It’s Holiday Shopping Time

Posted by Jennifer Jensen Nov 9, 2007

Some of my favorite writing gifts have come for birthdays or Christmas, but others have come at odd times through the year.

Various family members have added to my writer’s library with books such as Steven King’s On Writing, which I love, and Nancy Lamb’s The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children, which is excellent for children's writers.

I bought my own laptop, but my husband has used printer ink cartridges and my favorite purple pens as stocking stuffers, and my son gave me his Microsoft Office 2003 when he moved up. Check out Great Gifts for Writers for more ideas.

More than anything else, though, my absolute favorite writer’s gift has been my husband’s understanding and support, both emotional and financial. He gave me the tuition money for that first Institute of Children’s Literature course years ago, and I am lucky enough now not to have to contribute a full-time income to the family. I have a part-time job and I have to hold to a tight budget, but between us, I can afford the time to write fiction. (Fiction being the slave-wages stepchild to non-fiction.)

We both realize it’s a long term investment, that my small successes will lead to bigger ones, that a novel-writing career can be slow to start, and that the satisfaction is worth the sacrifices. But my family’s encouragement, rather than grudging acceptance, is priceless.