It is 10.22pm here in Queensland on Australia’s east coast, and I’ve just finished writing the first two scenes of a brand new short story/novella (not sure what it will end up being yet). A prequel to my suburban noir short story The New Neighbors.
As any introvert could agree, Christmas is a draining time, especially with friends and family coming to stay. I am surrounded by people 24×7 at the moment, and I am exhausted. At 3pm this afternoon I crashed out, sleeping for two and a half hours, even though I had slept in until 9am that morning. There goes my writing time, I thought. Hence why I was writing til 10pm. Not good for the sleep cycles, but I need to take the writing time where I can get it at the moment.
After completing NaNoWriMo in November, I took a break from my main writing projects for the Christmas/New Year period. Hours at my retail jobs were picking up in the lead-up to Christmas, and celebrations with family and friends were beginning. However in early December I was itching to write something (quite foolish of me to think I could go a whole month without writing anything!).
I scratched this itch by starting work on a prequel to my supernatural short story Grave Bargains. I got that done, plus a complete rewrite of Grave Bargains as well. At the start of this week, I started planning work on the prequel to The New Neighbors.
I’ve found short story writing to be a great way to tide me over between big projects like novels. I’ve got so many of them waiting to be written and fine-tuned.
I like to have something small on the go to tap into when I have a spare moment amidst the chaos of the silly season. However this year, I will definitely plan ahead. Deciding what to work on, and then trying to do research and prep work has been tricky indeed. And don’t even get me started on trying to find the time to write.
When I do find the time, the injection of creativity gives me a boost of energy, which I draw on during this busy time.
Kate Kelsen 