The Gift of Writing for Fun

The Gift of Writing for Fun

By Terri Weldon

 



Terri Weldon

This year the holiday decorating theme for my office at work was Gingerbread men. Each of us were given two felt Gingerbread men and told to create a scene. Now I had the entire door to my office to decorate and these two little guys didn’t come close to filling up the space.

 

I’m not the least bit crafty. So I stared at the blank door and my two little people without a clue what to do. After a good while I decided to see how the others in the office were progressing. So I looked at the scenes on the walls and admired their creativity. My mind, as it often does, remained blank. Finally one of the gals in the office suggested I make a Westie to go with my people.

That simple suggestion jump started my brain. I went back to my desk and created a Gingerbread woman. I won’t bore you with the details of her cute little outfit, but it was quite fun. Next I whipped out my IPhone and searched for Gingerbread men. I found a man in a red and green outfit and busied myself with dressing the hero in my story in a similar fashion. Yep, you heard me, the hero.

From the minute I decided to make a Gingerbread couple the romance writer in me began formulating a story. So the one page novelette A Gingerbread Romance was birthed. And yes, I actually wrote it. The story became the inspiration for my door. My decorations played out the story and I even went so far as to cut the dialog out and attach it to the door in the appropriate places. I had a blast. In fact I received an unexpected gift – at work of all places – the gift of writing for fun.

This wasn’t written for publication and while I did the best job possible on the story I didn’t have to worry about pleasing a publisher, agent, or reader. A Gingerbread Romance was designed for my enjoyment and mine alone. As silly as this may sound, it was liberating. Reminded me of my love of writing and creating.

 

When was the last time you wrote something just for fun? Probably too long. I hope you’ll take a few minutes today and write a quick holiday story of your own. Let my Christmas gift to you be the gift of writing just for fun.

Merry Christmas!

 

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Misty Winslow is determined to find her prince, and she meets the man of her dreams through an Internet dating service. Or is he, because the new dentist in town also sets her heart aflutter.

It's love at first sight for Tyler Davenport, but before he can finish his first root canal, Misty is involved in an exclusive online romance with Wes99—Tyler’s online persona. How can he tell her he’s the man she’s been waiting to meet, and how rational is it for him to be jealous of Wes99! Soon Tyler's pulling out all the stops to woo Misty.

As Christmas approaches, Wes99 and Tyler both ask her to meet them under the mistletoe. Which man will she choose?

Terri is a lead analyst by day and an author by night. She enjoys gardening, reading, and playing in the hand bell choir. One of her favorite pastimes is volunteering as the librarian at her church. It allows her to shop for books and spend someone else’s money! Plus, she has the great joy of introducing people to Christian fiction.

She lives with her family in Oklahoma. Terri has three dogs – a lovable mutt and two adorable Westies.

Terri is a member of ACFW and OCFW, a local chapter of ACFW. Her dream of becoming a published novelist came true in November 2013 when Mistletoe Magic released from White Rose Publishing. To learn more about Terri visit her website at www.TerriWeldon.com.

Home For Holidays by Gail Gaymer Martin

Gail Gaymer Martin

We're so happy to have award-winning author Gail Gaymer Martin back with us! Today the topic is Christmas stories. Because of family members I've lost around the holidays, it takes a bit longer each year to prepare my heart for Christmas. Today Gail shares how to take tough situations and turn them into uplifting Christmas stories. Enjoy! ~ Angie

Holidays are a time when most everyone wants to be home with their family and friends. Whether birthdays, Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas, home is where the heart is. But when my mom was a little girl, her mother had a stroke shortly before Christmas. Since she was the youngest child and needed care, she was sent to spend Christmas with affluent relatives living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, hours away from her home and family. While the experience frightened and saddened my mom, later in life she talked about her visit with a few warm memories.

Most of the remembrances revolved around the family’s Christmas traditions—the gifts she received, the Christmas décor and music. But the memory that stood out in her mind happened on Christmas Eve. Mom said the main parlor doors remained closed during her stay, but on Christmas Eve, the doors were opened and she gasped at the huge Christmas tree decorated in a multitude of ornaments and lighted with real candles. Buckets of water sat nearby to put out a possible fire.

Yet a child wants to be with family at Christmas time, and the poignant situation settled in my mind and became a Christmas novella called Yuletide Treasure, a romance with a thread of mystery involving a package Livy, the heroine, is asked to deliver in secret. Instead of a young girl as my mother was, I wrote about a young boy named Davy. Though the story is fictional, the basic idea came from my mother’s situation and the Christmas memories of that experience.

These types of occurrences make great fodder for story ideas, but they are also touching and sad. I have never been away from family at Christmas, except one time by choice, and I’m grateful. I’m sure some of you may have had that experience and can remember how you longed to be home with loved ones.

If you would like to read Yuletide Treasures, it is included in An Old-Fashioned Christmas Collection from Barbour Publishing along with nine other Christmas novellas by various novelists.

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Preparing for Christmas: Christmas memories with @GailGMartin.
Using poignant situations for uplifting stories.

About the Author

An Old-Fashioned Christmas Collection,
anthology by various Christian authors
including Gail Gaymer Martin

An Old-Fashioned Christmas Collection
Many of us have a secret picture of Christmases past—a time when windows shimmered with lacy
frost and candlelight, fireplaces kept a home warm and snug, ladies’ skirts swirled and gracefully skimmed the floor, and gentlemen were gallant and true. Experience Christmases spanning over one hundred years through nine inspiring historical romances, beautifully and economically packaged for you and all your gift-giving needs.

Gail Gaymer Martin
Award-winning novelist, Gail Gaymer Martin is the author of contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and women’s fiction with 52 novels published and nearly 4 million books in print. Her novels have received many national awards, including: the ACFW Carol Award and RT Reviewer’s Choice Award. Gail is the author of Writer Digest’s Writing The Christian Romance. CBS local news listed Gail as one of the four best writers in the Detroit area. She is a cofounder of American Christian Fiction Writers and serves on their Executive Board. She is also a member of Advanced Speakers and Writers and the Christian Authors Network. Gail is a keynote speaker at churches, civic and business organizations and a workshop presenter at conferences across the U.S. She lives in Michigan with her husband Bob.

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Christmas Series 2012: The Christmas Stalking by Lillian Duncan

Lillian Duncan

Hi everyone! We hope you're enjoying reading about some of the great Christian fiction coming out this Christmas. Maybe you've written a seasonal novel or maybe you just love reading them. Either way, we hope you're inspired. Today, Lillian Duncan is here to discuss some behind-the-scenes secrets about her newest release, The Christmas Stalking. Enjoy! ~ Annette

Welcome, Lillian. Tell us what makes your Christmas novel different than others you’ve seen or read?

The fact that it’s a suspense novel makes it different. Most Christmas stories are sugar and spice and everything nice, but The Christmas Stalking is an action-filled suspense story but still has a Christmas message.

How did the story come about?

I sat down at my computer and thought—CHRISTMAS... CHRISTMAS... CHRISTMAS—and it went from there.

The Christmas Stalking

What time of year did you write it and how did you motivate yourself to write a Christmas novel at that time of year?

I wrote it in May—the opposite season of Christmas. I did listen to some Christmas music to get me in the right frame of mind.

What’s next for you in writing? (Will you do more Christmas stories?)

I had a lot of fun writing this, so, yes, I hope to write more Christmas stories. Right now, I’m working on final edits for Betrayed, the second in my Sisters By Choice series by Harbourlight books. It will be out sometime next year.

Thanks for visiting, Lillian!

The Christmas Stalking releases this month from Harbourlight Books.

Country music superstar Destiny has it all—beauty, money, fame—and a crazed stalker.

Overzealous fan or crazed stalker? Country music superstar Destiny appears to have it all. Beauty, money, and fame. But it’s not all glitz and glamor, being a celebrity comes with a price—loneliness and now threats from an unknown stalker.

With Christmas approaching and as the danger escalates in Nashville, Destiny has no choice but to disappear. She escapes to her grandparents’ cabin in the Adirondack Mountains near the tiny Village of Serenity & Peace.

It seems to be the perfect choice for a hideout. Longing for the serenity and peace she experienced there as a child, Destiny resumes her long-forgotten identity as Holly Stone.

Unfortunately, her fame follows her to the tiny village—along with her stalker.

To learn more about Lillian and her books, visit her:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/lillian.k.duncan
Twitter: @lillianduncan
Website: www.lillianduncan.net 

  (e-book format; $0.99 download during December)

Christmas 2012 Series: Snowflake Sweethearts by Carrie Turansky

Good morning, everyone! We hope you had a great Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for, don't we? Today, we continue our Christmas 2012 release interviews with special guest, Carrie Turansky. Read on as she discusses her latest release, Snowflake Sweethearts! ~ Annette

What makes your Christmas novel different than others you've seen or read?

Snowflake Sweethearts is set in an actual town, Fairhaven, which is the lovely historical section of Bellingham, Washington. It is the third in a series of Love Inspired books set there and includes a fun group of senior-age matchmakers who appear in each book. The story takes place September through the Christmas Season. I suppose I'd say the unique characters make the story different than others I've read. The Northwest is also a less common setting. 

What genre is your story?

Snowflake Sweethearts is a contemporary inspirational romance. 

How did the story come about?

The ideas for the characters and story came to mind as I researched Fairhaven and brainstormed with my author friends, Terri Gillespie and Cathy Gohlke. They helped me refine my ideas and come up with my plot. 

What time of year did you write it, and how did you motivate yourself to write a Christmas novel at that of year?

I wrote it between August and and March 1, so it helped that the holiday season fell in the middle of writing the book. I played a lot of instrumental Christmas music to help me stay in the Christmas mood for writing. 

What's next in your writing? 

I am writing a three-book historical romance series set in England beginning in 1910 through World War 1. The working title for the first book is The Governess of Highland Hall. I've loved researching the Edwardian time period, and I even took a trip to England last summer to see the homes and countryside firsthand. When people ask me to describe the first book, I say it's like Downton Abbey meets Jane Eyre with a little Sound of Music thrown in. I have had interest from several publishers and hope to have a contract soon.  

Thanks for visiting Seriously Write today, Carrie! 

Thanks, Annette!  I appreciate this opportunity to connect with readers who enjoy holiday stories. Merry Christmas and Happy Reading to all!

In Snowflake Sweethearts - Travel back to Fairhaven, Washington, with single mom and personal chef Annie Romano. Annie has never forgotten the man she secretly loved as a teenager, and when he asks her to be the live-in caretaker for his ailing grandmother, she changes her plans and agrees. As the holiday season approaches Alex's grandmother, her matchmaking friends and one fatherless little girl are soon pulling at Annie's and Alex's heartstrings...just in time for a very special Christmas. I hope readers will enjoy this third and final book in the Bayside Treasure Series.

To learn more about Carrie, you can connect with her here:

http://www.carrieturansky.com

https://www.facebook.com/carrie.turansky?ref=tn_tnmn

https://twitter.com/carrieturansky

http://pinterest.com/carrieturansky

(print version)       (e-book version)