Sixty-Six Great Gifts for Writers

Hey, 

If you have any ideas for gifts for writers — or have any strong personal desires — please add them as a comment on this posting. 

Stocking Stuffers

A gift bag of coffee or tea and snack foods, because writers have long thought that caffeine and sugar are their best friends.

Healthy snacks, because it’s not true that sugar is your bff.

A Christmas classic: A Christmas Carol by Dickens, Christmas at Thomspon Hall by Trollope, The Night Before Christmas by Gogol, The Nutcracker by Hoffman … here

Hanukkah books for kids … here, here or here

A gift certificate to Tim Horton’s, because a comfortable café is often the best place to write.

Fingerless gloves (type and have warm fingers)

Reading is Sexy button … here

Timer for writing sprints

AquaNotes waterproof notepads (for shower ideas—yes, these really work!)

Pens 

Highlighters 

A stamp with a happy face for critiquing your fellow writers 

Creativity games and helpers

Bananagrams anagram game … here

Scrabble Magnetic Refrigerator Tiles … here

Rory’s Story Cubes 

The Writer's Toolbox: Creative Games and Exercises for Inspiring the 'Write' Side of Your Brain ...here

For Writers Who Outline

Index cards

Notebooks

Corkboard &  pushpins

Whiteboard with dry erase markers and eraser

Technology Helpers

Programs like Scrivener (Windows and Mac) for organizing and word processing

Dragon Naturally Speaking (options at Amazon) for voice recognition-driven writing 

 Typing program (learn to type faster!)

Wireless/ergonomic keyboard or mouse

Virtual keyboard for mobile use

Mini voice recorder

Big Ticket Items

New computer

Bigger computer monitor

eReader or eTablet (Kindle/Kindle Fire, iPad, Android tablet, etc.)

Ergonomic desk chair

Cover design or editing costs for self-published authors

Writing Craft and Publishing-Related Books

The Art of Fiction, John Gardner

The Art of War for Writers, James Scott Bell

The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron

Bird by Bird: some instructions on writing and life,  by Anne Lamott.

Conflict, Action and Suspense, William Noble

The Elements of Style, William Strunk and E.B. White

The Fiction Editor, Thomas McCormak

How Stories Work, James Woods

On Writing: a memoir of the craft, Stephen King

Spunk and Bite: A Writer's Guide to Bold Contemporary Style, Arthur Plotnik

Writing Down the Bones, Natlie Goldberg

The Thesaurus books by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (The Emotion Thesaurus, The Positive Trait Thesaurus, and The Negative Trait Thesaurus)

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

Rivet Your Reader with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson

The Power of Point of View by Alicia Rasley

Miscellaneous Suggestions

Comfort clothes (robe and fuzzy slippers, sweat pants, but be careful; you may never change out of them. See here!)

Gift basket full of writing-related ideas (pens, notebooks, special beverage and glass, inspirational items or quotes, etc.)

Gift cards for books

Gift cards for office supply stores

Fun reader/writer-type gifts (“Careful, or you’ll end up in my novel” mug,“gifts for writers,” The Literary Gift Company, etc.)

Subscription to music source (Pandora, Spotify, Grooveshark, etc.)

Lithographs: Shirts and totes printed with images and the text of your favourite novels. Tattoos available, too … here.

Out of Print Tee’s: T-shirts, tote bags, iphone cases – all sorts of things, decorated with your favourite book covers (here).

Premium level of online service (Dropbox for automatic backups, Amazon Prime for free shipping/lending library, etc.)

Entry fee for a writing contest

Massage gift certificates, a back or foot massager

A head scratcher!

Writing time (anything from babysitting to a writers’ retreat to a housecleaning service)

But for the very best gifts for writers, see here.

P.S. Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. ~ Brian

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.