Lately I’ve been binge-watching televisions series that I’ve watched before. And those shows are a, sci-fi and b, romance. And I’m not sorry.

And I don’t think you should be, either.

Whether you are taking time to write or to consume fiction or art or music…you are building a stronger, more resourceful and more resilient human–and how can that ever be anything but a good thing?

Time to Create

It’s October, and I bet you’ve noticed how busy the end of the year becomes. So much so that it can be hard to find time for creative activities that feed your soul…like your writing.

My invitation to you is to take some time today, to plan islands of calm, to make space for creation, over the next couple of months. 

StoryADay November

And if you don’t already have a plan, I’m going to suggest signing up for StoryADay November.

Important Rules Alert:

My ‘rules’ for StoryADay are that you attempt to start and finish a story each day that you write, during the challenge. 

But I do encourage you to define what ‘each day’ means, for you. 

Writing a new story every single day of the month is tough. And it might be more than you need, to boost your creativity and to get you excited about writing again.

Set your own rules

Want to write three days a week? Five days? One? Great! Make that a rule. 

Then come to the site, pick a prompt from that week, that sparks your interest, and commit to finishing what you start that day, even if it’s bad, sketchy, has massive gaps, or feels like nonsense.

Most importantly, come back on the next day that you designated, and write a new story. 

The point is to keep going, even if you’re disappointed in (or excited about) the previous story. 

Build a stack of sketches, drafts, imperfect and incomplete stories, that you can draw on throughout the year, any time you want to write.

Improve Your Chances of Having a Good Writing Day

The only way to feel successful at this writing gig is to prove to yourself that all is NOT lost, if you had a bad writing day last time you sat down to write.

The more you write, the more you’ll discover how little relation there is between our effort and the quality of the output. Some days writing is easy and brilliant, some days you work really hard and hate what you wrote. 

Since we can’t predict how our writing day will go, the key is to keep writing anyway. 

More writing days is the ONLY way to guarantee more good writing days.

To Do Now

• Decide now, that you’ll join us in StoryADay November. Sign up here
• Pick a number of days that you will participate. Post your goals here 

And I’ll see you in the comments, next month!

Keep writing,

Julie

P. S. Want more support, including daily writing sprints, monthly discussions, workshops, Critique Week and more? Consider joining us in the StoryADay Superstars. Find out more…

September. 

That was when I saw the first ‘holiday’ themed products in my supermarket (and yes, I mean the twinkling-lights, snow-covered, jolly fat-man type holiday). There was cinnamon in the air, and the tinkle of jingle bells as I stomped past the ‘holiday earrings’ end-cap.

And I know I’ll start seeing Valentine’s displays before the tinsel is put away. 

As a consumer it drives me a little crazy. 

As a writer, it’s a great reminder: we can use our imaginations to time-travel, any time we want.

• Holidays are part of the fabric of our lives
• It pays to plan ahead if you’re creating something with a date-related theme! (Editors generally plan themed edition many, many months ahead.)

Now is a great time to think about writing a holiday story: when you’re thinking about the end of year holidays with fondness (but aren’t worn out from being in them yet). 

Or perhaps you’re looking ahead to next year, making plans for other upcoming holidays in other seasons.

Time travel to those events now and write a story about them, with the StoryADay  Holiday Stories workshop 

Why Include Holidays In Your Stories?

When it comes to end-of-year holidays my personal bias is towards Christmas & New Year, but there are so many other holidays to celebrate. Which will you choose?

Here’s why you should consider including a holiday in your story:

• They are evergreen: you can recycle them every year! (Think about how rich Maria Carey has become from that one song…)
• They are universal: no matter what culture we come from we all have special days where people come together, eat too much, face family members and friends they don’t really want to see, see people they haven’t seen for years, have fights, make up, fall in love, and get nostalgic. 
• It’s an instant character-motivation-creator: around a holiday you always have some people who are sad, some people are excited, and some people who  are a little too into it…
• If you are writing in a secondary or fantasy world, including this universal human experience in your story enriches the culture you’re creating. It feels real when your characters’ lives are complicated by ritual events they may have strong feelings about (even if it’s just to be frustrated at the interruption to their quest!)

If you want a little guidance, working though the possibilities, the StoryADay Holiday Story Workshop takes you through about some of those universal truths, and the particular must-have ingredients for whatever holiday you choose to write about. And it’s not jut theory. The workshop has built-in prompts that encourage you to pause and start writing the draft.

Use this workshop to get a headstart on next year’s Diwali, Purim, Juneteenth, Pizzamas, or Father’s Day story! (Editors love the ‘undersubscribed’ holidays. They always get loads of Mother’s Day story, but there’s a lot less competition for Arbor Day!). Or simply start writing–today, not ‘some day’!

Join the Discussion

What holidays do you celebrate, and which ones do you think have the richest seams of plot and character goodness, waiting to be mined? Leave a comment!