This holiday season, my wish for you is to be merry and bright, just like in the songs and stories. It has been a very tough two years but everyone (and I mean everyone) can find a blessing in their lives.
Did you wake up this morning? You are alive! Did you get dressed? You have clothes on your back! Did you eat something? You are fed! Did you thank God, the fates, the goddess for the day?
You are blessed!
Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! May blessings rain on you this year and the coming one!!
Jill James, author of the Mistletoe Valleyseries of holiday books
My favorite part of the holidays are the traditions that make up a family. From the required foods for Thanksgiving to the time you open presents for Christmas. Every choice. Every memory. Tied together in your family history.
One of my favorite family traditions started when I got married. We got a First Christmas Together ornament and after that I knew I wanted one for every year. Some came with the year on them and some years I picked an ornament I liked and wrote the year on there. As one would imagine, after 32 years of marriage we have a lot of “year” ornaments. This year’s is the cute snowman with gummy numbers! I love it.
In my Christmas book this year I wanted to have Laura, who has never celebrated Christmas, discover what traditions do to connect a family at the holidays, all year long, for all time over the years.
Excerpt of Trapped in Christmas
Christmas in Mistletoe Valley had been as close as possible to perfect before when she’d been researching to write her story, looking for something fake and crooked. Looking for the hidden scam of the town. But embracing the spirit brought Laura as close to enjoyment of the holiday as she’d ever been in her life. This must be what children felt when they saw the presents under the tree and knew Santa Claus had found them yet again.
Passing the antiques store on Candy Cane Lane, she spotted a familiar doll in the window. Blonde hair and blue eyes like her own peered back at her. The dolls with the dimpled faces and their own birth certificates had been all the rage when she was little. She’d rejected Christmas, but her dad rewrapped the much-wanted doll in birthday paper that year. Sara Jane had been her prized possession until she’d tired of dolls in her teen years and let her father donate them.
She couldn’t have loved that doll more if she’d requested it from Santa and he’d made her dreams come true. The love was no less knowing her father had bought it and wrapped it for her.
Leaning against the window, Laura sighed. It took so little to make a child happy. A doll. A bike. A racetrack for mini cars. It wasn’t the shopping-mall Santa’s fault he couldn’t promise the return of missing mothers and fathers.
A bell jingled as she pushed the door open. The scent of lemon polish filled the store. And something more. Of wood cared for many years. Of cushions used and loved for generations. Tradition filled the store as if it were something you could smell and see and touch. The new furniture in her apartment lacked that heaviness of years of loving and caring.
“Good morning and welcome to Levin’s. I’m Anya Levin. Let me know if I can help with anything.”
“Thanks. I was looking at the stuff in the front window.”
A smile graced the young woman’s face. “Yes, I saw you. We get lots of window shoppers, but it is such a pleasure to welcome you inside.”
Laura returned the smile. The quaint manner of speaking brought to mind the old country. Maybe Poland or Germany. “You have a wonderful store. I was wondering about the doll in the window. I had one just like it when I was little.”
“Ah, Christmas brings out the kid in all of us, doesn’t it?” Anya walked over to the window and grabbed the doll, bringing it back to the front counter, placing her gently on the surface as if she were made of porcelain instead of vinyl and fabric and stuffing.
Laura’s fingers trembled as she stroked the blonde hair. Someone had lovingly cleaned up the doll’s shining face. The dress was different from the blue one hers had. But it looked just like Sara Jane.
“It’s one of the older ones. It’s hard to find them without damage. This one is in good condition, but some child must have loved it very much. They wrote their name on the bottom by the dollmaker’s signature.”
Anya lifted the doll and pulled its dress up. A sloppily written Laura stood out in bright, red marker ink.
“Other than that, the doll is in good condition.”
Laura pulled off the right shoe and stared at the tiny stitches in khaki thread. The only color her dad had to do simple rips in his police uniform. Those too small to worry about taking to the cleaners for repairs.
She’d been running around their apartment and snagged Sara Jane’s foot on a table corner. She’d cried like her heart was breaking until Dad got his needle and thread and did surgery to ‘save’ the doll’s foot. He’d been her hero that day. One time in a long list of many.
“I’ll take her,” Laura said without thinking twice.
Anya smiled. “I love when a beloved piece finds a new home.”
Laura’s grin grew as she paid four times what her father paid for the doll new. It didn’t matter. She could hear her Dad’s voice in her head from their talk before she’d left for this trip.
“Sometimes life puts us right where we need to be.”
I hope you will discover Mistletoe Valley and the magic it brings to the season!
PrepTober – When you take the month of October to prep for November and Nanowrimo.
Nanowrimo – National Novel Writing Month – Endeavour to write for 30 days and 50,000 words in November.
I’ve done Nano (for short) at least 7 times over the years. I’ve won a few years, got close a few years, and fell off the wagon way short of the end line a few times. If nothing else, I have more words at the end of November than I had at the beginning.
Do you set goals for yourself? Do you meet them? Do you try?
I saw this on a news program this morning. The idea is that people are getting through summer, kids go back to school, and you see the last quarter of the year happening. So you decide to make changes in your life just like for the New Year.
As a writer, I do find myself doing that too. I see what projects are in their final stages and maybe I can finish them before the end of the year. I check which projects I had hoped to finish and see if that is doable.
For the finish of the year, I’m hoping to finish ghost paranormal romance #3 and get going on #4 for that series. If I don’t finish the shapeshifter romance for this year, hopefully it will be the beginning of next year. The Christmas story is done and just needs a cover. The horror story I’m hoping to put up on Kindle Vella is moving along and MAY be up before the end of the year.
What are your plans for the rest of 2021?
Jill James, author of the Ghost Releasers, Inc. series of paranormal ghost romances
Since 1986 (except for last year) Reno, Nevada has hosted Hot August Nights. Classic cars, classic rock and roll, and amazing fun. This year we saw and heard a Boston tribute band, Herman’s Hermits (with Peter Noone), the Beach Boys tribute band, the Bee Gees tribute band, and The Commodores. We had to flip a coin to decide between The Commodores and Chubby Checker. Our house was filled with visitors, but we had fun from morning to night.
Another great part of the week-long event is the vendors. Food, t-shirts, arts & crafts galore. There was soft-serve ice cream with flavor swirls. Butter pecan was the best! I got a beautiful mother-of-pearl bracelet, a Tiger’s eye worry stone, and an old-fashioned plaque of Disneyland. The graphics of the plaque just bring to mind that first trip to The Happiest Place on Earth.
Some of my fondest childhood memories are of Disneyland. When we first moved to California in 1971, we visited Disneyland 7 times that first year!! I remember being so mad because my dad went to Disneyland one time with friends when my brother and I were teenagers and didn’t take us! 😦
Old or young, every day is a day to make new memories!!!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and collecting memories of your own.
Jill James, author of the new release, Ghostly Deceptions, book 2 of the Ghost Releasers, Inc. series.
Most years I’m writing my Christmas book about this time and trying to figure out how to write about snow, holidays, and chilly weather when it is so hot that I’m sticking to my leather office chair. LOL
This year I’m working on other projects because my Christmas book for this year was done in January!!
I worked on Trapped in Christmas during Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) last November. Finished up after Christmas 2020 and edited in January.
The pandemic and quarantine sucked for life and people, but did something for my writing. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, I read and I wrote more than ever before. I’m trying to keep those habits now that we can go and do things and see people. The time locked away in our homes taught me we have all the time in the world, it just matters how you use it.
Jill James, author of Trapped in Christmas, coming Christmas 2021
The days of summer are here. Not officially, but at least weather-wise. Sometimes? Maybe? At least my flowers are blooming. The roses have exploded. The lilacs had their day and now are just green, willowy bushes. The day lilies get better every year. This year the bushes are enormous and the bright, yellow flowers are on long, thin stems. Waving in the most subtle of breezes as if dancing for the season.
I’m a summer girl. I love the hot days and warm nights. I love writing in the summer too. It seems that not much is pressing and there is time to daydream and write. I finished a book during the last Camp Nanowrimo and hope to do the next in July with Camp Nanowrimo.
Do you have a favorite season? What makes it special for you?
Jill James, author of the Ghost Releasers, Inc. series.
Long before I wrote my first romance novel (Passion’s Price) I wrote poetry. I love poetry. The rhythm of the words, the cadence of the verses, the feelings it invokes.
Miniature body almost too small to hold in my hand.
Why are you here?
Did my body not nourish you enough?
Did I exert my body too much?
Did fate or destiny or God bring you too soon?
Why are you here?
Crib still in the box.
Baby shower invitations not even sent.
Toys too heavy, too big for the person you are.
Why are you here?
Wires, gadgets, gizmos connect you to this world.
Machines record every second of life.
A visor hides your eyes as ultraviolet bombards your weak body.
Why are you here?
Do I make arrangements?
Or do I arrange your homecoming?
Do I lose my heart to you?
Or do you take my heart when you leave?
Are you here? To stay?
Jennifer will be 40 years old this year. No signs of the 3 pound preemie she was. And Passion’s Price mentioned above? LOL That manuscript is hidden away in a paper notebook/folder somewhere, never to be seen again. 🙂
Jill James, author of the coming soon, Ghostly Deceptions, Ghost Releasers, Inc. book 2
I’ll be 58 this year. Isn’t 60 the new 40? So that makes me middle-aged. So, how did I get middle-aged kids? The daughter will be 40 at the end of this year. Jennifer was a preemie, born at 30 weeks. She weighed 3 pounds exactly. I’ve never seen anything so tiny in my life. Her fingers couldn’t wrap around one of my fingers. She stayed in the NICU for 7 weeks. We had some rough days with lamps for jaundice and a waterbed and doses of caffeine in her IV to keep her awake so she didn’t fall asleep and forget to breathe. Some rough days for mom as well. I was a very immature 18 years old. Now, she will be 40 years old with an almost 19 year old at home.
The son is 31 years old today. How did my baby get to be a 30-something? Timothy was due on March 26th. On April 1st (notice the date?) I still hadn’t gone into labor so we went miniature golfing to see if some walking and moving would do anything. As we finished, I started having contractions and we got to the hospital. Some tests later, it was just dehydration. LOL Some water and popsicles and they sent me home. I tried to convince them to let me stay and have the baby, but they said no. On April 9th, they decided to induce labor. Tried for a regular birth, but with the cord around his neck, they rushed me into the OR for a C-section. Twelve hours of labor and one operation later, we had our baby boy. 8 pounds, 3 ounces. He was our easy baby. Slept through the night after 3 weeks at home. Did all his milestones ahead of schedule. Didn’t get upset even when sick.
I have a million memories and thousands of pictures of their childhood, but I ask once again. How did I get middle-aged kids?
When you think you can’t stand to look at your book one more time after reading through it a dozen times. When you’ve edited it 82 times and think that is enough.
NO! Edit/read through it one more time.
See, I thought my latest book was edited enough times. I’d done several rounds of editing, had it edited, then read through it several more times. Proofread it. Listened to it with text to speech.
BUT! When I went to format for paperback, I realized I was missing a whole section of a chapter. It went from the character doing A, then other character doing C. Where was B? I couldn’t find it anywhere.
Turns out that Word works a little like Scrivener (another writing program) and you can move chapters and sections around with the Navigation Pane. Who knew? Obviously, not me, or I wouldn’t have lost a whole section.
Thankfully for my sanity, it was easy to move the LOST section back to where it belonged and where it could be seen and I SAVED, SAVED, SAVED.
New lesson: when you think you have read your book enough, do it one more time!!
Authors of Main Street 