The Winter Holiday season often means people with regular jobs get time off from work.
If that includes you, then this is a good time to dedicate some effort for writing.
If you have a family, this can be challenging if they decide this is the time for you to entertain them.
Time with family is important, but you need to establish a balance between them and your writing time.
This takes organization and discipline.
The Holiday season is also a time when people reflect on the year, the past and the future.
One good use of some of that time off would be to think about what you have accomplished in your writing.
Celebrate every little accomplishment and write them down along with the list of things you wanted to achieve but couldn't find the time or the creative inspiration.
Then look forward and write down what you want to accomplish in your writing next year.
If you have followed a regular schedule for writing but found the creativity has stalled, this may be a great time to take a break.
Immerse yourself in celebrating the holidays, rekindling family relationships and enjoying the festive season.
Taking your mind off the writing work may just be the solution you need to recharge your creative mind.
However, if you reflect on your writing over the last year and conclude that changes in habits and practices are needed, then this time is perfect for reflecting and deciding the changes.
As New Year's Day rolls by, you may be tempted, along with millions of others, to make a New Year's resolution.
Often these resolutions deal with weight loss, exercise, smoking, relationships and such matters.
Your resolution might focus on setting a regular schedule on your calendar for writing, or creating a better framework to capture and track characters and their attributes in a long mystery novel, or to redouble your efforts on researching the historical context of that biography.
Whatever changes you identify, don't simply MAKE a resolution - instead, be resolute.
What's the difference? The difference is being someone who does something versus being someone that is that something.
'Being it' implies total commitment, like the pig and the chicken at the bacon and eggs breakfast meal.
The chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.
Don't simply be involved in your resolution, be committed to it.
Don't repeat the same failed empty promises to no one that you make each year.
This time, create a clear vision of what you want to accomplish, set a goal, develop a plan and commit to it.
Write it all down and put it in a visible place where it will remind you each time you sit down to write.
Then execute the plan diligently every day because that is what you are - resolutely committed to your vision.
Make this New Year's resolution stick by being the change you want to make, and don't forget to celebrate every little accomplishment.
Accomplishments, even the little ones, are like self-motivating power pellets that will propel you forward and keep you committed to your vision and goals.
Write on.