Are you stumped as to what kind of stocking stuffer to give your writer spouse, boyfriend, sister-friend, best bud...?
Don't be ... we're a pretty easy bunch to please, especially if we're aspiring or career-changing. If the writer in your life is an Average Joan or Joe, it's probably easier than you think. It's true, fiction writers, novelists, scriptwriters, playwrights ... never really retire, so you need to find a gift-giving system that'll produce great gifts for your prolific loved one for Christmases to come.
So let's get to it. Here are some
wrong perceptions about writers
wrong perceptions about writers
Joan B. Average, Scriptwriter will tackle first.
1. Most writers concentrate on one writing field.
Not anymore. With the electronic media explosion making its presence known, print writers have turned overnight into
Web-writing geeks. Fiction writers are venturing into scriptwriting and writing plays. Scriptwriters are now bogarting their way into the land of video games and adult novelists have found their inner child and hopscotched into the children's market, and so forth.
1a. Here's a unique and practical idea. Pay for an online writing course from AWAI - American Writers & Artists Inc.
You can create your own gift card, include the online link and stuff it in your favorite scribe's stocking. Your gift recipient will enjoy the benefits, and you'll become their personal super hero or super shero. (Click Links Below)
2. Writers Don't Want Pens as gifts.
Yes, we do. Take it from one who can never keep a good pen. But we want a pen that will live past a season. It shouldn't break the bank, but sure ... do a little research if you want a long-lasting one. Find a pen that has great reviews from consumers.
Monteverde Invincia Black Tie Carbon Fiber Ballpoint Pen (MV41150)
$40
Montblanc Meisterstuck Black Ballpoint Pen 164
$199
Pilot G2 Fine Point Rolling Ball Black Gel Ink Pens, 2-Pack (31031)
3. A Coffee Bar Gift Card
A Brewmaster Coffeemaker would be a dream but we're talking about stocking stuffers here. A cafe gift card or even a McDonald's gift card used at McCafes would work just fine.
If your special scribe currently lives feast to famine, a Starbucks or The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf gift card is a delightful splurge during the famine. Like when you're in your slow season, or waiting for that big advance to arrive ... you're not buying $5.00 coffees by the cup, that's for sure.
4. Books are too obvious ... these are expected gifts.
Okay, so we create the unexpected in our literary and scriptwriting lives, but there's nothing wrong with receiving a familiar standby ... a good book ... or a good writing book is even better. We gotta eat, so we have to keep our skills sharp. You're never too experienced to learn new tricks or a new writing niche. It never hurts to expand on what you know.
Here are a few of my favorites...
An Introduction to Writing for Electronic Media: Scriptwriting Essentials Across the Genres
- You can get the paperback or Kindle edition too.
Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works (Interactive Technologies)
The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design
5. Professional Writers don't have time for leisure reading.
That's true, but we make the time. And a Kindle, well that's just the cherry on top of the writers' stocking stuffer sundae. What was that ... your loved scribe don't have one yet? Prices have dropped, this is the time to act. I'm just saying.
Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6" Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology
6. Writers have enough journals.
We always welcome another one, especially if it's handcrafted by an artisan in a third world country.
Check out these great stocking stuffers from Ten Thousand Villages -- a fair trade retailer -- that'll keep giving to artisans in impoverished villages.
Kancu Leaf & Bamboo Journal (above)
APIKRI artisans, an independent association known as the Indonesian People's Handicraft Foundation, handcrafted the covers from the elegant fan-shaped leaves of the kancu tree. Pages are glued separately from the hardboard covers and tastefully bound with wood and cord.
Okay, it may be a little big for the Christmas stocking on the fireplace, but you can up the size or place it on the mantel.
However, these mini journals will fit perfectly in your writer's stocking.
Women artisans in rural Bangladesh handcrafted these mini journals -- 3.5x2.5 inches (great for ideas and notes) -- from the cover to the pages. Shades of blue and green are accented with bits of newsprint in Bengali script.
Inspirational Bookmarks
“Hope,” “Peace” and “Wisdom” adorn these encouraging bookmarks and represents the Papyrus paper artistry from Jirmit Papyrus in Mallawi, Upper Egypt. Papyrus paper is made from papyrus reed, just as it has been done for 6,000 years.
Jirmit Papyrus Artisans preserve this ancient Egyptian Art. The Jirmit Papyrus Group is a registered fair trade organization that generates work for unemployed young adults in the Egyptian town of Mallawi.
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