. Yesterday I did a mini-makeover of my daughter's room with some pillows, a snowflake throw and some cute animal objects. Today I'm starting to put together a winter art quilt. Tomorrow I'll write my cards and order the flowers I send my mom every year. After that I'll visit the no-kill shelter to make my holiday donation, and think of other stuff I can do for others. Christmas is always a little more palatable when you're actively giving or doing something just for fun.
I've been invited to join a small writer's group that I met during NaNoWriMo, which is startling (but very cool.) I'm seriously considering it. It's low-key, I like everyone in the group, and it might be time for me to get out of the Batcave every now and then. I'm no longer out in the public eye with my work (quel soulagement!) so I don't have put on pantyhose and makeup and pretend like I'm Bestseller Chick. I can just be me -- and that would definitely be a novelty. But I'm still shy, socially awkward and not especially politic, so I do have to think about it.
For the blog I've decided to manually upload all the old photos for my posts to Blogger's hosting system so I can keep everything here versus replicating the PBW archive into e-books. I have to do this in my spare time, so I've got ten weeks done and about seven hundred more weeks to go. It's a nice project, though, and will allow me to reminisce a little.
So what's up with you all? Anyone have their own tactic to work through the holidays? Let us know in comments.
I'm just taking my time this year to decorate. Not in a hurry. It will all get done by Christmas Eve and that's a good thing. I didn't finish NaNo either, but I wrote a little every day until I got really sick, and since it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, I'm hoping it stays. Today, I have to can all the sauerkraut that's been fermenting in my basement. Not really in the mood to do it, but it's got to be done.
ReplyDeleteI love the decorating! The Santa Hat pillow is adorable. Bear or cat? I really enjoy the looks you see online and in the magazines of people who almost overload their house with Christmas decorations. I have neither the space to store it all or the inclination to do it though.
I like to decorate but I'm bad about socializing over the holidays. It's not that I'm anti social, but big groups are overwhelming. I like quiet and intimate conversations over partying.
ReplyDeleteThat said, we're long overdue to hobnob with the neighbors. They're always inviting us to their homes and we rarely reciprocate.
We decided to throw an informal get together on December 17. If you're in north Texas, just drop by. You're invited. :)
The December holidays have never been really big in my family, so working through it has never been an issue for me. It's more a question of avoiding all the chirpy religiosity of people around me that need tactics. :D In point of fact, I usually volunteer at my day-job to man the skeleton staff so everyone else can take off. Out of sight means I'm also out of mind of those members of my family who usually remember over the holidays that they have a faggy pagan boy in their midst that need "saving". :p
ReplyDeleteBTW The link to purchase your books is dead. I found you through the NanoWriMo What's Next forums and was interested in your buying your revision notebook...
ReplyDeleteThe link is dead because I took all my e-books, which were free, off Scribd.com after they began charging readers to access them. The original Novel Notebook can now be found at this URL: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzylBQC3SyqoM2JjMDkwZDEtNDI2NS00ZDMxLTg5MzctMThjODBkYmZkNTRh/view?usp=sharing
DeleteThe revised version was pirated by another site that also charged their readers to access it, so I took it off the internet altogether.