December 4, 2011
Every year I look forward to Christmas letters from my friends. Especially those friends whom, because of time constraints and distance, we rarely get to see but love dearly. I must admit I am partial to the snarky letters, which are fewer and farther between because it seems most moms have turned over the Christmas letter writing to their prolific children and without experience under their belts, these kiddos have yet to develop the snarky tone.
I have never, until now, written a Christmas letter. It used to be that I thought I had very little to share – and this is still probably true, but since I love finding out the less than earth shattering details of my friends’ lives, I thought there might be people out there who are interested in those details in our lives.
Then, I didn’t write a letter because the competition was too stiff. I could never write a letter as funny as Cathy Smith, so why try. I thought about just photocopying her letter, whiting out her name on the letter, scribbling in mine and sending it out but I wasn’t interested in fielding all the questions about how I suddenly had so many children, was blonde, and Bill was tall and lean. Yeah, she included pictures too! Seriously. But, I haven’t received a letter from Cathy in years, so the pressure is off.
I’ve decided this is the year I will begin the tradition of writing the Christmas letter. I think it’s a good time to start since, as Bill pointed out to me today, we’ll be lucky if we have another 29 good years. So, I’m staring down 29 more years of Christmas letters, because I would never let down my reading audience and not come through with a promised edition.
Since I have a lot of Christmas letter writing to catch up on, and since all great writers wrote trilogies: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, George Lucas… I’ve decided I should write a trilogy. Hold your breath for the slightly less than fulfilling ending or as we writers like to call it, the promise of another manuscript.
And since I’m new at this type of manuscript, I’ll start at the beginning, relying on chronological storytelling so I don’t trip myself up on flashbacks (sign of an amateur according to The Writers Digest anyway!), multiple narratives (I can barely keep all my own voices in my own head straight without trying to tell the tale from the point of view of Bill or Wes), or avante garde – well, actually, if you think this is awful, it is because it is avante garde and you just don’t understand it!
And since the rule for blogs is 500 words and I am closing in fast on that number… I suppose I will have to wait until next week to begin my Christmas letter – that’s called great marketing or building the author-reader relationship, creating a stir about the book because now everyone is anticipating the release date and it gives you time to tell all your friends.
Speaking of friends, shameless plug, if you still need to buy a gift for a friend who likes to read then my book “Weekly Affirmations” is available on amazon http://www.amazon.com/Weekly-Affirmations-Pre-Menopausal-Women-Mierzwik/dp/1596636017 or you can get a signed copy from me, just shoot me an email.
So, hold your breath for next week’s first of three installments of the Christmas letter trilogy.
This week I will write and rewrite the first of my Christmas letter trilogy.
