Taking a Writing Break for the End of 2020

How has 2020 been for you, as a writer?

Maybe it’s been a surprisingly good year. Perhaps, with social events cancelled, and no commute to work, you’ve found it easy to find time to write.

But maybe it hasn’t gone like that.

Most of the writers I know have had a tough year. They’ve been homeschooling their kids during lockdown, or they’ve been worried about catching Covid-19 and exacerbating an existing condition.

They’ve been missing family and friends, and support networks like local writing groups. They’ve found it really hard to write at home, but been unable to go to libraries or coffee shops.

For me, 2020 has been a busier year than any I can remember. I’ve written some fiction, but nowhere near the whole novel draft I’d hoped to write. Almost all the posts I’ve published on Aliventures have been updated versions of older ones, not new material.

If you, like me, haven’t written as much as you wanted – then please don’t feel bad about it. This has been a really tough year for so many people. Frankly, simply getting through 2020 is an achievement in itself.

Things are starting to look better, though. Many countries (sadly not mine!) are doing a great job of controlling the pandemic. There are vaccines on the horizon.

Hopefully, 2021 will be a better year for us all.

If you can, take a break from writing over the Christmas / New Year period, so you can start 2021 feeling at least somewhat refreshed. You might want to deliberately put your writing on hold for a bit, rather than racing to meet any self-imposed deadlines.

If you feel like doing some reading about writing, or some gentle preparation for what you’re going to write in 2021, check out these Aliventures resources:

• The Self-Study Packs – these are sets of seminars from the old version of Writers’ Huddle, where I ran monthly seminars. (The new version is just focused on the community elements which makes it a lot cheaper for you.) Each set of seminars comes with nicely edited transcripts, in case you prefer to read instead of listen.
• Get Writing [ON SALE!] – a set of resources to help you dip into, or go further with, different areas of writing. It’s currently on half-price sale, at $10 instead of $20. 

I’ll be taking some time off from blogging until late January, first to spend more time with family, then to create some new resources and line up some new posts for 2021.

If you don’t want to miss any posts once I’m back, make sure you join the Aliventures newsletter. That way, you’ll get my blog posts (as well as exclusive newsletter articles) straight to your inbox.