Hey everybody! Tis the season for wracking our brains for ideas on what to get each other for Christmas. I thought I’d put together a short list of gifts for writers that I’d personally appreciate, and it ended up…well, a little longer than I expected. There is a lot of cool stuff out there that writers would absolutely love. This is also a nice list for me to have for the future…
Without any further ado, here is my list of perfect gifts for the writer or aspiring author in your life.
(This post has affiliate links. If you click on one and buy stuff, I’ll get a small commission for sending you to Amazon at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!)
On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King
I’m going to start off my list with one of the most recommended gifts for writers: Stephen King’s On Writing. I recently listened to the audiobook version of this book read by Stephen King and loved it. It’s a sort of autobiography concerning his writing life in particular: how he started writing, how his life influenced his writing, how his writing influenced his life, and a collection of tips backed by his own personal observations about writing. On Writing had been recommended to me and I whole-heartedly agree that it is a must-read for anyone interesting in writing stories.
Moleskin Notebook
Writers LOVE notebooks. You can’t really go wrong in giving a notebook as a gift to a writer. These are my personal favorite because they tuck into my purse but are still big enough to hold a lot of ideas. Any notebook works, though, and if you want to make it a little more personal, you can decorate a plain notebook with anything from stickers to pressed dried flowers.
Waterproof Notepad and Pen
Have you ever had a great idea in the shower but then completely forgotten what it was by the time you get out? This is the perfect solution to that! Every writer ought to have something like this so you never have to worry about forgetting that perfect story idea ever again.
DIY Writer’s Retreat
Every writer wishes they could escape for a few days to a place where there are no distractions. An awesome gift for any writer would be for you to book their favorite hotel or an Airbnb cottage somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of their everyday life. Even if you can’t afford to send your writer off to an organized retreat, you can find a way to bring the retreat to your writer. Get their meal(s) set up ahead of time so they don’t have to worry about food or snacks, arrange for the kids to stay out of the house, and take care of all the other odds and ends that interrupt that writing time. Your writer will appreciate the effort and the quiet.
Padfolio
Another perfect gift for writers (especially disorganized writers like me) is this padfolio. I didn’t know these things actually had a name until recently, but I’ve been using variations of a padfolio for years to keep all of my notes, ideas, outlines, character descriptions, pens, highlighters, rough draft papers, etc. in one place. I love how it’s portable, so I can keep working on my story whether I am at home or traveling.
Seat Cushion
In order to get a book written, writers have to sit for hours and hours and hours. A seat cushion is a great way to relieve that literal pain in the butt. It might not seem like a very flashy gift for writers, but it certainly will be appreciated later on.
DIY Writing Prompt Book
This past year, I’ve been subscribed to Brandon Sanderson’s Year of the Sanderson, and this last month, I received a notebook with little fun writing prompts written in the corners every few pages. You could do something similar by looking up a list of writing prompts or using this generator and writing them in an empty notebook. Be sure to leave plenty of space between prompts so that your writer has enough room!
Lap Desk
If you’re like me and write in bed a lot, a lap desk can help keep all of your stuff in one place and help your laptop from overheating from having the blankets smushed into its fans. I haven’t yet gotten a lapdesk, but it’s definitely something I’ve had my eye on for a while.
ProWritingAid or Grammarly
I have a lifetime subscription to ProWritingAid and absolutely love it. It gives you a plethora of reports to choose from to fine-tune your story, from spelling and grammar to sentence structure. I have a lifetime subscription to it. AutoCrit is another similar app that you can get a lifetime subscription to around once a year if you keep an eye on their social media. I also use Grammarly to a lesser extent to catch the spelling and grammar mistakes that ProWritingAid might have missed.
Conclusion
I hope this list gives you a better idea of what sorts of things you can get as a gift for a writer in your life. Whatever you chose to give them, you can also show them my Writing Tools page for more information on how to write better stories. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
