SUSAN KAYE QUINN

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Explaining Christmas, Plus Win a Papercopy of Open Minds

Kat Evangalista is hosting a 24 days guest-post-giveaway-extravaganza, and today I’m over there with a bit of flash fiction I wrote. Kat asked me to write a guest post on this topic: How would you explain Christmas to someone who has never experienced it before? Resistance to creative work is a relentless thing, waging war at the smallest scales, even a simple guest post. This is the conversation that went on in my head:

Me: Uh… what?
Resistance: You can’t write about that! What if people get offended? I mean, you’re going to explain Christmas?? That’s like religion. Taboo topic. Walk away slowly.
Me: Oh good grief, it can’t be that bad. Surely I can talk about Christmas without igniting some kind of religious war.
Resistance: I wouldn’t be so sure.
Me: It’s really that I don’t like writing prompts.
Resistance: Me either! So… stifling. I mean, why would we care about this topic anyway? We should only write things when the mood strikes us, when something strange and mysterious wells up deep from within us, setting our muse on fire…
Me: Ok, I know that’s complete bunk. I mean, I’m a writer. I should be able to make a grocery list interesting. Why would something like this stop me? I just need to be creative about it.
Resistance: Sure, creative. Like we have time for that. Don’t you see all those emails clogging your inbox? Creativity takes energy. We ran out of that before we even got up today.
Me: Now you’re just depressing me. So, let’s think. What kind of person would never have experienced Christmas before?
Resistance: Jews, Muslims, Hindis… pretty much everyone who isn’t Christian.
Me: That’s the obvious angle. I want to be creative. Hey! Robots! I bet they don’t have Christmas! Being immortal and all…
Resistance: That sounds really cheesy.
Me: Except that I happen to have a really non-cheesy androids-of-the-future story all plotted out already.
Resistance: You haven’t even written that story yet!
Me: Yeah, but I already have the characters banging around in my head. It wouldn’t be hard to let them loose for a while…
Resistance: Wait, no, don’t do that!
Me: Why? What are you afraid of?
Resistance: Those characters… you love those characters… 
Me: I know. It will probably get me excited about writing the novel too.
Resistance: Nooooo! *sobs* *slinks away*
Me: *writes furiously, grin on face* 

The funny thing about Resistance is that whenever I overcome it, I invariably create things that I love.

CLICK HERE to peek into the post-Singularity world of my next novel (as soon as I’m done with my steampunk fantasy affair).

PLUS

Today I’m giving away ANOTHER signed paper copy of either Open Minds or Closed Hearts
(this one is US only, enter here for International)

Who: 14 authors (organized by bestselling author Denise Grover Swank)
What: 14 different prizes, one by each author, EVERY DAY
When: EVERY DAY for TWELVE DAYS
How Long: All giveaways open until December 21st

The Finale: A $200 Gift Card giveaway

How It Works:

  • Enter the first Rafflecopter for MY giveaway for today
  • Enter the second Rafflecopter to win the FINALE $200 gift card
  • Click on the linky to find other great prizes (ebooks, paperbooks, swag, gift cards, knit hats, t-shirts… it’s CRAZY all the stuff in this giveaway)

Today I’m giving away

a signed paper copy of
Open Minds or Closed Hearts
(Free Souls is only in ebook now,
but the papercopy is coming soon)

ENTER HERE TO WIN A PAPER COPY OF
OPEN MINDS or CLOSED HEARTS
US ONLY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ENTER HERE FOR THE FINALE PRIZE

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CLICK THROUGH FOR MORE PRIZES

Comments

  6. I always preferred that chap Compliance to Resistance; always made the nicest hot chocolate, with whipped cream and cinnamon on top. Good dude, Compliance.

About Susan

Susan Kaye Quinn is PhD Environmental Engineer turned spec fic author who writes hopeful climate fiction & solarpunk.
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I’m currently working on a novel about plants and families and how we have to renegotiate our relationships with both.

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Find Sue on Blue Sky, Mastodon, and her blog. She also hosts the Bright Green Futures podcast.
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