Evil League of Evil Writers

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • About
  • Blog
  • Members
  • FAQ
  • Contact
  • Patron Saints of Eviltry
  • Calendar
  • Shop Eviltry
  • Old Site Archive
    • Series: Ask Dr. Dina
  • Giveaways
You are here: Home / blog / Happy Holidays?

December 18, 2016 By Andrew Jack

Happy Holidays?

This is super late. Sorry folks, I am bad about recognizing the abstract concept of time.

It’s been a pretty bad year for a lot of people.

In some ways (a lot of ways) 2016’s been a good year for me. I finally found out for sure I’m going to survive cancer for long enough for something else to kill me (current betting favorite is still ‘angry bear’ but ‘enraged warthog’ is also a contender, as is ‘furious swarm of bees’). More importantly, my Dad survived his bout with cancer without having to go through chemo. The surgery was rough, but it worked.

I had a pretty good professional year too, especially with my day job (if you’re ever in New Zealand and listen to the radio, sooner or later you’ll either hear my voice or something I wrote). I got to go to the USA and meet some of my internet friends, including the always awesome Julie Butcher who writes for ELEW.

And just as I was recovering, everyone else’s world started to fall down. Sometimes it was with big, world changing things, sometimes it was deeply personal things, but just about everyone else I know had a REALLY bad year.

I won’t bother to list the terrible things that have happened here, because everyone’s got their own list with different things on it. Suffice to say that for the vast majority of people I know this is at best a very nervous holiday season. And that sucks.

I wish I could say I had some sort of epiphany I could share that would make it all better, but life isn’t really like that. All I’ve got are a series of small lessons.

The first is that we need stories. I’ve told this a few times now, but there was a point during chemo where I was dying of infection and stuck in an isolation unit. I saw what my treatment was doing to other people, and I had the thought that it might just be better for everyone if I just died (this wasn’t true at all but it felt true at the time). As I was thinking that I got an email from a friend, an early copy of his novella, and it was just that small thing of having a story to disappear into that made the difference between hope and despair.

Humans learn through stories, we teach through stories and through stories we can find hope where there shouldn’t be any. So if you’re a writer, keep writing. Do it for yourself as much as everyone else, because if you’re anything like me, you need those stories too.

The next thing is that changing isn’t the same as quitting, nor is it the same as failing. Maybe this year has meant that you’ve needed to change your goals, or yourself, or the way that you see things. That doesn’t make you a failure, and neither does changing your goals. If the thing that you want changes, that’s OK, you can always change them back.

The last thing is that you never know when the thing that saves you is going to turn up. Maybe it’s something external, maybe it’s something within you that needs time to come out. Sometimes all we can do in bad times is hold on, and fight as best we can until things get better.

So, as much as you can, try to have a happy holidays. And if you can’t, try to hold on. The good fight’s worth fighting even if you’re not winning.

 

– Andrew

 

 

Share the evil:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • Tumblr

Related

Filed Under: blog

Comments

  1. Wanda Dionne says

    December 19, 2016 at 8:40 am

    Thank you for the astute comments in your recent post. They came at a time when, like others, I contemplate the new year ahead, the past ones (so many) and the changing waves of life. Your words came at a really good time for me and offered deep comfort as well as peace and hope about the future. Thank you. Keep writing.

  2. Melinda Skye says

    December 19, 2016 at 1:33 pm

    We’re awfully glad you didn’t die! 🙂 The ELEW would have been less evil without you…

  3. Riley says

    December 21, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    I’ve been to New Zealand, buddy. You have neither bears nor warthogs nor furious swarms –

    (Side note: did you know here in the U.S. Midwest hornets can nest in the ground… and vigorously object to said nest being run over by the lawn mower?)

    so I’m dropping a dollar on “rabid sheep” and offering 10-1 odds.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 10,097 other subscribers

RSS feed RSS - Posts

RSS feed RSS - Comments

Member Websites

Skyla Dawn Cameron
Dina James
Adrienne Jones
Melinda Skye
Seleste deLaney
Kerry Schafer
Andrew Jack
Frances Pauli (associate)

Recently Popular

  • Welcome
  • Ten hand to hand combat myths writers need to stop using
  • Writing fighting: Blunt force trauma

Archives

Evil By Name

Andrew Jack anniversary post ask Dr. Dina attorneys beginners birthday cover art death Dina James Doctor Jes douchebag writers editing Evil Anniversary evil esquire expert advice goals guest post hiatus Hotel Eviltry inspiration Julie Particka lawyers legacy Melinda Skye motivation NaNoWriMo out of office productivity promo publishing query querying reading reality check rejection Seleste deLaney self-publishing self-publishing 101 with mama bitchstress skyla dawn cameron stupid writer tricks take your time writer's life Writers block writing writing life

Recent Posts

  • You Can Check Out Anytime You Like
  • Those Aren’t Chestnuts Roasting
  • Happy Holidays?
  • Writing Fighting: Music to Maim To
  • Writing Is Always Political
  • Writing fighting: Fear
  • Monday Mayhem (Also Halloween)
  • Oh, fall, where are thou?
  • Writing fighting: Five options for characters who are outgunned, outmuscled and out of luck.
  • Distractions, Delays, and Deliberate Avoidance

Recent Comments

  • isa on Post Project Depression and You
  • Ben on Ten hand to hand combat myths writers need to stop using
  • Andrew Jack on Ten hand to hand combat myths writers need to stop using
  • Ben on Ten hand to hand combat myths writers need to stop using
  • Riley on Happy Holidays?
  • Melinda Skye on Happy Holidays?
  • Wanda Dionne on Happy Holidays?
  • Skyla Dawn Cameron on Writing Fighting: Music to Maim To
  • Riley on Writing Fighting: Music to Maim To
  • Terri A. Wilson on Writing Fighting: Music to Maim To

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Site Design by Indigo Chick Designs - Executive Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in