Happy Writing Holiday Season!

The Holidays are approaching fast, this is the thought I woke up with this morning as I tried to go back to sleep, despite the eighty-pound dog taking up most of my leg room. What does a thought like that really mean to someone like me?

I'm former Navy, and I think I remember one or two Holiday seasons where I wasn't on duty. I am now a Registered Nurse, and my thirteen-year-old son lives 400 miles away, with his Mother. The Holidays do not carry the same meaning for him anymore, not at this age. I volunteer to work during the Holidays so my co-workers, young mothers with young children, can spend the Holidays with their children. I think that's only fair. Their children are only young once. They should get to spend the Holidays with their children, and I'll gladly work over the Holidays for them so their kids get to have Mommy at home. I mean, what kid wants to spend Christmas Day waiting for Mom to get home from work so they can open their presents?

And lastly, I am a writer. I have these stories stuck in my head. Stories that I need to get onto paper, or into electronic format as it may be, before they drive me crazy. I've always had these stories trapped in my head, but over the past few years, I have found the confidence and the courage to start putting them into a format that others can read and hopefully enjoy.

I'm over 70,000 words into the latest story, and the agonizingly slow pace of getting the story from my head into the computer takes most of my time now. If I'm not at the hospital, then I'm behind this keyboard trying to organize the pictures in my head into some recognizable format using only the 26 letters of the alphabet available at my disposal. Do I care if others read my stories? Sure I do. I hope they read them and find them enjoyable.. but I don't write for anyone else. I'm writing for me. I want to get the stories out of my head and onto paper so I can explore the rest of the story that I can't see beyond the horizon. The characters tell their stories through me, and if I can't get it recorded correctly, then that's my fault and I'm failing to tell their stories correctly.

So, waking up with the thought, The Holidays are approaching fast, left me with this odd feeling this morning that I needed to write something about it. If folks ask how my Holidays are going, from here on my response is that "I'm having a Writing Holiday Season." Well, what's that? Rather than focusing on gifts and the endless commercialization of the Holiday Season, I'm focusing on getting this particular story out of my head so I can start working on the next one that is already brewing. In the meanwhile, my coworkers can spend the Holidays with their young children, making those special memories that only the Yuletide season can create, and I can go visit with my son after the Holiday itself has passed. So, for all the other writers, authors, and creative types who find themselves in a similar situation, Happy Writing Holiday Season To All of You!