Day 2: The Jingleman Cometh! What not to do. (From someone with all the authority and not even a tenth of the exeperience as drywall)

Merry Jinglemas everybody, and also beware! For Santa Claus knows, citizens of the internet, he always knows, all your sins, all your misdeeds, every measure of ill will toward others accounted for in his magical checklist. Tremble! Tremble like a bowl full of jelly!

In all seriousness, while Christmas is still a ways away, Jinglemas is already upon us writers who have chosen to participate, and despite being an abstract concept, it sure knows how to loom. For those of you like me, who aren't very used to that whole actually writing stories thing, here are some tips of what NOT to do in order to avoid creating what I consider to be a Semi-disaster of a story.

Step 1: Procrastination. Or, more specifically, how not to do it.

Listen, if you're anything like me, which I"m going to go ahead and assume you are because I love talking to myself, you're going to see that deadline and say. "Well, I've got a month, don't I?". You are a fool. You don't have a month. You could die before that month finishes. You could die in a week. You could die TODAY, and the last thing on your mind will be that a Breezie^TM will have to pick up your slack. So, start working early. Early enough that you have cushion to not only finish the story, but also enough time to edit and make sure what your write is exactly the way it needs to be . If you're wondering how you're going to fit in that time with a busy schedule, just write 200 words a day, perhaps it'll require scaling down the grandeur, but you'll get it done.

Step 2:It's a present, at the end of the day.

Instead of a air of socks, you get the esteemed honor of brightening another person's day with a story personally tailored to them. So, make it tailored to them! Do some research, stake out the joint that is their user page, do some sleuthing, and find the pattern behind the stories they like and try to, in your own voice, replicate that. They grant you a character and genre they enjoy for a reason, so try to understand those characters and that genre, and learn to love what your Secret Santa loves about it so you're just as excited to write it as they are.

Step 3: Write something good.

To whatever your definition of "good" is, of course. Basically, try to make sure that you're just as happy reading this as the person you're writing for would be. Also, if this is your first time, like it was when I created the Semi-Disaster, make sure to really absorb the knowledge within This, This, and let's not forget This.

Step 4, I've run out of real steps

If you haven't noticed by now, dear readers, this is less a guide for all of you and more a series of reminders for myself as I slowly but surely crank out a Jinglemas story that I, and my Secret Santa will enjoy. I have no clue if what I've laid out before you is useful, but I'm sure some of you will manage to find something you resonate with.

Now, if you excuse me, I need to engage in ab it of Step 2. Rooting through my Secret Santa's trash to find scraps of paper listing their hopes, dreams, and aspirations when it comes to horsewords so I can put them all into my fic.