Every year about November, my creative gene kicks in. Why it doesn’t start sooner, I have no idea, but it waits until a month before Christmas and decides it really wants me to create something besides stories. It wants me to draw, paint, sew or knit Christmas gifts.

Sometimes, I give into it and try to create something amazing for my family or friends for the holidays. Often, I never finish these projects, instead I scrap them for the next year. Then that pesky creative gene doesn’t come around again until the next November!

I will admit that I’m not artistic even though I’d love to be, nor can I do much on the knitting side besides knit and purl. A few years ago, I decided to make slippers for all of the girls in the family. I bought a book with great patterns in it. That’s as far as I got. It’s a start, right? I can make quilts, but I’m slow at it, so there is no way I can get one done between November and December 25th.

But the story ideas abound. They are always rattling around in my brain. Some stick, some don’t, but they keep coming. The busier I am—and we all know how busy it is around the holidays—the faster the ideas pop into my head. I want to write them all.

So, how do I pick one idea and run with it? Especially when I’m already working on a novel that needs to be finished by the first of the year.

I keep an idea journal. I jot down everything I can think of about the latest story idea that has turned on its lightbulb in my brain. Once I write them down, they usually quit bugging me. But sometimes they won’t stop, and I know that one needs to be brought to life in a book or short story. I guess if they stand the test of time, they will eventually be made into a story.

At a recent book signing, a man came up to me and said, “I just had to share this with you. There have been so many things happening in my family that I should write about. There have been murders, which were never solved, people disappearing that have never been found, all kinds of things.”

I told him that he should write about it, and he smiled and said, “I really should.” Then he waved a hand in the air and hurried off.

Later, after I had a moment to think about it, I wondered why he’d been so eager to tell me about all of the bad things that had happened in his family. Was he the nice guy he seemed to be? Or…my mystery writer’s mind could come up with a lot of ways to fill in the blanks and a seed of an idea for another book popped into my head.

I’m so in awe of writers who can write multiple books a year. I can barely write one. How do they do it? Am I not organized enough? Am I not persistent enough? Does my brain only work a couple hours a day and then go on hiatus?

Every year I tell myself I’m going to crank out at least two books this year. This is the year that the stars will align, and the words will flow. But it doesn’t happen. I’m still slow. Still pulled away by the other parts of my life that take me away from writing.

I read recently where a famous Indy author just published her forty-sixth book. She started in 2017. I did the math; that’s almost seven books a year.

I know what you’re all thinking. Everyone is different. All writers go at their own pace, and we shouldn’t compare ourselves to other writers. You’re right, but it would be nice if that pesky creative gene would kick in in January instead of November and let me get more writing done.

I know that to write more books a year, I need to forget about knitting, sewing, crafting, painting, or drawing, which we’ve already established I’m not that great at, and just write.

I think this year I’ll change my calendar to November on January 1st. I’ll put autumn decorations up around the house and trick myself into thinking it’s fall and maybe my creative gene will buy it and kick in. One can always hope. In the meantime, if you have any helpful ideas for a busy procrastinator, please send them my way!

Merry Christmas!

Lana