Creative Doldrums

It’s almost the end of the first week of December and I haven’t written more than 800 words. The struggle with this is that none of these 800 words written in December have been on my work in progress, i.e. my NaNoWriMo 2016 novel. Sitting down to write is the last thing on my mind

I have the doldrums.

This happens often during December.

NaNoWriMo, with all of its wonderful energy and connectedness, is over, and writing once again becomes a solitary occupation.

And, then comes the holiday’s with all of the craziness they can muster.

Doesn’t it seem as if, no matter what you do, the holidays become out of control? How?

When all of this happens, being creative is a struggle.

Most of the time, all I want to do is wrap up in a blanket, watch movies and wait until December is over. Of course that isn’t necessarily a good idea. It is so hard to begin writing again if I don’t keep the habit up.

I have found a few things to entertain myself:

A capella holiday music. Pentatonix to be specific. This group is fantastic and I highly recommend them (www.ptxofficial.com).

Holiday lights are plentiful in my area and the drive home has been fun. We don’t do much outside (or inside) decorating, mostly because I’ve been known to leave my tree up until spring, and I really appreciate those that put the effort in.

Watching kids sit on Santa’s lap was great fun for me and it wasn’t only about my own grandkids. My work hosted the local Breakfast with Santa and I had the privilege to take the pictures for this event. My friend Amie did a fabulous job, as did Mr. and Mrs. Claus, in making this a wonderful day.

Though I am not going to be hard on myself for this struggle with my creativity during this time, I am going to keep focused on my goal – writing 500 words each day. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll finish that first draft by the end of December.

How do you stay creative when things are crazy in your life?