Blog
January 2019
Saturday 5th January 2019
The tree is down. Ornaments and decorations are all gently packed away for next Christmas. Our house looks refreshingly stark, like it's just been decorated by someone from Scandinavia. Outside, the trees are bare, the bones of their branches fully exposed; limp plants straggle across our lifeless garden. Even the fleeting sun, which barely breaches the top of our hedge, brings little warmth. It is winter.
Throughout the entire busy holiday season I've been fighting bronchitis, exacerbated by chronic asthma. The bronchial coughing brought on back problems. Now coughing really hurts. Forcing myself to move has been a challenge, but there was shopping, lots of cooking, and visits to make. There was no time to be sick.
There were times I did give in to The Virus and watched a few of the hundreds of Christmas rom-coms from the likes of Hallmark and other companies. Most of them suffered from poor scripts and/or poor acting. But some really good, and I decided I would like to write one myself—a genuine Christmas-themed rom-com.
One night this past week, as I lay awake half the night after drinking a full cup of tea at 11:00PM (not the best idea), a full plot came into my head. Since then bits of sparkling dialogue and hilarious plot twists, of course mixed with some moments of slapstick, have been invading my thoughts. I'm in the midst of another book I began in late summer, which I want to finish by spring. But my Christmas rom-com keeps interrupting. I've always said I can't imagine having writer's block. But there's no point in having a plethora of good ideas for books if you don't put your bum on a seat and start writing.
The holidays are often a bit of a train wreck for my personally—both diet-wise (although I didn't gain this year, so illness has some benefits) and writing-wise. After a month of keeping writing on the back burner I feel like something is missing from my life. It's time to regroup—get organized. Start planning and cooking healthy meals, add in a bit of exercise, and WRITE!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
