By Tammy Karasek @tickledpinktam

Though we are head-on into Thanksgiving week here in the US, Christmas is around the corner or maybe even this Friday when people take to the stores and online Christmas shopping. As a writer, you may be tapping the keys on your laptop to send off those last words to meet a deadline for your editor. Maybe you’re finishing off your December newsletter, or those last posts for 2024 to be placed on your website before this weekend of family time.

Possibly you’ve worked ahead here in November and are all caught up with those items and are now ready to get the right presents for those you care about. Most of us have started purchasing gifts and some of you may be already wrapping those purchased and are ready to be placed under your tree once you put it up. I know some folks have their trees up already.

Have you stopped and thought of a few gift items for yourself, the writer? If you haven’t, I’d like to share a short list we writers should give ourselves this year.

Address a card with your name with a promise written to be kind to yourself.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who critiques my work harder than my writing critique group. I think I can degrade my work faster than a Black Cat firecracker explodes. Those thoughts of you’re not good enough, what makes you think you can write and more may replay in our minds trying to convince us they are truth. C’mon, we know better. Make a promise for 2025 that no foolish talk (Ephesians5:4 ESV) will be spewed upon you or your work from yourself. Leave this addressed envelope near your writing spot and pull it out and read it often. With enough repetition, it will sink in.

Bake a batch of grace.

Have you reverted back to that kind of talk from number one above? Miss a deadline whether by your publisher or yourself? Grace was given to you and you didn’t do anything to deserve it from God. Why would you not offer that to yourself? Grace was given to us according to the measure of Christ’s gifts, which is abundant. (Ephesians 4:7 ESV) We also need to extend grace to ourselves.

Wrap up a big ol’ box of patience.

Working on a new computer app that’s giving you the fits? Ahem, not me (cough). Stuck finishing a scene? Get up and make a cup of your favorite warm drink—new Christmas tea for me—and count to ten as you sip it. Or three thousand and ten if necessary. Then stretch, pray for the Lord to show you a different way to go at the project, and try again. Grab onto that patience and review steps one and two if necessary!

Stick an extra dose of determination into your stocking.

Make 2025 the year you are determined to finish your story. Determined to pitch that story. Then determined to start the next one that is rolling around that head of yours. Be determined to continue writing. God’s counting on your obedience to His calling on your life through your writing. Set that determination on path and go after it.

Serve a sweet dose of encouragement to yourself.

There will be many tins and platters of Christmas sweets all around us at this time of year. I believe there is nothing sweeter than kind words shared with others to encourage them. What about yourself? Have you tasted the sweetness of encouragement given to yourself? Seriously, who doesn’t like to hear an atta boy or atta girl? I Thessalonians 5:11 ESV tells us we are to encourage one another. I don’t believe we are excluded from this. I’m not speaking of boasting or bragging in any way. But have you ever finished something and been grateful it worked out or was done on time? Smile. It’s okay to encourage yourself to stay the course, to think nice things about YOU.

Shove a gift bag full of laughter under the tree.

Look for any opportunity to giggle and laugh this next year. Definitely find some others to laugh with, too. I’ve been caught giggling away in line at the store with nobody along with me. We’ve had a rough couple of years, you and I, let’s find a way to make someone smile and get them to laugh as well. Can you even remember the last good belly laugh you’ve had with family or friends? Bring an imaginary gift bag full of it with you when you visit people this year. Or if you’re silly like me, bring a literal gift bag and let people ask you what it is. Then tell them you brought a bag full of laughter because we all neeed some now. It will do you and those with you a bit of good.

Sing a song of joy.

Yes, writing can be hard at times. I don’t need to remind you of the ways—you already know them. Yet, God has gifted you with the talent of using words, stringing them together to form sentences, then paragraphs, and finally a book. Sing a song of joy back to Him for the pleasure of walking in your calling. He doesn’t care if you’re a classically trained singer or you sing off key. He loves it all. This gift of song is for you, but also for Him that put that talent within you.

None of these gifts above for us writers will cost money. They may cost perseverance to follow through with them, though. But in the end, I believe they will serve us well if we gift them to ourselves this year.

Which of the gifts above do you feel you might start with? As for me, I believe I’ll start with number one—I have some work to do.

Tammy Karasek uses humor and wit to bring joy and hope to every aspect in life. Her past, filled with bullying and criticism from family, drives her passion to encourage and inspire others and show them The Reason to smile. She’s gone from down and defeated to living a “Tickled Pink” life as she believes there’s always a giggle wanting to come out!

She’s a writer of Romantic Suspense—with a splash of sass. Her debut book, Launch That Book, released in November 2023. She’s published in a Divine Moments Compilation Book—Cool-inary Moments. Also, she’s a writing team member for The Write Conversation, The Write Editing, Blue Ridge Conference Blog, and more.

Known as The Launch Team Geek, she helps authors launch their books. You’ll also find her as a Virtual Assistant for several best-selling authors, the Social Media Manager for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Founding President of ACFW Upstate SC, and Founding President of Word Weavers Upstate SC. Connect with Tammy at https://www.tammykarasek.com.