The Writers Workbench

I’m trying something a little different this year, and we’ll see how it goes.  In the past, I’ve had a Holiday Gift Guide, and published it appropriately for my December column.  The problem with that, I’ve realized, is that that means it usually doesn’t show up until perhaps the first week of December, at the earliest.  That might be perfectly fine for many people, most notably those who look at the calendar a week before Christmas and think, “Oh, perhaps I should start shopping now.”  But for those who don’t like to wait until the last minute, nah, not so much.  And further, because Hanukkah jogs randomly around the calendar, there have been times in the past when the column hasn’t been online until after that holiday has passed.  

So, this year, as I said, a little different.  While I’m not thrilled about having a Holiday Gift Guide in November, I think that that might be best, if only to give folks a chance to begin ruminating.  (Or shopping, since Hanukkah begins next week, December 6.)  And besides, I saw some Holiday Shopping ad as early as September this year, the swine, so I placate myself in that context as being late to the party.

As always, I'm posting a link to the column on its original Writers Guild site, since it's nicely formatted there, and formatting it here is a convoluted process.  (It also sits on the Huffington Post, but for the WGA version, being the original, I include all the graphics and the end TWW Notes.  You can find it here.

And as always, there's a mixed grab bag of goodies this year, including things like the Divoom Voombox Travel, not the tiniest portable speaker I reviewed this year, but very small and portable nonetheless that has among the best sound I've come across for something this size and with the added benefit of being water resistant (though not waterproof), so you can hang it in your shower, among other things.