  Noticing Newbies
This week: Writing at Christmas. Edited by: ~ Santa Sisco ~  
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Hello, everyone. I am ~ Santa Sisco ~ , one of the four permanent editors of the Noticing Newbies newsletter.
My aim is to ensure you have a smooth transition into the site. I still remember my first day here. "Bitem?" Do I have to be a computer programmer to put my writing on here?  Forty-eight hours later, I realized it was a case of easy when you know how!. My biggest mistake when I joined was that I didn't take the time to read the "Writing.Com 101" . I was excited and wanted to do everything the same day. Sound familiar? 
You will see my contributions every four weeks, and I hope they help you with using this great site.
My fellow permanent editors are Tornado Dodger  , ember_rain, and Sara♥Jean .
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As this will be my last newsletter for 2016, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Things to write and do this Christmas.
Have you managed to find and buy all the Christmas presents you need this year? Have you ever considered giving a very special gift to your family and friends? Yes, I am talking about your unique talent with words; your writing! A few years ago, I was in the terrible situation of having too little money to buy gifts for my family and friends. I tried to get a loan, but that was a waste of time. I looked in all the cheap stores and couldn’t find anything within my budget to cover six presents.
Then I found some elegant A4 picture frames with glass fronts. I purchased six of them, and that is when I decided to write bespoke poems as their presents. It took a while to get the writing done and a lot of work experimenting with different formats before I was happy to print them and put them into the frames. I was nervous when I gave them out, but shouldn’t have been. Five of the six people said it was the best present I had ever given them, and all six display the poems in their living rooms.
Even if you don’t need to get any more presents, consider doing something similar for someone special this Christmas.
Something I love doing at Christmas is people watching. I have more notes written about people's mannerisms over the holidays than at any other time. Perhaps it is the overindulgence with food and drink or just the relaxed atmosphere, but I usually note down something worth giving one of my characters to make them more believable. Watch out for body movements too. Hand gestures and leg movements may go unnoticed because we know the people and have become blind to their automatic actions. Watch and see if you can spot anything you’ve overlooked, possibly for years.
Whatever you do over the holidays, be safe and enjoy the company of loved ones.
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This week I have chosen a selection from read a newbie.
Community > Read a Newbie
Selections:
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From "Noticing Newbies Newsletter (November 9, 2016)" zoomsqrd  said:
Hi! I agree that it is better to show and not tell. However, I am curious when writing a short story how much showing should you do? Should you tell more than show to keep it in the short story format? I am just curious. Thank you. Z
Thank you for your question. I would say it all depends on the length of the story. That would also determine the amount of showing you do. You could mention a car, or a silver car, or a luxurious silver BMW with a jet black leather interior. Once you have written your story, you could easily decide that a silver BMW is a good enough description for the reader and fits best with the scene you wrote.
My rule is that it is always easier to trim when editing, than to add content. There are thousands of short stories on WDC, and you can always judge what would work for you once you read a few and specifically look at the show used. Hope that helps.
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Noticing Newbies: December 07, 2016 Issue [#8019]
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