Santa Fascination ~ Jacquolyn McMurray

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated with Santa Claus. As a youngster, I was sure I saw the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh across the sky and heard them as they pranced on our roof. We siblings would spend hours with the Sears Roebuck and J.C. Penny Christmas catalogs to reference the gifts we wanted Santa to bring. 

Annie Spratt on Unsplash

All seven of we kids knew not to ask for extravagant gifts. We weren’t a wealthy family, but our mother managed to make Christmas morning a magical event and selflessly gave the credit to Santa for the multitude of gifts we received.  

The origin of Santa goes back to the 3^rd century in modern-day Turkey where St. Nicholas was known as the patron saint of children. Legend tells us St. Nicholas was born into wealth, but gave it all away. He spent his life helping the poor and sick. Over centuries, and across cultures, St. Nicholas took on many manifestations, but always maintained the persona of kindness and giving.  

Dutch immigrants are credited with introducing St. Nicholas to the United States in 1773 when they gathered on the anniversary of the saint’s death. A more modern version of St. Nicholas was immortalized in 1822 with Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” later known as the iconic “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Through that poem, the magical abilities of Santa and his reindeer were imprinted on our minds.

I’m sure I inherited my love of all things Santa from my mother. One of her favorite movies was Miracle on 34^th Street. I still prefer the 1947 original version featuring the young Natalie Wood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--uyzf7X_0c

It’s no surprise that I collect Santa Clauses. I often buy an ornament when I travel, and friends and family give me Santa themed gifts.  

Each piece in my collection holds a memory, like the ornaments from my sisters--reminders of a shared trip, our love of chocolate, and a Santa bearing gifts. They all make me smile.

                                                                                                                     

                                    

As much as I love all the various pieces in my collection, the Santa that brings back memories of my mom is one of my favorites.

Back in the day when our mother was still living, we four sisters took mom on a road trip from our home town of Tama, Iowa to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. 

We stayed in a bed and breakfast where we staged photo shoots with mom as the star. She was always such a good sport and always up for any activity we proposed. She readily played along with our antics-- the sillier the better.

The Victorian cottage we rented had a pink velvet settee—the perfect prop for our photos. Mom donned a turquoise satin bathrobe and a lampshade for a hat. My sisters fed her grapes as if she were the Queen of Sheba while I snapped photos.  

At the Silver Dollar City amusement park in Branson, Missouri, we pushed mom around in a wheelchair so that she would have the stamina to spend the day in the park. She loved the water rides and the live shows. She clapped her hands to the music and applauded heartily.

I remember she spent quite a long time choosing just the right souvenir. She settled on a wire-wrapped ring. She wore that ring for years after the trip. I hope when she looked at it that it gave her pleasure.

I bought my Father Frost ornament on that trip. And every Christmas when I go through my decorations, I look at Father Frost's kind eyes and rosy cheeks and think of mom and my sisters and give thanks that we had that trip together. 

An author's life~by Joanne Jaytanie

As I previously mentioned in my last post, Never Say Never, I was invited to write in the collection, Christmas at Mistletoe Lodge with nine other incredible authors. We've all pulled together and promoted our collection for the past two months. Our efforts paid off, and the collection quickly made it into the Amazon Best Sellers lists. It’s been a real pleasure working with these women. I’ve learned a great deal from them, and I feel fortunate to have gotten to know each of them. I would join any one of them in future collections.



The Emerald City Writers Conference was held a week ago. Jacquolyn McMurray and I taught our first writers’ workshop. We discussed the pros and cons of writing in a collection. I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to Jacquolyn for learning PowerPoint. It provided us with a great outline and a handout for the attendees.  

I attended Passport 2 Romance, hosted by Greater Seattle Romance Writers. This is my favorite event of the year. The event takes place in a hotel ballroom, and the line of readers waiting to get into Passport 2 Romance grows each year. What makes this event special is that authors are not allowed to sell. Everything we bring is to be given away. It puts everyone at ease and enables authors to chat with the attendees. 

The authors of the Christmas collection put together a huge basket and we raffled it off. The winner of the basket told me it weighed 31 pounds! 










This past Saturday, I attended my second book signing at the Kitsap Mall for National Book Month. It’s a nice feeling to meet local people and to chat with author friends that I haven’t seen much of lately. 

Best of all, I was thrilled and honored to be awarded the winner of The Emerald City-Greater Seattle RWA Best Blurb Contest for Published work with Salvaging Truth, Hunters & Seekers, Book 1.

The life of an author isn't just about writing. It's about networking, building friendships, learning, and giving back to the community. It's about celebrating our colleague’s wins and comforting a friend when they need extra support. Yes, writing is a solitary occupation, but it is also a community, and the friendships you build along the way are priceless.

To read my past blogs and to find out about my books go to my personal page.

Until next time…

Joanne

AUTHORS RISE TO UNIQUE CHALLENGE! by Kim Hornsby

If I asked you to write a story that has a Christmas Romance and includes a fictitious Mistletoe Lodge anywhere in the world, what would you imagine your story to be?

There are millions of possibilities! 

I asked a bunch of author friends to join me on this never-done-before journey to write a new book for a Christmas Box set and nine of them said “YES!” We decided sometime in August to all write in a Mistletoe Lodge to our book, each one unique and special in it’s magic of the holiday season. Originally, we thought about each story having the same Lodge in the same location but that just seemed impossible to pull off in two months so decided instead to all use the idea of a Lodge at Christmas time with a wonderful Romance story. The challenge to write a book in two months began.

With ten stories of love under the mistletoe, kisses by the Christmas tree, cookie baking and walks in new fallen snow, the book set is sure to warm your hearts. (Unless Ba Humbug is how you view Christmas.)

I love Christmas and it’s a good thing because I write Christmas Romances year-round. One of my Christmas books/screenplay is going to Hallmark this week to be approved as a movie for next year! I can’t announce much yet but it’s looking very good for Christmas in Crystal Creek.

For additional information about Christmas at Mistletoe Lodge visit Kim's Page.

Never Say Never ~ by Joanne Jaytanie

I've been crazy busy the last two months, and I veered off my writing schedule for the year. But, I didn’t do so lightly. I weighed the pros and cons and thought it was well worth the left turn. One could even say that I didn’t take a sharp turn, rather a slight bend. 

I was invited to take part in a Christmas collection with a fantastic group of authors. And, if you look closely at my very professional list and read #7, it says Christmas book 3. 

For the last two years, I've wanted to do another Christmas story, but I never made the time. It worked out that the theme of our Christmas collection: Christmas at Mistletoe Lodge couldn’t have been a better fit for Forever Christmas in Glenville, book three, Christmas Chemistry.

The cover turned out perfect. It always does when Linda Boulanger designs it. The special part is the Doberman. It's my beautiful girl, Maya. I still remember the day I took this photo, she was chasing snowballs. It was a perfect moment.

I was nervous that I wouldn’t make the deadline – two deadlines on the same day, but I made them. I stuck to my writing schedule, and more importantly, I have an editor that is always there and willing to take on my next project. I took care of my new puppy – Mazie, just in case you haven’t heard 😉 and made dinner. Everything else took a backseat, and I made my deadlines!! 

A few weeks before being invited into the Christmas collection, I committed to a different type of story with the authors of Romance Books 4 Us. Each author in the book is writing their own serial or episodic story for Soldiers of Fortune or SOF. Volume 3 of SOF releases on October 15th, and it's the part 2 of my story, Dogs of Fortune.

I hadn’t included dogs in either of my last two books, Salvaging Truth or Twice As Bad. I think I was having withdrawals. Christmas Chemistry is Gina's story, and she's been in love with Dobermans since the day she started working at Forever Christmas, in Christmas Reflections, book 1. So, along comes Angel and the two are nearly inseparable. And Dogs of Fortune – well, doesn’t the title tell it all? It has dogs! Blair Sellick is a well-known dog trainer with exceptional skills. Some, like Zane Kelly, might even call her psychically enhanced.

So, if you haven’t seen me around the watercooler (otherwise known as FaceBook) much lately, now you know why. I've been WRITING. I love it, I do. I certainly wouldn't want to try and keep up this pace for an entire year.

This is the first time in over two years that I've written in a collection with other authors. I'd said that I wouldn't do multiple-author collections again because they pull me away from my writing goals. I have my reasons for the choice to do so this time…What were they? If you want to know the answer to that question, you must attend the workshop I’m co-teaching with my dear friend, Jacquolyn McMurray, this Friday at the Emerald City Writers Conference or ECWC. What’s the workshop? Participating in a Collection: Pros and Cons. We chose this topic back in February, and I already had my year planned out, or so I thought.

Kinda ironic, wouldn't you say? Yep, that's my life.

I'm beyond thrilled and honored to be a finalist in the ECWC Best Blurb Contest! Thank you, judges!

For more information on my new and upcoming releases, or the ECWC you can visit my personal page.

Until next time…

Joanne