So You Want to Buy a Christmas Present for a Writer

    You poor, naive little thing. Look at you. Trying to shop for a writer (aka some of the strangest, least predictable people on planet Earth). Look at me. Poor, naive little me trying to write a list of gifts for a writer.

    But I shall persevere! *strikes superhero pose* And totally not because I'm procrastinating writing. But because I genuinely want to help you. 

    Writers are a weird bunch. I think that's been established. And you know your writer much better than I do (note: that is not to say that the writer you are buying for is your writer. Writers generally resent being scratched behind the ears and treated as pets (although a pat on the head for a well-written story may be appreciated, it all depends on how sleep-deprived and frustrated said story has made said writer) but saying 'your writer' is so much easier than 'the writer(s) you're shopping for'). So, without further ado, here is my list of ten Christmas gifts for writers in no particular order. 

1) Aqua Notes

This is number one on my list purely because it's so cool. Most writers (and, in fact, most people in general) will tell you that they get a lot of ideas in the shower and, unfortunately, many of these are forgotten before they can be written down. Enter Aqua Notes, a waterproof notepad. It's got 40 sheets and attaches to the side/wall of your shower or bathtub. The only downside of this is that it will eventually be used up and need to be replaced. But hey, it's only $7.75 on Amazon.

Image from Amazon

Here's a link

2) Magnetic Poetry Writers Remedy

This little bottle contains magnetic words. All sorts of words. Like "muse" and "whisper" and all those poetic, writerly types of words. It's marketed as a cure for Writer's Block, that fiendish disease that plagues so many writers, even if they don't admit it. It's $19.99 on Amazon, so not a bad deal for something that could potentially save your writer's sanity and quite possibly yours, depending on your writer's personality and how much time you spend with them. 

Image from Amazon

Here's a link

3) Bananagrams

Bananagrams is a fantastic game that I've had for a couple years now. It's always been a hit with people I know, too. It's an anagram/word game kind of like Scrabble, but without a board or anything needed other than the tiles. It's super portable and super fun to play. Sure, your writer might find it super distracting too, but it's good to encourage your writer to step away from the keyboard or notebook and have some fun with family and friends every now and then. Also, the little banana bag is pretty cool. Or at least I always thought so. It's $14.99 on Amazon. 

Image from Amazon

Here's a link

4) Healthy snacks

Sure, that sounds lame, but many writers (especially Wrimos during NaNoWriMo) can tend to opt for cheap and easy food, which often means unhealthy food. And when deadlines approacheth and stress levels... Riseth? Anyway. When that happens, writers (and pretty much anyone else) tend to crave junk food. So get your writer something healthy to munch on while their latest project takes shape. It depends entirely on what your writer likes, but dried fruit, nuts, and certain types of crackers (the "healthy" kinds) are a good place to start. 

5) Plants

Plants are a good idea for almost anybody. Not only can you interpret plant as almost anything - but nothing illegal (your writer will resent being arrested because of your gift), but they force your writer to come out of their little shell and look after something alive. And if it dies, you don't have to worry about the unfortunate visits from PETA that would be caused by the mysterious death of a pet. Win-win. 

6) CDs/iTunes Cards

You'd need to know your writer's preference, because not all writers like music, but a lot of them do like music to write to. Of course, a lot of writers have different and sometimes very eccentric music, often spanning different artists and perhaps different genres for one story or even just one character. So unless you know your writer's favourite artist for sure, you might be better off going for an iTunes giftcard, so your writer can buy all the songs they like and create their own playlist rather than having a set playlist on a CD.

7) Go Away I'm Writing Mug from The Literary Gift Company

Image from The Literary Gift Company

This mug, and a ton of other stuff on this site, would make an amazing gift for your writer. I stumbled upon this site whilst looking for gifts for writers, and it's pretty awesome. I may be buying myself some Christmas gifts. It's a UK website and all their prices are in pounds (although this mug and many of the other mugs are approximately $15.57 if the currency converter I used is to be trusted) but I checked and according to their website they do deliver overseas.

Here's a link

8) Writer's Block Magnet

Image from CafePress

This magnet, and a lot of stuff from this site (both for writers and not because they have some pretty cool stuff) would be an awesome gift for your writer. They're funny, they're original, and maybe they just might give your writer the motivation they need to power through writer's block and make those imaginary friends talk to them. It's $7.00, which may be a little pricy for a magnet, but as of right now CafePress has a 20% countdown to Christmas sale. They also come in packs of 10 or 100.
Here's a link



9) Writing guidebooks
There's a lot of writing guidebooks out there. Some of them are genre-specific or category-specific or anything-specific, but others are just general guidebooks to writing, editing, or publishing novels. Find out what your writer is most interested in or what they write or would like to write and buy them a book about it. Goodness knows writers love books.



10) Books in general
This one should be obvious. Writers like to read. Find out what they like to read, or what they like to write, and try and find something similar. Some writers don't care what genre of book it is, as long as it's a book. See if your writer is like that. You'd be lucky if they are - it makes your job a whole lot easier. Look and see if your writer has any series on their shelves that have another book out that your writer doesn't have yet - but beware, they might buy it on their own in the mean time - and get it for them. Or, if you have some extra money to spare on your writer, try to find a special edition - or even better, a signed copy - of your writer's favourite book. It might not be cheap, but I can bet your writer will appreciate it.


    So that's it. My list of gift ideas for the writer in your life. So now what are you waiting for? Go, go! Shop! Make that writer love their gift!

PS: If you're really stuck, just remember the wise words of Albus Dumbledore: "One can never have enough socks."

NaNoWriMo 2014 - What I Gained By Not Winning

    So I didn't win NaNoWriMo this year. And that's okay. Because I still learned a lot, and gained a lot.
   I reached 35k. So I came about 15k short. But I'm not upset. Sure, I didn't officially win, but I think that I won anyway. Of course, this may all sound like some desperate excuse for why I didn't make it to 50k. But I really am proud of myself. After all, this is my second year of NaNoWriMo, but it's the first year that I actually tried. And I gained a lot!
   For one, I learned that when I put my mind to it, I can write 5k a day, two days in a row! That's a pretty substantial amount, if I do say so myself.
   For another, although I didn't write 50k, I still got a lot done. And I learned how to push/kick/shove/otherwise force my way through several writer's blocks.
    I also learned that I should really make at least a rough outline of what I'm going to write before I start, but that's another story *shifty eyes*.
    And besides, isn't NaNo all about writing, not necessarily winning?
    "It's a contest, stupid," I hear the voices crying out, "of course it's about winning."
    To which I reply, there's always next year. And also Camp NaNo. And this time I'm making an outline!

NaNoWriMo 2014 Is Coming!!!!!

    So this is the second year I've done November NaNoWriMo (I did Camp NaNo this year and I think two years before), and this year, I'm definitely going to win (I said that last year too :P)
    But even if I don't, I'm still super pumped about it. I'm actually counting down the hours to November 1st. Literally hours. I meant to post this like three days ago. 
    I'm not ready. Not even close. I'm definitely more of a seat-of-the-pants type of writer. I have a few characters, some plot points, and a couple ideas. That's it. I can't talk much about it because I'll spoil it and I don't want to do that, but it's gonna be pretty cool. 

    So is anyone else doing NaNo this year? How well-prepared are you?

Thoughts on Writing and Blue Jolly Ranchers

So the other day my mom sent me a video called Irish People Try American Junk Food or something similar to that (look it up, it's hilarious, but be prepared to spend hours you should be using to work watching it and the various related videos, because there's a LOT of them. N-Not that I have any experience in that *shiftyeyes*). One of the guys in the video had the revelation that Jolly Ranchers (I think he was talking specifically about blue ones for reasons you'll understand soon) tasted like "a doctors office". Hmm, I thought to myself, I don't remember that. I dismissed the thought and didn't remember it until a few days later. 

My mom bought me a bag of Jolly Ranchers (this is due to an incident that I will recount at a later time) and I ate a few. We both ended up eating blue ones at the same time and both had the same revelation as unnamed Irish video guy. The blue Jolly Ranchers really do taste like a doctors office. And by this, I of course mean that they taste weird and vaguely medicinal. I don't go around licking things in doctors offices. That'd just be weird. 

What does this have to do with writing? Absolutely nothing, at least not on the surface. What I'm trying to get at is that writing, really good, realistic writing, is about things like this. The little nuances and foibles of life (yes I did get that from Miranda Hart), like the sudden realization that the Irish guy you saw on YouTube really has a point. Blue Jolly Ranchers do taste like a doctors office. 

Life is full of those funny, awkward little moments, and I think incorporating them into your writing - sparingly, of course, unless it's an entirely humorous book - is what gives stories and characters their believability and relatability.