There's a reason we reach out to one another and gather around the fire as the light fades to its minimum. There are reasons for the feasts and the festivals and the parties and the resolutions.

Whether it's Christmas, or Yule, or just that weird week-with-way-too-many-social-engagements, it can be easy to get caught in the expectations and the planning and the performance of roles at this time of the year.

I'd like to offer you a chance to take some time out for yourself for a daily writing practice.

This program is designed to offer you an "in-your-life" writing retreat, a few minutes at a time. Each day I will offer you some writing prompts on the theme of a particular blessing... even the ones that sometimes feel like a burden, like Preparation or Companionship.

I invite you to embrace the chance to rest, to embrace the rhythms of the season as they play out in the body. We will also explore the wisdom and warmth of tradition, and play with the possibility of building your own ways of honouring the season.

The dark weeks are an opportunity to reflect and remind yourself of the deeper reasons for some of our actions, so that you can step back into them from a place of choice rather than obligation.

Alternatively, you may choose to consciously set aside (rather than resenting) things which do not provide the blessing they are supposed to. (I'm looking at you, "nine-required-side-dishes-for-Christmas-dinner.")

Each day from Dec 21 - Jan 1, I will unlock a new prompt with a printable writing page, and send you an email reminder so you don't forget to schedule your retreat time (possibly with cocoa).

Sound like a good way to focus on some blessings at the end of what has been a pretty tough year?

Sign up below and starting Dec 21, I'll send you a daily reminder to come back and pick up your day's writing prompts.

Want a preview first? Snag the wee guidebook, "Plan Your Writing Space,"  which will help you prep your calendar and your nook. (No sign up required; it's up there in the "Space to Dream" module. ➹ )