The Holiday Backseat Driver

“At your times of rejoicing—your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.” Numbers 10:10 (NIV)

Holiday festivals and feasts are not a new tradition. No, the Lord established special times in the lives of the Israelites so they would commemorate His faithfulness. Gifts were even given when Purim was established in Esther 9:18-22. But holiday customs have escalated in our time, leaving us little margin to escape the tyranny of the urgent.

Does writing take a backseat during your holidays? If Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day becomes an excuse to put off the written word, do the remaining months of the year make up for word output? What about Fourth of July, Easter and Valentine’s? Don’t forget Veteran’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Mother’s/Father’s Days. Of course, Memorial Day and Labor Day actually involve entire weekends, and Daylight Savings Time affects our ability to focus for the following week. What’s a writer to do?

Exercise:

1. Let the season you’re in provide fodder for the next. Journal about the Christmas tree lights. Reflect about the gathering around your Thanksgiving table. Write down what you see at the first snowfall. Your words will evoke emotions to add to later articles.
2. Look ahead three to six months on your calendar. What holidays can you pitch to a publication? Research magazines in your Christian Writers Market Guide. Make an outline according to their guidelines. Fill in the words, edit, polish and send.
3. Create an ebook to send to your mailing list or upload to your website. Topics to brainstorm: favorite holiday recipes or a humorous piece about your burnt offerings, wrapping tips and gift-buying clues, hacks for less time in the kitchen, ideas for family fun in the kitchen, and 5,10 or 30 days of devotionals.

Give yourself grace in a time of holiday bustle. Take a sleigh ride. Put on the tea kettle and savor the season. It will put you in a reflective mood and balance out your heart rate. Let your holiday writing be a gift to the One who was our gift in Bethlehem. No more pushing your muse to the back seat!

Where is your favorite writing nook during Christmastime?

You’ll find me under the tree!

Over 140 of Sally Ferguson’s devotionals have been published in Pathways to God (Warner Press). She’s also written for Light From The Word, Chautauqua Mirror, Just Between Us, Adult Span Curriculum, Thriving Family, Upgrade with Dawn and ezinearticles.com. Prose Contest Winner at 2017 Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference.

Sally loves organizing retreats and seeing relationships blossom in time away from the daily routine. Her ebook, How to Plan a Women’s Retreat is available on Amazon. Sally Ferguson lives in the beautiful countryside of Jamestown, NY with her husband and her dad. Visit Sally’s blog at www.sallyferguson.net