Sometimes it seems my creative spirit and the holiday spirit are battling it out this time of year, and I know I’m not alone. So I’ve put together a few playful tips to give us a spirited leg up.
Tip #1: Create your own secular Creative Writing Advent Calendar.
Use it for creative cheer, writing ideas, motivation, anchoring to writing while away from the page, and overall support.
It’s a gift you can give yourself—helping deepen your connection to the writing life you want to live this year and into the New Year.
And if you’re a fan of small incremental progress, like I am, a daily calendar prompt can help you get in the zone to write, even a few minutes a day, maybe a few more than planned. It’s pretty simple—but not always easy!
Below are a week’s worth of ideas to get you started. From here, you can invent your own.
But if you’d like to follow a pre-made Advent Calendar, check out my Inlet Advent Calendar. I post once a day on the Inlet Advent page, and once a day on Facebook, throughout December 2025.
Creative Writing Advent Calendar Exercise: Seven ways to keep your creative spirits up each day.
Jot these down in your calendar at least a week in advance. Strategically add tips that complement scheduled days.
- Three minutes of notebook writing while standing in line. (Add this to your calendar on a day you know you’ll be grocery shopping or hanging out at a mall or stuck in some kind of line.)
- Phone eclipse. (Write this in bold on a day when you know distractions will make it hard to do some writing. The eclipse may be all day, or a chosen chunk of time.)
- Light a candle. Name an aspect of your writing. Keep it in mind all day. (This may be title, character, favorite image, difficult last line you haven’t worked out, opening line.)
- Favorite quote. (You can use this more than once. Examples: “You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” ~Jodi Picoult; “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” ~Louis L’Amour; “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” ~W. Somerset Maugham)
- Five-minute writing project ask. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. (Reflect on why you love what you’re working on right now)
- Three-minute read of your own writing. (Read something you’ve written. Three minutes. Go.)
- Three-minute favorite book reflection. (Take three minutes to recall a book you loved, and why.)
You can call these daily prompts “creative writing sitings,” ways to keep creative writing in your sites each day all month long. Or think of them as amusing musings. What fits your aesthetic, your needs?
In the tradition of advent, December 1st is a great day to start. Let me know how it goes!
~Angela
PS – A couple calendar tips for getting organized:
Choose either a paper calendar (recommended) or online calendar, and make sure there’s room for a tiny tip each day. You can get creative with the calendar (make your own on a sheet of posterboard, put it on a whiteboard, use a fancy 2025 calendar with enough room for a short quote), or it can be as simple as the calendar in Outlook.
Add your tips ahead of time. Fill in at least seven days ahead of today, and look ahead to strategically add tips that complement scheduled days. If one day is devoted to cooking for Christmas, concoct a tip that dovetails with stuffing and turkey prep. If another day has you online shopping for hours, you may want to pair that day with lighting a candle, saying the name of your novel’s protagonist, or the title of a piece you’re working on. Or want to work on—calling your writing to you in breaks between clicks.