What presents did you get?

December 26, 2009 by Cressida Downing (Editorial Consultant)
Filed under: Writing Advice 

Cressida DowningI hope you had a lovely Christmas and that you managed to give and receive some thoughtful gifts.

I think the ideal gifts for a writer are notebooks to jot ideas in, book tokens to enable a relaxing hour or two browsing in a favourite bookshop, tasty nibbles to have to hand as you write, and much more!

I did discover that Margaret Atwood has a gift list for beginning novelists, which would work equally well for birthdays too, while this Bookaholic blogspot features some interesting items – such as bookshelf wallpaper!

What gift did you most want this Christmas, what did you get, and what did you give this year to your writer friends? Do you like getting books that someone else has chosen for you – or does that really depend on who is doing the choosing!?

Or perhaps you were lucky enough to receive one of the e-book readers. If so, the top tip of the moment (from an article with none other than Amazon CEO Jeffrey P. Bezos) is that keeping it in a Ziploc plastic bag enables you to read it in the bath. Just one word of caution – I don’t think he’s actually tried the full experiment and actually dropped his Kindle in the bathtub to see what would happen!

Christmas is a good time to upgrade your writing space too – as discussed in this previous blog entry from John Simmons. If you got any nice bits and bobs – why not appropriate them for your own area.

And if you were unlucky enough not to get exactly what you wanted why not make a definitive list for next year – it’s never too early to plan ahead!

Cressida
(freelance editorial consultant)

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Comments

8 Comments on What presents did you get?

  1. Paul Lamb on Dec 27, 2009 at 13:03pm

    2. What I wanted to receive (and maybe I did) was more time for writing. There is never enough.

  2. hillbilly on Dec 27, 2009 at 22:05pm

    3. One of the only ways to get the book you want is to do what I’ve done for years: wrap yourself a present from ‘a secret admirer’. It’s amazing how he always gets just the book I was wanting. This year it was the newest Patrick Gale. Thanks for the link to the Atwood site – enjoyed her list. I too would recommend ‘How Not to Write a Novel’. Very funny. Very helpful.

  3. Cressida Downing (Editorial Consultant) on Dec 28, 2009 at 13:09pm

    4. Paul – oh yes! Time – I could definitely do with some of that. I am considering blocking in a regular weekly slot for whatever I want to do for myself this year. If I fill in my diary now – it may happen.

    hillbilly – great idea! Actually no-one gave me a book this year, but I did get some vouchers for a big department store, so might use them to get a couple then.

    Cressida

  4. Claire Fogg (Publisher, Yearbooks) on Dec 28, 2009 at 13:14pm

    5. Paul Lamb – that sounds good. I wonder how much time you managed to put aside for writing – and did anyone else squeeze some valuable writing time into the festivities?

    I did get a book – not one I’d expected but it is a lot of fun. It’s called ‘Fopdoodle and Salmagundi’ and it’s a selection of words (and meanings) from Dr Samuel Johnson’s dictionary which have long been forgotten about.

  5. Jessica Blake on Dec 29, 2009 at 13:21pm

    6. I got money as a Christmas present and bought myself “Possession” by A.S. Byatt and “Little Prince”. The first I haven’t read just yet and I saw the movie so I’m motivated and I wanted a copy of the second in English.
    I decided that it would be best to do a bit of reading and yesterday I started working on chapter 19. It requires a lot of historical information and digging so I am a bit afraid of not doing it right, but I plan on writing at least 3-4 chapters during these holidays. I finally thought of a form in which I would present my book, something in a line of Anna Karenina; book 1, chapters… book 2 – chapters.. etc. It makes sense considering how huge the plot line is (will be, once I write the first draft. And oh, then the second and the third draft…).
    What I wish for New Year (because Christmas has passed) is time and focus; undisturbed moments in which I could create a setting for my characters to come out of my head and onto the page. I wish that to all writers here and everywhere, a successful and creatively spent year to come.
    All best!

  6. Gavinh2009 on Dec 29, 2009 at 20:19pm

    7. I got lots of DVDs, as I love them, and I also got the Twilight and Vampire Diaries books. I also got money too, and I bought the Writers & Artists’ Yearbook 2010, it is actually amazing, I am so glad I bought it now.

  7. Superzig on Jan 4, 2010 at 15:45pm

    8. All I got was a banana
    My Girlfriend said it was a euphemism
    but I couldn’t play it….
    (space for obvious next line)

    Happy New Year!

  8. tetl on Jan 4, 2010 at 20:23pm

    9. I got a great notebook from Paperchase from my big sister, and the Chronicles of Narnia from my mum. Plus money to buy more books!

  • Why I love the Yearbook

    "Think of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook as your sherpa." Ian Rankin