December Writing Challenge 2019: Rules of the Game

Every year, I challenge writers to defy their busy schedules in December and keep up their writing. December brings so many obstacles with it. Between holidays, shopping, entertaining, travel, and work responsibilities, it can be difficult to find time to write. You intend to work on that current project, but distractions keep cropping up, pulling you away from your computer. Before you know it, a week has gone by and you haven’t even opened your project file. All the writing momentum you’ve built up over the year, whether through NaNoWriMo or just your own schedule, gets lost. Instead of making new writing goals for the new year, you just hope you can remember where your story goes next.

December Writing Challenge 2019 banner on a chalkboard

Enter the December Writing Challenge. I challenge you to make your writing a priority. Your goals are just as important as fixing the perfect holiday dinner or cleaning the house before the family descends. So decide now that you are going to write every day in December. It doesn’t have to be for long, or polished and perfected. You can work on a shitty first draft or play with a new idea or tackle a new writing exercise each day. But sit down and write. Try for 30 minutes, though 15 will do in a pinch. Commit yourself to keeping your writing momentum going through the holiday season, so you’re all ready come January for your 2020 resolutions.

The Rules:

  1. Write every day. Doesn’t matter when or where or what. Just set aside half an hour to dedicate to your writing.
  2. You can take two days off over the month, if you really need them. Planning a big holiday dinner at your house? You can take a freebie day. Travel day that sucks up hours with you behind the wheel? Maybe that’s a good day not to write. But only take them if you have to, and try to keep it to two days out of 31.

That’s it. Those are the only rules. Keep in mind, you can customize the challenge as need be. Edit if you’ve got a deadline coming, or schedule longer writing sessions. Break up your writing into small chunks over the day if that makes it easier. This challenge isn’t about word counts or finishing a novel in a month. It’s about keeping your brain in training so the blank page isn’t so scary come January 1st.

A Few Tips:

  1. Schedule writing sessions ahead of time, and put reminders on your calendar, complete with alerts.
  2. Let your family know what you’re doing and that your writing time is non-negotiable (assuming no one’s bleeding).
  3. Find a few writing friends and set up writing dates over the course of the month to keep yourself accountable.
  4. Carry a pen and notebook with you so, if need be, you can spend a few minutes jotting down words when you’re standing in a long line at the store, commuting on public transportation, or waiting in the car to pick up your kids.
  5. Have fun with it. Let yourself play around and write something different if you’re having trouble with your WIP. Don’t make this stressful, just keep writing.

Friday Links: The Black Friday Edition

Some of you probably spent your morning shopping, whether fighting crowds in stores or seeking deals online. I slept in, then treated myself to a lazy breakfast on the couch, with eggs and leftover biscuits from dinner last night. I’m not one for deep-deal diving in the days after Thanksgiving. Instead, I use these few days off to gear up for the last push of the year, and to prep for holiday travel. But I do have this week’s Friday Links for all of you, and whatever your schedule, I hope you find a moment to enjoy them.

Feet up in rainbow socks next to mug of coffee and an open paperback book.

A quick reminder for you: The 2019 December Writing Challenge kicks off on Sunday. I’ll be back tomorrow with the full rules of the challenge for those of you unfamiliar with them. Meanwhile, enjoy your leftovers, read a good book, finish up your NaNoWriMo project, or grab a nice nap. And happy writing!

This Week’s Links:

Pete Hamill ‘Ain’t Done Yet.’ – An interesting profile of the journalist and novelist as he works on what might be his final project.

You Can Book Harry Potter’s Childhood Home on Airbnb. – The home featured in the Harry Potter films as the house in Godric’s Hollow can be rented for as little as $150 per night.

The Best Sci-Fi and Fantasty Defies Easy Genre Categorization. – A discussion of the place held by these commercial labels and what they mean for the writer who wants to blur the lines.

Shannon Pufahl: Queering the Western. – For writers and readers interested in diversifying the literary landscape, as well as those intrigued by America’s national myth of the wild west.

The Slightly Foxed Podcast. – The podcast associated with the UK literary quarterly of the same name. Wonderful listening for anyone seeking slightly less-well-known titles to add to their TBR piles, interested in bits of literary trivia, or who counts themself an anglophile. Produced once a month, with a little over a year of back episodes currently available.

Pippi Longstocking Musical in Works to Celebrate 75th Anniversary. – Set for this coming summer in Stockholm, for any fans out there planning vacation travel. Fingers crossed it lands in a few more places in the future.

Books for the Holiday Rom-Com Fan. – An assortment of titles, both new and older, sure to fit your holiday mood.

Countdown to the December Writing Challenge 2019

Each year, I challenge you to spend your December writing a little bit every day. Why? Because for most of us, December marks the busiest part of the year. Between holidays and end-of-year work projects, traffic and crowded stores, family and entertaining, it can be chaotic. Writing often takes a backseat to all your other tasks and commitments. Then January hits, with its new year resolutions, and your brain stalls out immediately on your writing goals.

Girl-on-laptop

 

My challenge involves prioritizing your writing. You don’t need to write a great deal (unless of course you have a deadline or other motivating factor). The idea is to write a little bit every day. Try and grab half an hour, but fifteen minutes will do. Warn your friends and family that  you’re setting aside a little time each day for your writing. Mark it in your calendar. Whatever you need to do to commit to the page.

I’ll post the full rules for the writing challenge later in the week, and I’ll be back on Sunday, December 1st, to kick it off officially. Over the month, I’ll be posting mini peptalks here, with suggestions to keep you going. I’ll post reminders on Twitter daily, too, along with a little cheerleading.

I hope you’ll join me for this year’s December Writing Challenge. If you’re working on NaNoWriMo, it’s a great way to keep up your momentum. If you’re hoping to make inroads with your writing in 2020, this will give you a push. Dare to take your writing to the next step and see what you can do. Happy writing!

Friday Links: A Little Writerly Food for Thought

Sneaking this week’s post in under the wire today. It’s still Friday here, so that counts, right? Things have been a bit chaotic this week, everyone getting ready to take some or all of next week off for Thanksgiving. Even now, I’m breaking to post this before I go back to the rest of my to-do list.

Girl-with-laptop-and-stack-of-books

So the food-for-thought thing is a bit of a holiday joke. I might be contemplating the merits of Yukon gold vs. sweet potatoes between reading manuscripts. But that doesn’t mean I don’t come bearing thoughtful links this week. There are the usual book lists and so on, but also some wonderful writing tips that I hope will inspire you. It’s a pretty broad range, so I think there’s something for everyone.

I know those of you doing NaNoWriMo are heading into the last leg of the challenge. Wishing you lots of wonderful words, and not too many ninjas slipping in to pad your pages. Just keep on writing. Don’t delete, don’t worry about it. Plenty of time to edit come December.

Happy weekend, everyone!

This week’s links:

The Gift of Penciling It In. – Author Maggie Stiefvader talks about the process of writing, and deleting, and writing some more.

Edith Wharton Will Teach You Everything You Need to Know about Naming Characters. – A great look at how the names Wharton chose fit the characters and also their journeys.

Inside the Last Occupied Apartments of the Chelsea Hotel. – The NYC institution has housed an assortment of famous and interesting people. If you’re looking some great writing prompts, check out the photo gallery with this article.

NYC Midnight Annual Short Story Challenge. – Check out the site to enter this multi-round contest where every entry gets feedback from the judges. Open internationally.

The 20 Must-Read Books of 2020. – Bustle might be jumping the gun, but it’s still a great list of what to be on the lookout for in coming months.

Kill Your Idols: On the Violence of Experimental Literature. – A look at what it means to step away from the examples set by the writers who came before you.

The 100 Must-Read Books of 2019. – Per Time magazine. Yes, those lists are starting already.

Friday Links: A Mishmash of Inspiration for Your Weekend

Happy Friday! Hard to believe we’re halfway through November. For those of you diligently toiling at NaNoWriMo, I hope you’re making excellent progress. Actually, I wish you all excellent progress, no matter what you’re working on.

The weekend looms, however, and so I offer you this advice. Don’t forget to take a little break. Yes, I know you have words to write. I know you have work and family and other obligations. But take time to recharge a little. Read something fun. Go outside. Rekindle a hobby that’s fallen by the wayside. The rest of the year will only get busier, so take a moment to breathe while you can.

I hope these links provide a little inspiration and maybe some useful information. It’s a mishmash–something for everyone. Have a terrific weekend, and happy writing!

This Week’s Links:

Shelf Mythology: 100 Years of Paris Bookshop Shakespeare and Company. – This month marks the 100th anniversary of the famed Parisian bookstore. The Guardian offers a nice little history of the shop.

The Secret Society of Women Writers in Oxford in the 1920s. – A look at a group of women writers who supported each other in their literary efforts and ambitions considered inappropriate for women of their time.

Go Beyond Sally Rooney with These 13 Irish Women Novelists. – A nice roundup of titles you might consider for your TBR pile.

What Makes Good Comfort Food? Writers in Conversation. – Everyone always asks the literary dinner party question. What authors, deceased or living, would you invite to a literary dinner party? No one asks what everyone would eat. This seems to remedy that.

Reedsy Plot Generator. – For anyone needing a jumping off point for a new project or something to inspire a new tangent. It’s a fun exercise to help you run through a bunch of ideas fast and works across genres. With thanks to Yvonne Shiau for bringing it to my attention.

For N.K. Jemisin, World-Building Is a Lesson in Oppression. – Check out this world-building workshop that addresses the structural forces that lead to inequality.

Kurt Vonnegut’s Advice for the Impatient Writer. – Some wise (and often tongue-in-cheek) thoughts for anyone frustrated with various aspects of their writing career.

Friday Links: Inspiration and Influence

We discuss inspiration a lot when talking about what we write. We want to read, to fill the well, to take in new ideas. Things inspire you to go in a particular direction with your work-in-progress. Sometimes it’s a snippet of conversation or a bit of reading, other times it’s more nebulous. Colors in the trees. A flashy outfit on a woman across the street. A moment of fear when it looks like something terrible might happen.

Girl_on_mountain_stretching_at_sunset

But past influences? I think we mostly discuss those in relation to published writers, asking them to look back at who they’ve read and what they’ve experienced that made them a writer. It’s harder to think about it in the moment, to look at your half-formed manuscript and recognize the pieces of your past that form the roots. It’s something to consider, next time you hit a wall or find your momentum slowing. Think about where you’re going, but also about where you’ve been. Ask what brought you there. It might help you figure out what comes next.

Along those lines, I offer up this week’s Friday Links, with plenty of inspiration and maybe a few looks at influence, too. I hope they give you a push in the right direction. Wishing you a wonderful weekend and productive writing!

This Week’s Links:

Five Books about Artists and the Magic of Creativity. – Maggie Stiefvater discusses the natural melding of art and magic and how that comes across in books.

The Second Shelf. – A peek into the world of A.N. Devers’s wonderful second-hand bookshop, located in London, where books by women get a second life in a market that is traditionally dominated by male writers.

Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of November. – Some great new titles topping the list per Amazon.

How to Unlearn Everything: When it Comes to Writing the ‘Other,’ What Questions Are We not Asking? – Alexander Chee looks at the importance of including diverse characters versus what it means to let a person tell their own story.

Explore the List of 100 Novels that Shaped Our World. – The BBC shares a broad list of titles voted on by a collection of writers, critics, etc., focusing not on what books are “best,” but on what works had the most influence on them and their surroundings.

Philip Pullman On Children’s Literature and the Critics Who Distain It. – The author looks at the what the label “children’s literature” actually means, and why these books are no less worthy of an adult’s attention than any other type of writing.

How to Review a Novel. – Advice on the process, but also something interesting for fiction writers to consider. Reviewers and pleasure readers can have very different perspectives.

A Roundup of 2019’s Major Science Fiction and Fantasy Award Winners. – Pad out your TBR list with some of these amazing award-winning novels.

Friday Links: Inspiration for a Month of Novel Writing

Happy Friday, and welcome to the return of Friday Links! If Halloween wishes felt like a good reentry point for the blog, Friday Links makes the perfect follow up. Especially on a day when so many of you are firing up your computers and other writing instruments to get to work for NaNoWriMo.

Vintage-manual-typewriter

Despite my silence here on the blog, I never quite lost the habit of collecting interesting tidbits to share in these Friday posts. I’d clean the metaphorical house occasionally, but I saved quite a few tabs for my inevitable return to blogging. I’m so happy to share these great pages with you now. Especially since a fair few offer up writing advice that might be useful for NaNo. But whether you’re tackling 50,000 words in the next thirty days or just working away on your current project, I hope you find some inspiration. Enjoy, and happy writing!

This Week’s Links:

Putting Your Worst Foot Forward: Why You Should Play to Your Weaknesses as an Author. — Some excellent thoughts on why you shouldn’t only write the things you’re good at writing.

25 of the Best Literary and Book Podcasts for Book Lovers. – A nice round-up with something here for every taste.

George Saunders on the Best Writing Advice He’s Ever Received. – A few words of wisdom to keep in mind as you write.

Thank You for Calling the Writer Envy Helpline. – A little bit of humor but also an excellent reminder that you need to focus on your own page and not worry what that other guy is doing.

Who Needs an MFA When You Have This Literary Fiction Trope List? – More humor. I wouldn’t recommend using too many of these, but they make great filler inspiration when you’re having a tough NaNo day. (Just remember to edit, later.)

Is Line Editing a Lost Art? – A look at this important stage of the editorial process (and a good reason why you should hold onto anyone who has a knack for it).

Why Are Writers Particularly Drawn to Tarot? – Interesting as pertains to writers, but also something to think about when your characters are misbehaving on the page.

What’s the Worst that Could Happen? – Several authors discuss their contributions to an anthology of speculative fiction and what it’s like to write stories that look at the ways technologies and social change are affecting our world and near future.