Seventy-seven Great Gifts for Writers

Books, of course, make great gifts, both for yourself and for both the little people and the adults on your list. For a few suggestions, see here.

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

Sleep tight – you know you want a quilt that looks like book shelves – available here. Or go for a variety of blankets for writers here. 

Fingerless gloves for writing ~ they come in
Alice in Wonderland, Hamlet, The Raven...

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. At the annual Briar's retreat in November, we determined that Hawkins Cheezies are the best junk food ever – and they're Canadian. Yum.

Healthy snacks, because sugar is not truly your bff.
If you're crafty in the kitchen, try some of these homemade treats here.
A bottle of Writers' Tears Copper Pot Irish whisky.

More books of course! Always a great idea for writers. According to Chapters you can find the best books of 2020 here. And don't forget that writers have kids who also like books.
If you're looking for Christmas books, Penguin has a boxed set of six Christmas classics: A Christmas Carol by Dickens, Christmas at Thomspon Hall by Trollope, The Night Before Christmas by Gogol, The Nutcracker by Hoffman … here.
You can find a selection of kids' Christmas books here or here or here or ... There are a lot of Christmas books for kids.

For a non-classic children’s Christmas book, try: Twas The Night Before Christmas: Edited By Santa Claus for the Benefit of Children of the 21st Century. This is a non-smoking version of the classic narrative verse by Pamela McColl, writing/editing under the pseudonym Santa Claus. See here here.

Good lists of Hanukkah books for kids are hard to find. Try here, or just buy all of Eric Kimmel's books. 

A gift certificate to Tim Horton’s, because a comfortable café is often the best place to write {at least if you're not under lockdown because of a pandemic).

Fingerless gloves (type and have warm fingers). You can also get a Pride and Prejudice scarf, a Sense and Sensibility pillow cover, a Black Beauty baby blanket ... here

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 

Board Games & Creativity Helpers

Apples to Apples is a great creative game; you need to match a noun card in your hand to a given adjective card and convince the dealer that your (absurd) choice really is the best. We had a hoot playing this at the end of the day at the Algonguin Writing Retreat last June. ~Brian

Dixit may be the most popular writing board game out there. Players have to convince other players that their story card is the best way to tell the story.

With 540 cards, the Storymatic feeds the imagination. Just pull out cards from each category (such as “Obstacle” and “What-choo-want”) and let the storytelling begin. Great for writers experiencing writer’s block and collaborative writing groups.  

Writer Emergency Pack. It includes 52 cards with fantastic illustrations and loads of ideas. Whenever you’re struggling with a story, you can pull out a card and get inspiration! (Or at least a giggle.)

The Game of Things  makes everyone write. You’re given a category like “Things that Jiggle” and everybody has to write down a funny or crazy answer. Then the leader of the round reads them anonymously and you have to guess who wrote what. If you play with the right people, it’s fun and funny.

In The Writer’s Toolbox, there are 60 games to play to inspire writers to create — be the first to create a story based on “First Sentences, Non Sequiturs, and Last Straws.” Also, use one of two spinners to generate a random detail that you have to include in your story. 

In Once Upon a Time, the leader plays cards to start a story, trying to guide the story toward his end card. Other players try to jump in and play their cards. First one to use all their cards up wins! Great fun for creative writers.

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

Post-It notes

Corkboard &  pushpins

Whiteboard with dry erase markers and eraser

For Writers Who Don't Always Write on Computers

Notebooks! Book stores often have great selections of notebooks and other essential writerly tools, and it's a good year to try to shop as much as possible at a bricks and mortar store.

Technology Helpers

Programs like Scrivener for organizing and word processing

Drogon voice recognition dictation software.  

Typing program (learn to type faster!), such as KeyBlaze.

Wireless/ergonomic keyboard or mouse

Virtual keyboard for mobile use

Mini voice recorder

Big Ticket Items

New computer

Bigger computer monitor

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
The Sense of Style, Steven Pinker

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 or Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody

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

The Power of Point of View by Alicia Rasley

And don't forget, books are available at actual book stores.

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, The Literary Gift Company, etc.)

Subscription to music source; such as Spotify

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  – which surely no writer can do without! (Dogs love them, too. Cats will tolerate them.)

Writing time (anything from babysitting to a writers’ retreat to a

housecleaning service)

For gifts to make the world a better place, see here.

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

See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including Saturday writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New Tecumseth, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.