When I’m looking for gifts, my thoughts always turn to books – naturally! For a reader, discovering a new book is a great and long-lasting treat. It will stay long after the chocolates are eaten and the lights turned off.
Of course I’d recommend you consider giving the gift of time travel! My Timegathering duo, The Time Gatherer and The Renaissance Club are good gifts for those who need a virtual getaway. And they’re both ON SALE THIS MONTH.
As one reader said, “Take a break from life’s stresses and swim in the ocean of possibility.”
Another great gift is something to accompany a good reading session. Along with the gift of a book, I like to give friends my favorite bookmarks, coffee/tea mugs, scented candles, bookends, and for those of us who like to read on devices, an e-reader stuffed with good books is a wonderful gift.
For the whimsically inclined and lovers of fantasy, MyBookMark has a wild assortment of fanciful bookmarks that make your half-read volume an object of fantasy. Here are two I love (hint, hint):
A fancy journal with blank pages is a perennial choice for writers – though many of us hate to spoil the really elaborate journals by actually writing in them! I have a stack. Maybe today I’ll venture into one and spoil a page with some scribbling or doodling.
I’m writing every day during the holidays, at least in my mind. Have you ever have trouble concentrating during 2020? (Insert laugh track.) Research is the key to starting my creative process. If I can’t think of how to begin a scene, I’ll research something about it — a person, a setting, even an object used by a character. Since I’m working on another time travel novel, there’s plenty of research to do. I find that reading also kicks me into creative gear. Sometimes reading in the same genre, sometimes different.
Writing During the Holidays
If you’re thinking of pursuing your daily writing goals during the holiday season, you might also pick a new place to write, and possibly a new way to do it. If you, like me, have been gifted many blank journals, try choosing one you haven’t used yet to make notes. Don’t consider that you’re writing anything, just make notes for writing. Sometimes a fresh, physical blank space and a nice pen can bring imagination along with them, like opening a door you’d never seen was there in that wall.
And sometimes the company of your furry writing companion helps! Often for me.
Reader reviews on Amazon are such a great help to an author’s career! If you’ve read one of my books and enjoyed it, would you please post an Amazon review? It’s easy – just write a short headline and one sentence about what you liked. The Time Gatherer.
In case you missed it my playlist for The Time Gatherer can be found here