… and we start early! Our November meeting is given over to a Christmas lunch at a local eatery. Every year we do something different to mark the occasion: this year we each added a line to a story to make a complete narrative over lunch. The end result may not make the Pulitzer, Booker or Miles Franklin lists but gee we had fun doing it – trying to be thoughtfully creative while dodging salad wraps, calamari, burgers and assorted drinks amongst the tinsel and decorations is a juggle and we were up to it.
Christmas always rustled. It rustled every time, mysteriously, with silver and gold paper, tissue paper and a rich abundance of shiny paper, decorating and hiding everything and giving a feeling of reckless extravagance.
Tove Jansson in Sculptor’s Daughter: A Childhood Memoir
Every Christmas for most of us tests the timing of our panic button yet at some point during the silly season we get to take a break, pause and be grateful for the simple things in life. A sense of joy envelopes us as we step away from the daily pressures and indulge in the tradition of gift-giving (while keeping receipts handy in case the gift isn’t quite delightfully received).
Christmas is like candy; it slowly melts in your mouth sweetening every taste bud, making you wish it could last forever.
Richelle E. Goodrich in Smile Anyway
With that in mind, let’s all find space in the madness of this period of the year to keep writing, explore our style, experiment with techniques or genres, and continue to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard. This time of the year is abundant with stories itching to be written in whatever form takes your fancy. Scratch a note when you see something silly, or interesting or overhear a snatch of conversation you could play with; record your thoughts, feelings and responses to the experiences of this season; jot down things that amuse or entertain you. Each and any of these could make a great poem, short story, script or balloon into a novel.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!
Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr Seuss in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
There’s no Saturday meeting in December for our writers’ group though we do a coffee catch-up on the second Wednesday of every month. Maybe we’ll see you there. Or, perhaps you’ll review your plans for 2023 and decide to come along to our January gathering on Saturday 28th. We’d love to see you.
Meanwhile, to all our writerly types, whether a member or not, may Santa be generous to you, may you find warmth in the sharing of Christmas traditions and may 2023 see your writing become all you want it to be.
