Writers Christmas Buffet
A selection of writing treats for the holiday season
Christmas is a time of small, random things (and no I’m not talking about children). It’s a season of collections, medleys, melanges and miscellanies.
During the holidays most of us are subject to at least one buffet meal, often of food items we wouldn’t contemplate at any other time of the year. We find a host of little gifts stuffed into Christmas stockings. Trees are decorated (let’s face it mostly overdecorated) with dozens of baubles and figures and shapes. We dip into assortments of chocolates, we enjoy or endure a farrago of strange drinks, we listen to a motley, familiar collection of carols and Christmas songs. Living quietly, somewhere in our homes, is a bowl of unshelled, assorted nuts.
So in keeping with the Christmas smorgasbord spirit, here’s some useful, incisive or surprising writing and creativity related things, Plus some extra stuff, just for laughs, to keep your writing motor running over the holiday period.
Have a good one and see you on the other side!
On the 1st Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me
David Sadaris reading from his darkly comic memoir Santaland Diaries: “I am a 33-year-old man, applying for a job as an elf…”
On the 2nd Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
A quote about honouring our own experience and lives in our writing:
“Our lives are at once ordinary and mythical. We live and die, age beautifully or full of wrinkles. We wake in the morning, buy yellow cheese, and hope we have enough money to pay for it. At the same instant we have these magnificent hearts that pump through all the sorrow and all winters we are alive on the earth. We are important and our lives are important, magnificent really, and their details are worthy to be recorded.” -Natalie Goldberg
On the 3rd Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
A list of recommended debut short story collections, published in 2023, from Electric Literature.
On the 4th Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
Nothing. Give yourself a day off, it’s the holidays for goodness sake. The stories will still be there tomorrow.
On the 5th Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
A quirky tweet that could also act as a humorous writing prompt.
On the 6th Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
A reminder that you’ll never write anything genuine if you try to write what you think other people want to read.
“Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” — Barbara Kingsolver
On the 7th Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
A Word Cloud that can be used as a writing prompt exercise. Just choose one of the words to kick things off, write fast and free, and every time you hesitate, just grab another word and follow that twisting rabbit hole.
On the 8th Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
My top writing tip for 2024:
Don’t Instruct the reader, Seduce them: Leave room for the imagination and trust the reader to get what you are implying.
On the 9th Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
Lopsided Angel by Meg Pokrass
Published in New Flash Fiction Review. A Christmas-themed story by this flash fiction supremo, who has her own very subscribable Substacks.
On the 10th Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
A festive-season short story by one of the best modern short fiction writers. College student Kaushik faces challenges when he visits his family in New England over the holidays.
On the 11th Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
A video about gathering ‘narrative kindling’ (writing prompts) by yours truly, as part of a writing craft series for Comma Press. Might be worth giving it a go if you are a Boxing Day walk kind of person. NB: I was not responsible for the animations…
On the 12th Day of Christmas, Writing Talk sent to me:
Thirteen Writing Prompts by Dan Wiencek
A funny, sharp short story in the form of a list of writing prompts, which punctures the kind of earnest seriousness quite clearly on display in the video above for the 11th Day of Christmas…