It is 8pm on Boxing Day night and I have spent the whole day writing. I have been burning Yankee Candle's Peppermint Candy Cane and the whole house smells bright and festive. The fairy-lights are twinkling and my new light-up gingerbread house is creating a warm and cosy glow. It has been a lovely and productive Christmas time. I took a couple of days off to spend time with family and friends and I had a lovely Christmas day, filled with magical presents, carols, food, love and laughter. I recieved a wonderful reverse incense burner in the shape of a tree man for Christmas, and he is currently billowing fragrant smoke out of his mouth, over a festoon of toadstools around him. He is so magical, and one of my favourite gifts this year.
Today, however, I was back at my desk and working away on my laptop. As a result I have just completed my latest project, which is just as well because the deadline is December 30th! But I have just written the final words and I am really pleased with how it has all come together. It has been one of my dream projects to work on and I feel very lucky to have been given this opportunity. It's not something that I have ever done before, but it was so enjoyable to write. Tomorrow I will give it one final read through and then send it up to my editor, ready for when she returns to the office in January.
I have always loved writing at Christmas time. It has been a staple of my career as an author, but this year has felt especially magical, because not only was I writing by the tree, I was making one of my own long-held dreams come true too! It has felt like a very enchanting time and I hope that I have managed to translate some of that magic to the page.
I already have another new project that I need to start straight away, so I won't be getting much rest this festive season! I feel fortunate though, because a steady stream of commissions is essential, if somewhat unusual, for freelancers, so to have one project all lined up before I've even finished the last one is fantastic. It's what you dream of as an author, and I can tell you, it feels great to be living that dream! Nevermore so than at Yuletide, when a whole new year of possible projects is just waiting in the wings.
I have new ideas that I need to write up and send out too, so I will be getting on with that in the coming days. This is the life I used to dream of as a girl - staying at home, all cosy in one of my new velvet night gowns and writing for publishers, keeping Christmas like Jo March and scribbling away. It is a wonderful life indeed! I wouldn't want it any other way.
It feels like the whole world is tucked away inside their own homes and everywhere is so peaceful and quiet. It is a time that is very conducive to creating content and authorship. Not to mention reading. I have at least a dozen new titles to read and review for publishers, so when I am not writing, I will be reading and reviewing instead. It's a fabulous bookish lifestyle and I love it. It's not for everyone, but it suits me down to the ground and it is the life I have always wished for. I'll never allow anyone to snatch it away from me in the spirit of envy or jealousy! If they want to live the same life as me, they will need to work for it, as I have done.
So tonight, as the moon wanes and the year begins to draw to a close, I am feeling particularly grateful for the life that I have created for myself. Winter has only begun, so there are many more cosy nights by the fire, or at my desk, working away at my laptop and writing my dreams and goals into being. I wonder what I might create for myself in 2022?
The ghosts of possibility are all around me tonight as I write this post, so we shall see what they bring our way over the next few months. Magic is certainly afoot this festive season, so tap into it and enjoy it. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing this Boxing Day night, I wish you peace and joy.
Blessed Be
Marie x
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