Tuesday, December 25

Merry Christmas! Giving Your Stories As Gifts

Merry Christmas! Giving Your Stories As Gifts

I slept in this morning, it was glorious!

That was followed by an exchange of gifts and, of course, the consumption of ungodly amounts of delicious melt-in-your-mouth chocolate.

And there was talk. Talk of Christmases when we were kids, and that got me thinking about gift-giving.

Have any of you written a story as a Christmas gift?

I have. Sometimes it turned out well, sometimes not so well (read: spectacularly terrible). It turns out sometimes folks like tangible gifts and don't see the value in several pages of paper covered in ink. (Note to self: Horror stories are NOT appropriate for the holidays!)

But that's okay. Sometimes the pleasure of the gift is in the giving, or the creating, and I find this especially true for stories.

If you haven't given a story as a gift I should warn you. In my experience it works best if you do both. Get the recipient of your generosity the best gift you can afford--even if that turns out to be a candy bar from the local 7-Eleven--in addition to your story.

If they like the story, great! And if not, they have another gift even if it isn't a lavish one. Hopefully they'll be of a mind that it's the thought that counts.

I'm curious, have any of you written stories for friends or family? How'd it turn out?

Merry Christmas!

Other articles you might like:

- Writing And Publishing in 2013: How To Survive And Thrive
- Getting Ready for 2013: A Writer's Guide
- Christmas Eve And Lee Child's Jack Reacher

Photo credit: "Marry Christmas to all of you!" by rennes.i under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

4 comments:

  1. As a writer I have a great appreciation for the words of others. I can see the work that goes into it, I like to think if I know the person well that I can read between some of the lines. This Christmas both my kids gave me stories. The eldest sent me three word files on the 23rd and her little sister placed her story in a sealed envelope under the tree. The anticipation was exhilarating. Knowing they had spent the time and effort crafting their words for me made them so special before I even scanned the first line. I wasn't disappointed when I read them either. Each story reflected my daughters and also what they know and understand about me. I'll treasure those stories more then love letters or photos and certainly more than a physical gift.
    Wirdmonger

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    1. That's so sweet! Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful Christmas.

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  2. I just printed out and wrapped up the full manuscript of an earlier unpublished novel and gave it, along with other gifts, to my daughter and daughter-in-law. There are definitely some cringe-worthy moments in that novel, but there are also parts I love. Both daughters have been after me to let them read it for a long time, so finally I gave in. They were thrilled and I look forward to their comments.

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    1. Charlotte, thanks for sharing! I love hearing all these wonderful stories.

      I hadn't thought of it from the perspective of a mother, or mother-in-law, giving her children stories, but that's fantastic! What a wonderfully personal touch, something that can add to the bond you share as a family.

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Because of the number of bots leaving spam I had to prevent anonymous posting. My apologies. I do appreciate each and every comment.