Christmas writing... or not

I find it incredibly difficult to concentrate on writing at this time of year. I find it pretty hard the rest of the time, too, but the run up to Christmas is just so... distracting. There are all those pings on the doorbell with deliveries and carol-singers and long-lost friends who 'just thought they'd pop in on the way past Birmingham'. There are cards to write and deliver, letters to write and remember to put in with the cards, the tree to find, put up and decorate, last-minute presents to buy and wrap, mince pies and non-traditional Christmas pud to add to the shopping list. It's all a lot of fun, but it means my brain is stuffed with tinsel and other sparkly things and I cannot. think. about. writing.


Added to that I've been working like a navvy the last two or three months, writing stories and firing off submissions like there's no tomorrow. Suddenly, my motivation has gone on strike. My get up and go didn't just get up and go, it stretched, wandered into the kitchen, made a cup of tea in the 'I'm allergic to writing' mug, and settled down for a snooze in front of Shrek the Third. Sigh.

It's hard, but perhaps I should just knock the whole writing thing on the head for the next three weeks, have a break, and come back refreshed in the new year, when hopefully my inspiration will be more cooperative. Or at least until the next idea bats me over the head in the middle of the night and I traipse off to the computer, bleary-eyed, at half past four because my brain is fizzing so much I can't get back to sleep....