If Wishes Were Magic -- Holiday Romance Especially for You

 

My Christmas books are 50% off at Amazon.com!

Recently I purchased a creative writing book titled “642 Things to Write About”. Some were full pages to write on, some pages were divided into quarters for small comments, or even pictures. The prompts were everything from a single word to a sentence suggestion and most were very thought provoking. Since it wasn’t set up to write from page 1, I flipped through it and jotted things throughout the book as a particular suggestion triggered a thought. Until I came to this one:

“You are a fifty-three year old woman living in Chicago. Write a letter to Santa.”

 You might think “well, isn’t that a fun twist on an old theme – grownups writing to Santa.”

My thoughts were along very different lines. You see, I had actually written that story; the one sentence writing prompt could be the tag line for my book. So my question is—did someone make that up or did they submit the suggestion after reading my book, “If Wishes were Magic”?

 People have said there are only so many plots, but what are the odds that this writing prompt and my story are EXACTLY THE SAME? I mean, it could have been a different town, or a different age groupnor a different plot line. I don’t consider it plagiarism as it’s only a sentence descriptor. If it was, in fact, based on my book, I consider it a compliment that whoever wrote this (and the book was a compilation of many writers’ submissions) considered my story to be one worth using.

“If Wishes were Magic” was a fun book to write, with lots of ‘feel good’ scenarios such as rescue dogs and cats, volunteerism, connecting with parents in the Service and best of all—making kids’ Christmas wishes come true. Add all that to a developing romantic relationship between my two main characters and you have my kind of story – happily ever after! Here is a little more about this story:

In Chicago, Chantilly Morrison is set to launch Chantilly Frost, a new cosmetics line, by holding a “Dear Santa” contest to make women’s fantasies come true. But because of an error in the ad copy, she’s inundated with letters from children, whose scribbled wishes tug at her heart. She hires an investigator to find the letter writers so she can throw a huge Christmas party and make the children’s fantasies come true.

AJ Anderson can find the unfindable, whether it’s lost artifacts or people, and he’s very good at his job. But when Chanti dumps hundreds of letters in his lap with the directive to find the children-- before Christmas Eve-- he knows the request is impossible, but the woman is irresistible. Should he use his skills to make her Christmas wish come true, or can he use the countdown to Christmas to find the key that unlocks the lady’s heart? 

You can purchase this fun Christmas book at your favorite online bookstore by clicking this link: https://books2read.com/If-Wishes-Were-Magic. 

If you’re looking for more Christmas magic, I have also written “Always Believe”

https://books2read.com/Always-Believe, 

and “Snowflakes and Kisses,https://books2read.com/Snowflakes-and-Wishes, and all three holiday books are currently on sale for ½ price at Amazon! Happy Holidays! 

Barb

http://www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin

https://bookswelove.net/baldwin-barbara/

 

TEN IDEAS FOR FAMILY HOLIDAY TRADITIONS By BC Deeks, Paranormal Mystery Fiction Author

 

 

Visit B.C. Deeks' BWL Author Page for Book and Purchase Information

http://bookswelove.net/deeks-bc/

The holidays are just around the corner, and it’s got me thinking about family and traditions. Growing up, we had all kinds of rituals around this time of year. We decorated our tree on Christmas Eve and took it down on ‘Old Christmas Day’, or January 6^th, every year. We were allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve so that we would go to bed without a fuss while ‘Santa’ made final preparations for the Big Day. We were always given a new pair of pajamas, so that we looked particularly cute for the annual family photo in front of the fireplace.

Our Christmas dinner always included the same items... turkey, of course, stuffed with my grandfather’s dressing made with Newfoundland summer savory... and English style trifle for dessert. Mom also made a dark fruit pudding that only the adult ate because it had a rum sauce that was liberally poured over the top.

As I hit my teens, some of the family traditions were a bit irritating, like having to be home on Christmas Eve for that family photo, when I really wanted to be out with my friends. But by the time I was an adult, I found myself replicating those traditions in my own home. I’m a domestic disaster in the kitchen when it comes to cooking, but I make our cranberry sauce from scratch and the trifle for the annual Christmas dinner.

Here are TEN IDEAS FOR FAMILY TRADITIONS that you could add to your seasonal celebration.

1. Get in your cozy pajamas with a cup of hot chocolate and READ The Night Before Christmas out loud on Christmas Eve.
2. Download a Christmas audiobook to listen to over the holidays.
3. Surprise your best friend or family member with a new book in their stocking. My mother put a romantic mystery paperback in my stocking every year to encourage me to read!
4. Get the family together to play “I spy” with the ornaments on your tree. Do you remember  where the ornament came from? Is it one from your childhood? A family heirloom?
5. Gift your child an ornament every year. Make it a memento of a big moment or achievement from the last year.
6. Prepare a special meal for Christmas Eve, like a fondu.
7. Give each family member a book on Christmas Eve and spend the rest of the night reading curled up in a comfy chair.
8. Pick a special holiday-themed movie to watch together as a family on Christmas Day.
9. Find a holiday craft to do together on the lead-up to the holidays, like making cookies or ornaments.
10. Look for an opportunity to volunteer together or provide some other type of community service, like a gift donation as a family, during the holiday season.

Traditions signify the continuity of life from one generation to the next. They bring with them the warmth of family, even when you can’t be together during those special times of the year. The best thing about traditions is that it’s never too late to start a new one. Do you have any holiday traditions that are passed down through your family?

Opening Lines

 

Available at www.bookswelove.net

            I recently started reading a book; put it aside; picked it up to continue then put it aside again. Why? The first 2 chapters (one each for the hero and heroine) were about the two main characters – all their angst, regrets, problems and troubles. It was their thoughts and reflections with the only action being that they were thinking and reflecting while eating or driving. This sounds harsh, but too much information at the beginning of a story can very easily cause a reader to stop reading altogether. Yes, the information is needed, but throwing it all into the first chapters is sometimes called an “information dump” and is not always the best way to start a story. The fact that the 2 main characters don’t meet or interact in any way until well after page 80 was another problem for me, especially considering this was a contemporary romance.

Industry standards for fiction writing have changed over the years and there are probably not hard and fast rules as to what a writer must do and there are as many ways to start a book as there are books written. Oftentimes, historicals have more background and descriptions before getting into the actual story. I know that I write differently when creating an historical than when I’m doing a contemporary. There is usually a slower flow to the scenes and more detail.

My question is – what pulls you into a book from the get-go? Is it a long idyllic description of the setting? Is it a monologue by the main character of all he/she hopes for as he/she looks longingly in the mirror? Is it a first sentence or paragraph that drops you right into the middle of the action? Take a look at the following opening lines and paragraphs from 5 different books.

1.         1. “Stop! Thief!” (Snowflakes and Kisses)

2.     2. “You can’t take my kin,” Joe shouted, struggling against the deputy who had pinned his arms behind his back. (Tenderhearted Cowboy)

3.   3.   “Suicide,” Michael Grant stated in a flat voice as he stared at the cold body on the warehouse floor. (Love in Disguise)

4. To whoever finds this journal: I started out this rainy November morning in 1988 as an archeology intern uncovering sunken treasure from the Steamboat Arabia, but due to circumstances I don’t understand, at the end of the day I found myself on board the Arabia, back in 1856, the year it sank. (Hold on to the Past)
5. Cheyenne stepped onto the boardwalk outside the Bed & Breakfast and slipped on her sunglasses to cut the glare of the late morning light. The only redemption from the hot July sun was the breeze blowing off the nearby bay. She sighed. She wasn’t here to enjoy the pristine beach and crystal blue water of the small tourist town. She was on a mission and today she would run her quarry to ground, if she had to burn down every tavern in a two mile radius. (Prelude and Promises)

        First let me say these are opening lines from 5 of my books. Given I have over twenty published books and I am only sharing five openings, it is safe to say that I might not always follow my own advice as to how to start a book. (Some of the 20 are historical and time travels so I plead paragraph 2 above.) Some of my stories take a little more than a paragraph to get in gear and there’s nothing wrong with that. But here’s the thing. I once cut an entire opening chapter (as my heart bled because it was good writing) for the simple reason that it did nothing to get the story going. It was background – important information – but not as necessary at the beginning of the story as I originally thought. That didn’t make it any easier to delete. Some writers will tell you “edit” is a 4-letter swear word, especially after you’ve spent hours and gallons of coffee constructing that one page.

I like to read books that quickly put me into the middle of the action, and so those are the types of books I try to write. That’s what happened with my newest holiday romance, so I leave you with the first few pages:

“Stop! Thief!”

Rem jerked upright from tying his shoe and saw Mrs. Peacock drop to a bench against the wall as a youngster grabbed her grocery bag and darted down the sidewalk. He took off and caught him by the collar within half a block, jerking him around.

“Robbie Jenkins, what the hell?” The kid was a local; a good kid as far as he knew and never in trouble of any kind. Grabbing him in a head lock, he dragged him back to where the older lady still sat.

“Are you all right, Mrs. Peacock?” he asked, easily keeping a squirming Robbie locked against his side.

She turned to look at him in surprise, then quickly glanced straight ahead. “I’m…I’m fine, Sheriff,” she said loudly. “He may have gotten my groceries, but he didn’t nab my tickets to the Winter Festival!” She held up two cardboard tickets, grinning somewhere off to his left.

“Cut! That’s a wrap!” A voice hollered from across the narrow thoroughfare.

Rem stood on the sidewalk, Mrs. Peacock grinning like a loon and Robbie struggling to get free. As he tried to process the scene, Gwendolyn, his twin sister, hurried across the street.

“Oh my gosh. That was totally unscripted but so much better than I could have written,” Gwen exclaimed when she stepped onto the sidewalk. Behind his sister stood a man with a camera and a couple of other people he didn’t recognize.

 “Let him go, Rem,” Gwen said, tugging on his arm.

He kept his grip on Robbie. “He took Mrs. Peacock’s groceries,” he said but even as he spoke, he didn’t sound very convincing. His sister laughed and the others joined in. Rem could feel his face heat.

“We’re making a marketing video,” his sister said with a sigh. “Now let him go.”

Rem looked back at Mrs. Peacock who slowly nodded in agreement, a smile on her wrinkled face.

“Did I get my lines right, Gwendolyn, dear?” she asked sweetly.

“You were awesome,” Gwen answered before turning back to Rem with a brow raised.

He slowly released Robbie but latched onto his sister’s arm instead. None too gently, he tugged her away from the rest of the people clustered in front of Nobbie’s Grocery.

“What the hell, Gwen?” He spun her to face him.

“Seriously, Rem, with all your literary skills, can’t you come up with something more original?”

“Don’t push me, Gwendolyn Elizabeth Matthews. Spill it.” His twin had been the bane of his existence for thirty years and that didn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.

She pulled her stocking cap off and shook out her hair, the black curls swaying around her face. It was like looking into a mirror except for the length of her hair. The same green eyes stared back at him, the same straight nose and high cheekbones defined their Irish heritage although her features were somewhat softer than his. Unfortunately, the same stubborn chin rose in defiance.

“You know you can’t bully me, Rem, even if you are the sheriff and even less because you’re my brother. We were shooting a video for the community calendar to advertise the Winter Festival.” As head of the Chamber of Commerce, his sister went overboard sometimes to put Cherrywood on the map.

He rubbed a hand over his face. “You could have told me. I thought we were having an actually robbery.”

“Hungry for a little action?” She grinned at him and the last of the tension slid away. He had to admit being sheriff, albeit part time, in the sleepy little town of Cherrywood didn’t lead to many bragging rights at the national law enforcement conventions. The entire town had only a few thousand people; more in the summer as it was a hot beach destination on the east coast.

However, once the first frost came, the tourists left and residents hunkered down for the winter. Now that December had arrived, the wind off the Long Island Sound often blew bitterly cold. So far this winter, the snow accumulation promised a brisk business for the Winter Festival with all the activities the town had planned.

“Delete that video,” he ordered as he tugged his stocking cap over his ears and turned to finally start his daily run.

“No way,” his sister called behind his back. “Don’t forget to stop at the office and sign a release.” Her laughter followed him down the street.

***

I hope you’ll join Rem, Gwen and the residents of Cherrywood for a fun filled, very festive holiday season in my newest romance – “Snowflakes and Kisses”. Erin Thomas has already made her reservation and while she’s looking forward to all the holiday activities, she has no idea of the surprises awaiting her. Available now at https://bookswelove.net/baldwin-barbara/

            Also for the holiday season, Books We Love is having a weekly give-away now through December 15. You can easily enter at https://bookswelove.net for a chance to win a free holiday eBook (mine included) and a chance to win an eBook reader. Books We Love knows how much you love books and we want to help spread the cheer.

All Best Wishes,

Barb

http://www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin

https://bookswelove.net/baldwin-barbara/

 

 

 

Lights Aglow by Helen Henderson

Windmaster Legend by Helen Henderson

Click the cover for purchase information

For the upteenth time, I'm changing my mind about this month's post. I wanted something dealing with traditions, but everything I came up with has changed. There are the unofficial traditions such as raking leaves before Thanksgiving dinner, or watching the Tournament of Roses or Macy's Thanksgiving parades. Football games on television or at the local high school field fulfilled those interests; while some of us preferred the National Dog Show. My Scotch blood cheered when the Scottish Deerhound won best in show even as my sentimenal side had rooted for the collie to win.

In disclosure:
Bumps was not an award-winning collie,
but he did have a way of herding sheep and children on my childhood farm.
After hours of brushing, there are no burrs in his coat.

The gatherings of 20 people from our various family households were reduced to those who live under the one roof. During those larger gatherings, I was in charge of the children's table. And yes, it was a table set aside just for the younger members who ranged in age from 18 months or so to teens. A rite of passage was when you got to go from the picnic table and low benches to a real chair at the adult table.

Not saying things haven't changed before 2020. Locations for the holiday gatherings varied depending on the family's situation at the time. If someone had a newborn or young children, they were given the option to host or visit, whichever they thought was easiest for them. Other times we gathered at the home of the oldest member so that they wouldn't have to travel. Then when the time came, to avoid adding to the holiday emotions with those raised by an empty chair, we would gather up those who could no longer drive and take them with us. Over the years, seating has been on living room couches, around dining room tables (after we filled our plates buffet style in the kitchen ) or sitting on the steps leading to the upper floor. All meals were potluck with everyone contributing their specialty. And if someone couldn't cook anymore we made sure they felt like they were contributing even if they only brought the dinner rolls or a plate of cheese and crackers to nibble while visiting. However, for the majority of the years, the host household was chosen based on one thing-- who had the most room.

Image by Vuong Viet from Pixabay

In the dark days of winter, whether from white bulbs outlining the roof or covering trees and bushes, or luminaries lining sidewalks, lights help brighten moods and are a tradition onto themselves. In the spirit of reflection and giving thanks, a note about another tradition of lights, the lantern rising festival from Windmaster Legend. Inspiration came from two events, the lantern float held annually on Memorial Day on Oʻahu’s south shore and the sky lantern festival of Taiwan. In one, lanterns are set afloat on the water in a personal and collective moment of remembrance and offering of gratitude to those who have gone before. In the other, sky lanterns are released into the night sky with people's wishes written on them. The one sky lantern launch I’ve seen in person combined both water and sky. A grieving family sent a single lantern aloft over the water in memorial of a loved one’s passing. I couldn’t see if it bore handwritten wishes or if only a picture of the loved one was carried skyward.

The Windmaster Legend festival has several traditions related to it. Local residents wrote note on the lantern itself. Some were thanks for a profitable year, while others were prayers for the one to come. Many were poignant remembrances of loved ones who had passed beyond the veil. The lanterns were sent aloft from the decks of ships just offshore so that the breezes could take the lights skyward. A necessary item because a lantern that caught fire before reaching the clouds would never be fulfilled.

On a lighter note the lantern rising had another pertinent connection to one of our world's winter holiday tradition -- a stolen kiss beneath the mistletoe. In the land of the Windmaster Novels, whether onboard a ship out on Botunn Loghes or watching from the shore, when lanterns fill the sky, a man—or woman can claim a kiss from anyone they chose.

You’ll have to read Windmaster Legend to see if the tradition was followed … and which of the two men in Pelra's life was the recipient.

To purchase the Windmaster Novels: BWL

As this is my last post of the year, a special wish. In the upcoming year may your dreams come true, and you once again fall in love with reading. Helen

Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination.
Follow me online at Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter.

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky and a retriever who have adopted her as one of their pack. 

Holiday Traditions

I come from a family with three sisters and a brother which made the Christmas holidays fun because there were a lot of presents under the tree! For the first seventeen years of my life, Dad was in the Air Force and that meant moving every few years, but regardless of whether we lived in South Carolina, Florida, Georgia or Texas; Japan or Kwajalein, our Christmas traditions arrived right along with the Mayflower Moving Van.

We always got a Life Saver^© story book; we hung stockings on a pretend fireplace. We girls dressed alike in outfits Mom had made for midnight church service on Christmas Eve.  And we would always peek under Mom’s bed because that’s where she always hid the Christmas presents. (My own children were well into college before I quit giving them Life Saver^© storybooks.)

One of my holiday traditions was writing Christmas stories for my family and friends. Over the years there were stories about Christmases in the past, Christmas ghosts, holiday memories and even lumberjacks who helped Santa. One of these stories, "Once upon a Christmas Wish" was about a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania called Snow. Even in the midst of the coal mine shutting down, the children of the town decided to celebrate the holiday with a snow sculpture festival. This story so captured me that I decided to write a mainstream novel based in Snow. Again, the snow festival was such a huge part of the story that I even invented a fictitious website all about the town and its many businesses. 

That story is "Always Believe". It’s a story about family and friendships and maybe even a miracle or two. Emma doesn't believe in the enchantment of Christmas, but then she and her dad move to Snow, where even the stores have holiday names. What is she supposed to think when her new friend, Charlie, pulls her into the magic of the holiday by insisting he knows the location of Santa's workshop?

Letters to Santa tend to be another tradition of the holiday. But what happens when a typographical error causes hundreds of letters to Santa to end up at a Chicago Cosmetic Company? Because of an error in ad copy, CEO Chantilly Morrison is inundated with letters from children, whose scribbled wishes tug at her heart. She hires an investigator to find the letter writers so she can throw a huge Christmas party and make the children's fantasies come true. AJ Anderson can find the unfindable, whether it's lost artifacts or people and he's very good at his job. But when Chanti dumps hundreds of letters in his lap with the directive to find the children -- before Christmas Eve -- he knows the request is impossible, but the woman is irresistible. Should he use his skills to make her Christmas wish come true, or can he use the countdown to Christmas to find the key that unlocks the lady's heart?

I wish you all the best of the holidays, in whatever way you celebrate and with whatever traditions you hold dear. If one of your traditions just happens to be reading a fun holiday story, I invite you to grab a copy of “Always Believe” or “If Wishes Were Magic”, both available from http://bookswelove.net/authors/baldwin-barbara-romance/

Barbara Baldwin

http://www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin

Advent calendars by J. S. Marlo

J. S. Marlo BWL Author Page

I would be lying if I said I wasn't counting the days before Christmas, mainly because I take care of my five-year-old granddaughter every morning, and the first thing we do while we're eating breakfast together is to check the date and month on the calendar. Now that we're in December, we also count the days before Christmas Eve and then she opens her two Advent calendars.

I debated which Advent calendar to buy her before I settled on the chocolate and the Lego calendars. There are so many different ones on the market, but like many Christmas traditions, where or when did this one start?

Advent calendars originated in the 1800s in the German-speaking world when parents began to think up different ways to illustrate the remaining time until Advent for their children in order to highlight the special, holiday atmosphere of the season.


Some parents added a new picture with Christmas themes to their wall or windows each day leading up to Christmas Eve or Day. Other made 24 lines with chalk on cabinet doors or door frames, then allowed the children to wipe away one stroke each day.

In Austria, they made “heaven ladders” on which one progressed down the ladder rung by rung each day, illustrating the concept of God coming down to Earth. And in Scandinavia, a candle was divided into 24 segments and a segment was burned every day until Christmas.

In the late 1800s, they started making “Christmas clocks”. The face of the clock was divided into 24 segments (some adorned with song texts or Bible verses) and the hands moved one step further each day.

Then in 1908, inspired by his childhood memories,  Gerhard Lang (1881-1974) commercialized the first print Advent calendar. As a child he'd received 24 cookies sewn onto the lid of a box by his mother and he was allowed to eat one of them every day during the Advent period.

Lang's calendar didn’t have any little doors  to open...yet. It was composed of two printed parts: one page contained 24 pictures to cut out, and a cardboard page on which there were 24 boxes, each with a poem composed by Lang. The children could cut out one picture each day, read a verse and glue the picture on it. On December 24th the Christ child, dressed in white, was glued in place.

In 1920, the first Advent calendar with little doors or windows to open appeared, and around 1926, Lang created the "Christmas Rose", the first Advent calendar with 20 pieces of chocolate from the Stollwerck company.

Over the decades, the calendars evolved in shapes and content, from chocolate, to cheese, to toys, to wine tree, and everything in between, but one thing hasn't changed. It still counts the days until Christmas, building up the excitement in both children and adults.

Only 17 days until Christmas...

Wishing everyone a joyous holiday season!

JS

 J. S. Marlo's Website