Holidays and Writing

We’re into the biggest holiday season of the year. Christmas is in 10 days.

You have family, friends, baking, parties, maybe a job and you’re a writer. How do you balance it all? Do you quit writing? You can start again in January. 
Do you shop online? Do you skip baking or buy it at a local bakery? Do you skip parties to write?

I have a slight advantage. We snowbird, so I do Christmas cards the first week in November and mail them. I do my Christmas shopping a few weeks before we leave and hide them in the back of a funky closet in my home office.  A few days before Christmas I tell my daughter where they are and she can distribute them. And I don’t bake.

I did say ‘slight’ advantage. Because I’m in an RV park with all sorts of activities, so right now I’m doing glass fusion, genealogy and learning the ukulele. And all our neighbors get together several times a week to socialize.

So, when do I write. I spend early morning before I get up, thinking about my characters and the story. I might make a few notes. Then I set aside an hour and a half to write five days a week. If something interferes, I make sure I write fifteen minutes (even if it’s gibberish) before I go to bed. If for some reason I can’t, I try to add it to the time the next day.

It’s not perfect, but is it working for me? Mostly, yes, I’m hoping to finish Death Southern Style in the next few days.

What about you? How do you handle the holiday season?