Keeping Writing Momentum During the Holidays

The holiday season is here, and that means until after the new year, life is pretty wild and unpredictable! For writers, it can feel frustrating to hit the holidays and lose any (or all) momentum you had. Although the reality of the holiday season is that things are going to slow down a bit, that doesn’t mean that you’ve got to lose all of the momentum you built up on your WIP. We’ve got a few tips to help keep you on track while also allowing you the space to enjoy the holidays.

Daily Writing Goals

If you don’t usually set yourself daily word count goals, the holidays are a great time to start. One of the most frustrating things about the holidays is feeling like you’ve lost all of your momentum, so setting daily writing goals will help give you something visible that shows the progress you’ve made, even if it’s a bit slower than your normal writing grind. It can feel really overwhelming to think that you’ve not worked on your book in the larger increments of time that you’re used to. However, if you’ve got a daily goal in mind, you can not only plan out your day to include the time to meet your daily goal, but you can also move goals around instead of losing all of your momentum if you realize you’re not going to have the time or brain space to write for a bit.

Set Smaller Daily Writing Goals

Whether you’re just using daily writing goals for the holidays or you typically set yourself a daily goal in your writing life, remember that allowing yourself the time to rest is just as important as meeting a word count goal. A huge reason writers lose momentum or drop away from their WIPs is burnout. Nothing makes a person feel burnt out more quickly than feeling like they don’t have the time in the day to meet their personal writing goals, rest, and enjoy time with loved ones. So make your writing goals each day smaller than normal, or even consider developing a holiday schedule for writing time twice a week, every other day, or some other pattern that gives you time to enjoy the holidays, guilt-free.

Set That Out-Of-Office!

Does the prospect of setting daily writing goals make your head spin? Are you certain that even if you manage to carve out some writing time during the holidays, any words you write will be utter garbage thanks to the distraction of family, friends, and holiday exhaustion? Then take a break! Think of it like setting your out-of-office when you take time off from your day job. But don’t just tell yourself, “I won’t write over the holidays.” Set a specific amount of time that you’ll put your WIP on the back burner and a clear date that you’ll get back into the swing of things. That way you can enjoy the time off without feeling stressed about your book and you can fully invest in the holiday festivities with your loved ones. Once the holidays are over, you can get back at it!

Be Flexible, But Come Back

Of course, if there is one thing we all know about the holiday season, it’s that plans and schedules can only go so far. Sometimes the holidays bring chaos, and all of the plans you’ve made for the season fly right out the window. So it’s good to plan and decide what you’re comfortable doing with your writing goals, but prepare your heart for the fact that your plans might dissolve. 

Be ready to be flexible! Instead of throwing up your hands and abandoning whatever writing system you put in place for yourself, allow yourself the time to roll with the punches, fully plug into whatever activities with your loved ones derailed your plans, and then come back to the drawing board and restructure your holiday writing plan. The key to not feeling like the holidays irrevocably wrecked your writerly flow is not just being ready and willing to shift your writing plans around, but also coming back to make a new writing plan.

But above all, remember that resting and recharging your body and spending time with loved ones is most important during this time. So let yourself enjoy this time, lean into the chaos, and even if all of your planning falls away, you can always jump back into the writing flow. And we’re here to help! Check out the services we offer and schedule a consultation to see if we might be good partners to get your book finished and published!