Wednesday 19 December 2012

The write time for the holidays!

Holidays, time to sit and think a while...
It's mid December. We're pushing through end of year events and parties, concerts and presentations. We're packing our bags and preparing for holidays. No more homework, no more school lunches, a break from the routine that has carried us all year long. 
But do you holiday from writing? 
I do. And I don't. 

I take a holiday from deadlines. Any writing that I usually schedule into my week, in a work like manner,  or ongoing projects that have specific due by dates - I take a break from these. Hopefully I've done sufficient work on them in the lead up to family holidays that they can put their feet up in the back corner of my mind and just chill, brew and develop without my thinking of them.


And time to take cheesy self-portraits!
I don't take a holiday from writing though. My humble journal follows me wherever I go and I'll write as I feel in there. I usually tuck a writing related book into my suitcase, and some notepaper. Perhaps a notebook belonging to a particular dreamy project - you know the ones that are deep in your heart but not quite ready to come out yet? A lot of my holiday writing is done is mini paragraphs on scraps of paper or the skippish imagination just before falling asleep. 

So, I thought, it might be fun to do some holiday writing together. Put away your deadlined projects, your major work novels and picture book re-edits.
Choose 5 of the following words and write them into a paragraph that captures something about what you are looking forward to this Christmas Holiday period. And have fun!



Easter-eggs     Breakfast     Pudding     Tissues     Grit     Snot     Tinsel     Beetroot     Sticky-tape       Crumpets     Shampoo     Cinnamon     Pages      Noodle     Empty     Acne     Yelp     Conglomerate             

And, since it's Christmas time, I'll send a little pressie to the author of the paragraph which makes me wish I could come piggy pack on your holidays for an afternoon or two.  


Penny Reeve is a children's author currently living in Western Sydney. This week she hopes to find sufficient chocolate to avoid the pre-Christmas crazies, remember to wrap the right gifts with the right cards and find some time to sit with a notebook, a pencil and a blank page of possibilities! You can read more from Penny at her website or facebook page.

8 comments:

  1. This Christmas holiday I'll be enjoying late breakfast after big sleep-ins. There'll be plenty of grit in my shoes when I visit the beach. I'll be spending time with my snotty young kids, so we'll need plenty of tissues. The pages of my novel are currently empty, but over the holiday they'll start to fill.

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  3. The Christmas cake with cinnamon and other spices will be cut on Christmas Eve, but there will be no pudding. I have a family of non pudding eaters and won’t make or buy one just for me. The house is also empty this year of a Christmas tree. Just felt we couldn’t justify the price of buying one so missing that pine smell. Instead we have a wrought iron tree shape decorated with our cards, and red bows. Not the same but still looks festive alongside a conglomerate of pine cones, tinsel, Poinsettia, candles etc in red and green baskets. And of course we have a nativity scene set up. It is always the first sign of Christmas in our house

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  4. Thanks for your lovely post Penny. Alas, a big writing deadline looms for me - just 12 days away now (Arrrg!)and finding time for doing it is my big ask of the day. Christmas business is stealing most of my time!

    Nevertheless it's a beautiful time of year - as we celebrate the arrival of the Christ child into the world and I am revelling in Him and all He came to give us.
    Blessings,
    Anusha

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  5. Someone told me they'd seen hot-cross buns in the supermarket the other day. HOT CROSS BUNS!! And the Christmas pudding's not even off the shelves yet. I bet I'll find easter-eggs next time I go. But for now I want to focus on Christmas - crumpets for breakfast, and presents of books filled with pages of engrossing entertainment to carry me through the summer holidays and beyond. Merry Christmas all. XXOO

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  6. Someone told me they'd seen hot-cross buns in the supermarket the other day. HOT CROSS BUNS!! And the Christmas pudding's not even off the shelves yet. I bet I'll find easter-eggs next time I go. But for now I want to focus on Christmas - crumpets for breakfast, and presents of books filled with pages of engrossing entertainment to carry me through the summer holidays and beyond. Merry Christmas all. XXOO

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  7. Our Bed and Breakfast room overlooks the Glass House mountains. I wake in the morning and there they stand, framed by the tinsel edged window. The early morning light reflects from the damp rock on one side, leaving the other shaded a deep beetroot red. Soon we will be eating breakfast on the deck, watching the wild birds separate the seed from the grit in their feeding tray. We've ordered crumpets and honey this morning. But first I think I'll fill the empty cast iron bath, add some of the bath salts and soak the tensions of the year away. Happy Christmas Penny. Thanks for keeping us writing.

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  8. Love these holiday posts! Thanks for participating, Amanda, Jo, Dale, Adam and Anusha. It was Jo's paragraph that really got me feeling like I was in the holiday mood so if she can pop over to my website and leave me a message with her address then I'll post the promised pressie in the mail for her! www.pennyreeve.com
    Hope everyone had/ or still having, some really special holiday times and getting just the right amount and type of writing done. :)
    Penny.

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