December 2014

Holiday Shopping for Writers

Nephele Tempest

The gift-giving season is upon us, so I wanted to gather together some suggestions for things that might suit the writer in your life (or that you might want to add to your own letter to Santa). I’ve mentioned some of these in previous years, but a good gift is a good gift, and writers in particular tend to be appreciative of things that encourage them in their craft or enable them to spend time writing. Many of these will be appropriate gifts for readers, as well, for obvious reasons.

Writerly gifts:

Scrivener – Many writers swear by this software. It allows you to create your manuscript in sections that can be easily dragged around and reordered, has a built in cork board function where you can get an overview of the parts of your work, allows for research materials to be imported directly into the project, and much more. Once you’re done, you can compile the pieces of your manuscript into Word, script format, e-book format, and so on. Available for both Mac and Windows.

order_from_chaos

Aeon Timeline – This software allows you to create a timeline not just for a single project but for an entire series. It will track character ages for different events, births and deaths, whatever history you’ve developed for your books, etc. Particularly helpful for anyone writing historical fiction, or anything involving extensive world building. Available for both Mac and Windows.

aeon_timeline

Ecosystem Journal – These blank books are made from recycled materials and boast sturdy pages that protect against bleed-through from heavier ink, such as fountain pens. They come in small, medium, and large sizes, blank, ruled, or with grid paper, and in a number of bright colors as well as black. Great for the writer who keeps an ideas book, journals, doodles, or prefers drafting longhand.

Leuchtturm1917 Notebook – Another high-quality blank book, this features page numbers and a blank table of contents, in addition to sturdy pages of a lovely off-white paper. As with the Ecosystem, you can select type of page (ruled, blank, etc.) and the notebooks come in assorted colors. The company offers other types of books, as well, such as planners, if you’re looking to gift someone with a set.

Decomposition Books – Great notebooks in the old composition or spiral notebook formats, but with fun printed covers. Perfect for anyone looking for a slightly more utilitarian notebook.

Fountain pens – A slightly old-school gift, a lovely fountain pen — either new or antique — along with some ink, can be a beautiful gift for a writer.

Books on writing – Most writers love writing books. I’ll post a separate list of writing-related books I love in a couple of days, but you’ll find tons in most good bookstores, in the reference section.

A gift certificate for some pampering – Writing can be hard on the back, the eyes. All that sitting. Gift your writer with a massage or spa day, or a series of neck rubs. Writers — especially struggling writers — don’t often allot money for little luxuries, even when they need them.

The gift of time – Real life often gets in the writer’s way, making demands and allowing less time for writing. Take over a chore or responsibility for the writer in your life in order to give them an extra hour or two to write. If you live with the writer, make dinner a couple of nights a week. Offer to babysit or take their kids out of the house for a chunk of time on the weekend.

A writing retreat – If you’re looking to give your writer something a little more expansive, send them off for a quiet weekend at a cozy inn or cabin in the woods, just them and their muse. Don’t pick a tourist location that will tempt them to go out and sightsee, but somewhere quiet, or local, with room service and a nice desk.

Literary-themed gifts:

Shakespeare Insult Shirt – This t-shirt features a collection of witty insults by the Bard. Great for writers, Shakespeare fans, or anyone looking for a good come back.

shakespeare insult_1

Classic Tote Bag – Give your favorite writer or reader one of these sturdy tote bags featuring art work from a classic novel, such as Pride and Prejudice, Animal Farm, or Gone with the Wind, or with some bookish feature, like a list of banned books. Great for carting books from the library, hitting the farmer’s market, or carrying a notebook and other writing paraphernalia.

Litographs Poster – This company prints literary posters where the design itself is created from the text of the books. Available for a number of classic titles, and the designs can also be purchased on t-shirts and tote bags.

moby-2_1024x1024

Read Harder T-shirt – One of several designs on offer from the new bookish store at Book Riot.

2015 Literary Wall Calendar – A different author/quote each month in a beautiful black-and-white design.

Evolution of Literature Poster – Featuring an image for each of 34 authors arranged chronologically. Posters featuring just one author are also available.

Evolution of Literature_CreativeDaffodil

Literary Cufflinks – Handmade, featuring text on the front image.

Subscription to a literary magazine/journal – Especially helpful for writers interesting in essays or short fiction. I’ll include a list of suggestions in my upcoming post featuring books for writers.

 

 

 

 

December Writing Challenge: 2014 Edition

Nephele Tempest

Writers never stop learning. No matter what stage you’ve reached in your writing career, it’s always possible to push yourself a little harder to improve some aspect of your craft or become a bit more dedicated in your habits. And any good writing challenge can be adapted to help you reach for the next level with your work.

Right now, I want you to forget previous writing challenges. I don’t care if you just finished NaNoWriMo or if the idea of writing 50,000 words in a month makes you physically ill. Today kicks off my December Writing Challenge, and the entire point of the challenge is for you to commit to yourself, and to your writing.

December can be a challenging month all on its own, filled with holiday gatherings, end-of-year work projects, bad weather across much of the northern hemisphere and a dozen other worries. And in the middle of all that, you can lose track of yourself and your goals. It’s easy to put things off, to make excuses. After all, the new year is just around the corner; you can easily pick up the pace once you turn your attention to resolutions.

But why wait? Is writing really something you’re willing to relegate to the New-Year’s-Resolution category? Or is it important? Is it a priority?

For those of you struggling to commit to your writing, I issue the following challenge: Write every day during the month of December. I’m not saying you need to write for a certain amount of time, or strive for a certain word count. But you need to actually sit down and string words together for some project of your own — no fair counting Christmas cards or a note to your kid’s teacher. It can be for fifteen minutes, though I’d encourage you to at least aim for half an hour. 30 minutes is approximate 2% of your entire day. Commit to taking that for yourself, and for your writing.

I do allow you two “excuse” days, if you absolutely need them. After all, there are holidays and holiday parties involved. So if you find you have to take a day or two off, go ahead, but really make an effort to write every single day if you can manage it.

What about the rest of you folks, the ones who’ve already committed to a daily writing practice? For you I have a slightly altered challenge: Start a secret project in December and work on it every day for at least a few minutes of your writing time. What sort of secret project? That’s up to you. But I encourage you to let your imagination run wild and experiment. Do you write fantasy novels? Try a mystery. Strictly a fiction writer? Give personal essays or poetry a try. Don’t tell anyone about it, don’t share it with your critique partner or your significant other. Just hide it away and work on it a bit each day. See what you come up with. Stretch your wings.

That’s my December challenge for you all. I’ll be posting some encouragement on here and on Twitter over the course of the month, so be sure and tune in. Happy December, and happy writing. Get to it.