Writer Friends, Shopping Bonanza

file7571234131799I flipped from the December Blues to Holiday Happy when I started writing my annual post about writer gifts!

And I have writer friend, Tracey M. Cox, to thank for the inspiration. She shared her Pinterest board of writerish gifts last week and that reminded me of my friend, Robyn Hood Black, and the typewriter key earrings that the Beneficent Mr. Hall gave me.

And that got me thinking about all my writer friends and how incredibly gifted they are and how one might do all of one’s holiday shopping, checking out the bonanza of talents they have!

And then I started thinking…well, why don’t you just zip over to “What to Give a Writer” and you’ll know exactly what I was thinking. Also, some good great stupendous ideas for your holiday list, whether for you or the writer you know.

(And P.S. You’re welcome!)

The December Blues

Snowman familyDecember is a funny month for me, and not funny ha-ha. (Though I will watch Elf , maybe more than once, and laugh like crazy.)

As much I love the holidays, I feel more keenly the people who’re no longer around when December rolls in. And I’m not necessarily talking about the loved ones who’ve passed on, though I miss them dearly.

No, it’s the friends who were once in my life and now have moved away. And for me, most of those friends are writers.

Which is a good thing, I guess. I can keep up with Janice Hardy over at her Fiction University. Whenever I read Debra Mayhew’s blog posts, I can hear her voice. And Robyn Hood Black’s over at Artsy Letters, creating one-of-a-kind literary gifts and I see her in each one of them.

But it’s not quite the same as a long, chatty lunch or a night of writerly talking at an SCBWI conference, is it? And before I know it, I’m stewing in a big ‘ol mug of Blue Christmas.

Oh, great. Now I’m missing Elvis, too.

I think I need to pull myself up by my little Elf shoes and be thankful for all the lovely times I’ve been blessed to have with all kinds of writer friends, no matter where they are now.

And maybe call one of my writer friends who lives right down the road. Yeah, I think a long, chatty lunch with Lisa Ricard Claro will be just the ticket. She can tell me all about her next book in the Fireflies trilogy and I’ll celebrate with her by stuffing my face with Christmas cookies.

But I’ll watch Elf, too, just to be on the safe, holly-jolly side. So how about you? How do you dispel the December blues and get your holly-jolly back on? ‘Cause honestly, I’m starting to think about lots more writers I’m missing. And you’re probably one of ’em.