Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—but between school, work, and the holidays, it can be enough to make you forget you’re even writing a book. Some of us have just climbed out of the NaNoWriMo cave, and are in desperate need of a break from all that screen time. 

However, most of us still have literary goals we want to achieve as we race toward the new year. If that’s you (it certainly is me!), there must be a way to accomplish this without losing your marbles–or your holiday spirit!

So here’s a tip for keeping motivated without the overwhelm: make it a game! Go full-on Mary Poppins with your manuscript, and even if you aren’t seeing huge word counts, you’ll still see progress.

How, you ask? I am so glad you did! Here are several of my favorite ideas for getting those words down while you’re trying to get a million things done (and maybe build a snowman, too!).   

• Type while your holiday baking projects are in the oven — bonus points: if you hit your word goal before the timer goes off, give yourself an extra cookie when they’re done (oh, come on, we all know you’re going to eat one anyway, so now you get another!)

• Challenge yourself to a ten-minute word war on your lunch break. Set a goal, and set a timer. If you don’t meet your goal, do some pushups. Now your lunch break is even healthier!

• Record your story on your phone while getting ready for the day. Use your voice to text app, and for added fun, don’t read it back over until later. It’ll be a fun guessing game to figure out some of the things your phone thought you said.

• While doing homework, use the pomodoro technique, but with a twist: work on your assignment for twenty minutes, then switch to your novel for ten. Definitely use a timer for this one, though! The homework still needs to get finished! 😉

May your December be merry and bright and full of writerly goodness!

Dana, signing off to go find some cocoa and get back to her manuscript.