So, today is the 1st of December. Christmas is just around the corner, and as I was walking through town earlier, watching people rush about buying presents, I thought what an extreme month December is.
Christmas is such a major event, that it polarises things:
It`s the worst time to be unemployed.
The worst time to be bereft.
The best time to be in love.
The best time to have a new baby...
A few years ago my daughter was in hospital in December. I counted my blessings as she recovered, but other children on the ward were not so fortunate. We got home on Christmas Eve, but the season was overshadowed by an awareness of what others were still going through. I wrote throught it, a kind of therapy.
Terry Pratchet once said that he writes every day, even on the day he buried his father. In fact, he says, we should write especially on emotional days because we`ll produce the best writing - it will be infused with feeling.
I think Christmas is like that. So I will be writing every day, but especially on Christmas Day (once the kids are in bed, you understand. And probably with a glass of wine to one side, but still...)
Whatever the emotion, a writer can always use it as a springboard for interesting prose.
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