It is Boxing Day evening as I settle in to write this blog post. The Candy Cane candles are burning and I have just enjoyed a festive peppermint bath, so the whole house smells like the Land of Sweets in the Nutcracker! It's a fresh and invigorating scent, reminding me of the Highland pine forests in the rain. The house has that same kind of uplifting fragrance right now. Michael Buble's Christmas album is playing in the background and the fairy lights are twinkling away on the mantelpiece and on the pink tree in the corner. It is a calm, quiet and peaceful evening.
I have had a lovely Christmas, baking with my mum and going on festive outings. I have been learning to play Christmas carols at my piano, which is much easier now that I have a proper piano tutor to help me along. I enjoy this form of creativity and learning to play Yuletide songs is so much fun. Enrolling in music school was the best thing I've done for myself this year.
I recieved some lovely gifts this Yuletide, from makeup and bath bombs to books and a fabulous pink personal planner I can't wait to start using. Plus I got a-ha's latest CD and DVD, which just made my day. Finding Morten Harket underneath my tree is the best present ever! My mum knows me so well, ha!
I also got some lovely pink baking things, so that I can make cupcakes and chocolate brownies etc. I didn't have a nice set of baking tools and I was making do with what I had, but now I have a fabulous pink electric mixer, pink Mason Cash mixing bowl, rose gold baking trays, pink scales and some Gonk spatulas. They are all so pretty and I know they will inspire me to do more baking. I like having pretty things to work with as it makes a job more enjoyable.
I have also spent much of my time writing. Working from home means that my work is always right there and I have always enjoyed writing at Christmastime, when the world is quiet as people bunker down for a few days. This period of festive writing is something that I look forward to. It is a great marking point, as I can recall what I was dreaming of writing in previous years - projects that have since become a reality.
Last Christmas for instance, I was putting together a proposal for a psychotherapy based book, hoping that it would be well recieved by my editor. It was, and so this Christmas I am actually writing the self-help book I was only dreaming of this time last year! I love it when that happens - when each Christmastime is proof that I can make my goals a reality.
The project I am currently working on is actually the second psychotherapy book I have written this year. The first one I wrote back in the autumn. The deadline for this one is in February, so writing over Christmas is essential to get the book in on time. I find I don't mind it though. I've never been a party girl, so I don't feel as if I am missing out on anything. I'd rather create a festive atmosphere in my home with seasonal scented candles and curl up with my laptop and a warming beverage to get some serious writing done.
That is what I have been doing this Boxing Day and it is a lovely way to spend my time. Knowing that the book I am currently writing as I sit by my Christmas tree, was just an idea last Christmas, makes me feel like magic is afoot in my life again. It lends a sense of enchantment and destiny to my work.
Throughout the five years I spent in training as a psychotherapist, I always held the dream of one day writing books on the topic. It was constantly at the back of my mind as I attended classes for four years, worked for free as a bereavement counsellor for two years and filled out clinical notes etc. It was a goal within a goal - become a counsellor and then write books about it. However, it is not an easy topic to sell, so I knew that I would have to come up with something pretty special to get the book commissioned.
When the commission came through earlier this year, I was over the moon. The idea I had spent Christmas 2021 working on, was actually going to be written and published! Not only that, but my editor also asked if I could write two psychotherapy based books, not just the synopsis I had sent in! And so here I am, a year later, with one psychotherapy book already written, as I currently work on the second.
Writing such a book at Christmastime is one of the best gifts the universe could have given me. It makes me so happy to know that I have succeeded in achieving something that plenty of counselors long to do, but very few get the opportunity. Because the fact is, it was my experience as a published author that brought these commissions my way, not the time I give to counselling. Of course, being a qualified counsellor is essential to write such a book and no publisher would take on a psychotherapy book by someone who isn't qualified to write it, but I genuinely believe that it is my track record as an author which swung the weight in my favour and which got the book to contract.
Writing experience cannot be faked and fawning over editors or name-dropping won't get you published. The writing has to speak for itself and that is something that only comes with authorial experience. I only ever work to commission too, which means that I haven't had to waste my time writing a book that will never see the light of day because it keeps being rejected by publishers. All the books I write are commissioned on the strength of my synopsis and track record as an author. I was absolutely determined that this should continue to be the case with my psychotherapy books too. So from working up the synopsis last year, to writing the actual book this year, I feel like I have achieved a fairly significant goal, and my psychotherapy books will be published in 2023.
But of course, the ideas never stop coming and the acquisitions-board meets up again in the New Year, so this Christmas, as well as writing another psychotherapy book, I have also been working on a few new synopses for another long term writing goal. So who knows? Maybe this time next year, I might have a whole new writer's dream to celebrate!
For now though, I am content to spend time this festive season working on my second psychotherapy book. Last Christmas it was still just a dream. This Christmas it is my reality and I am now a psychotherapy author, as well as a Mind, Body, Spirit author.
Another box ticked. 😏
Enjoy the rest of the festive season!
BB Marie x
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