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I first met Missy at the 2008 Heart of Dixie Romance Readers' Luncheon when I sat at her table. Her first book had just come out a few months before and it was exciting to share the joy of that event with her. We've started a campfire in the middle of the sandbox to keep us warm, but rain may drive us into the playhouse today. Warm or cold, indoors or out, please welcome Missy Tippens to the Playground.
Hello to all my Alabama buds! Thanks for inviting me to play today. I’d love to give away a copy of my new release, A Forever Christmas, in a drawing from among those who comment today. Just let me know you’d like to enter!
November and December can be so hectic. We go from stressing about what type pies to bake or how we’re going to cook the turkey on Thanksgiving, straight into worrying about shopping for Great Aunt Myrtle for Christmas. We have community activities, church events, family gatherings and lots of parties. And we usually have to take a wrapped ornament and/or food to each event! It takes a juggling act to keep up with it all.
Oh, yeah. And then there’s the writing, too. Sometimes it becomes an afterthought…
…unless you have a deadline. And a deadline is a great thing to have! :) I had a February deadline this year and have a January deadline this coming year. So I’m learning how to plan my holidays to include my writing schedule. And even if you haven’t sold yet, you can set deadlines for yourself. Don’t let the whole holiday season slip by without investing in your writing career. Consider it a gift to yourself!
First, I’ve found the best way to handle a deadline is to figure out how many work days I have (leaving a few days open for the holiday), then divide it into the total number of words I need to have written. 30,000 words left to write, and 30 work days to do it? Write 1000 words a day. And don’t get up from the computer until you’ve done that. Oh, and in case you’re thinking about it… Don’t pop over to the Internet and start shopping online, either. :) Don’t answer the phone. Don’t worry about the pile of dirty laundry. Write those thousand words. Then you’ll have the whole rest of your day/evening to fill with holiday prep.
Right now, I’m spending the days while my kids are in school working on my writing project. Then I use the afternoons to work on blogs posts, phone calls, email, etc. Of course, soon the kids will be out of school, so I’ll have to make adjustments. Luckily, they like to sleep late. :)
I took a few days off at Thanksgiving, and plan to do the same for Christmas. What about you? Do you have a plan for writing through the holidays?
Don’t forget to comment to be entered in a drawing for my new Steeple Hill Love Inspired release, A Forever Christmas!
About the book:
Sarah Radcliffe’s quiet Christmas back in her hometown will be lost if she agrees to direct the church’s Christmas pageant. But when she meets two little boys determined to gain their father’s attention, Sarah agrees to help. Then she discovers that the dad in question is Gregory Jones, the man she loved and lost.
The single dad is working himself to the bone to give his boys the Christmas of their dreams, when all they want is some family time. Time that includes a new mommy. If Sarah can learn to open her heart, she may receive the most wonderful present of all—a family of her own.
Missy Tippens is a pastor’s wife and mom of three. She has a story included in Blessings of Mossy Creek, published by BelleBooks. After ten years of pursuing her dream, she made her first sale of a full-length novel to Steeple Hill Love Inspired. She still pinches herself to see if it really happened! Her debut novel, Her Unlikely Family, was a 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year contest finalist and is now available in large print from Thorndike. His Forever Love was a June 2009 release from Love Inspired, and A Forever Christmas is available now!
You can find Missy at http://www.missytippens.com/. And she blogs all over the place: http://www.lifewithmissy.blogspot.com/, http://www.seekerville.blogspot.com/, http://www.writingbyfaith.blogspot.com/, and http://www.craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/. She’s also on Facebook, MySpace and Shoutlife, so be sure to give her a holler!
P.S. Be sure to check back here on Saturday for a list of the entire week's winners!
