All I want for Christmas...

Is some time to write.

Why is it that the Christmas season, which is supposed to be happy and all about giving, is so stressful? This Christmas, I’m hot on the trail of the first draft of a new novel. If I had just a few hours a day to work on it, I’d get that draft done. There would still be a lot of work, of course, because a first draft is what it is. But I just can’t seem to find the time to finish it.

I’ve analyzed what it is about Christmas that makes things so rushed, so harried, so time-crunched. It’s the extra shopping, definitely. All that shopping takes longer than it should, because everyone else is also doing the extra shopping, so the crowds and traffic are much worse. Even important butt-in-chair computer time is spent researching gifts and possible gifts.

With a 2-1/2 year old in the house, we’re doing Christmassy things we haven’t done in a long while. There are visits (and photos) with Santa and drives through light displays, including a big one in the Atlanta area. That’s not to mention the parties (which we only have two of this year—lucky!)

I work part-time for a twice-a-week newspaper, so for me the problem is compounded by early work deadlines and special Christmas stories to be written.

So, what’s a writer to do?

About six months ago, I managed to carve out some time to myself. Three days a week, I get up at 5:15 in the morning and head to a little office we have set up in an outbuilding at our house. I work until about 7 a.m., when I have to come in and face the rest of my day. So that’s about 4-1/2 hours every week to work on what I think is an important project—my novel. Not much, is it?

I’m hoping Santa will miraculously figure out a way to give me a 28-hour day. Everyone else can stay on the same old 24-hour schedule, but I want those extra four hours sneaked in just for me. Failing that—because I know Santa is especially busy this time of year, and miracles may not be in his bag of tricks—I’ll just have to grin and bear it through the Christmas season.

Come January, there are always New Year’s resolutions!