Dreaming of Sun and Sand…OR…Silently Falling Snowflakes? … by Delsora Lowe

What a choice!

It’s July. And everyone who knows me, knows I love Hallmark and especially Christmas in July, where they run holiday movies all day long. Okay – full confession. By the time I get to the third week of July, I am pretty numb and holidayed-out. However, I still love to read holiday books while sunning by the ocean. And…I love writing holiday books.

As an author who has written three Christmas-themed romances and one that is Valentine-themed, when do I usually do most of that writing? You got it, during the warmer weather of spring and summer.

And many times, when I am working on books that take place in warmer weather, that writing takes place as the weather-gods open up the skies to that cold, white stuff.

The hero and heroine in Come Dance With Me, an interracial, intercultural story about a uptight high school English teacher who has trouble opening up to anything, much less love, are both based on actors I have seen on Hallmark.

As I wrote the hero, I had in mind an actor I saw on “Christmas in Homestead,” a Hallmark movie. Aaron also reminded me of a guy on whom I had a major crush in high school. I watched Aaron “Quick” Nelson when he played the role of a bodyguard to a well-known actress. His role was so sweet as he interacted with the innkeeper hero’s young daughter who loved the movies made by the actress. Plus, in real life Mr. Nelson is a New Englander, so…what’s not to like. I envisioned the actress being Autumn Reeser, a well-known Hallmark staple. And I searched high and low for the perfect cover photo of how I envisioned what these two characters might look like, as I wrote the story.

But I digress…

To address the question about whether I like snow better than sand, or vice versa is a tough question. I can be gazing at a blizzard outside my window and writing a hot, summer scene. That stream of fluffy and frozen, white stuff brightens the sky in its own way. The day is beautiful, cocooning, and comfortable, especially when I know I can stay inside with a cup of hot cocoa, and write, write, write. With a bit of a shiver, I imagine a cozy comforter, snuggled on the couch in front of a roaring fire.

As a writer, it is good to have an imagination, since I do not have a fireplace or a woodstove, so instead I have to crank the heat up and know I’ll be using more fuel to stay warm. I also know that were I to succumb to cuddling on the couch with a comforter wrapped around me, I’d doze off and not get any writing work done. Instead, I crank up the electric heater by my desk and crank up the fire under the kettle, and imagine myself in that sunny clime, as I finish tapping out a romantic, engagement, beach scene that could bring my beach-wandering couple to their inevitable happily-ever-after.

The warmth of the radiator takes my imagination away to a pristine white sand beach, sailboats, and the aqua blue ocean or bay gently lapping against the shore. A couple strolls, hand-in-hand. When the sun becomes too much, they run into the bathtub-warm water, splash around, and cool down before they continue their leisurely walk, picking up beautiful shells as they go.

And occasionally, they stop to turn toward one another for a sun-drenched kiss. And maybe, just maybe, the hero, pulls from his swim trunks pocket a shiny, glittering gemstone, attached to a ring. He slips to his knees in the packed sand and proposes. Okay, since I just had the hero taking a dip in the ocean, I better add that his swimsuit’s inside pocket has a zipper, so that precious engagement ring doesn’t float down and get buried in the murky depths of sea and sand. That would be a total downer for the couple. Or…it could create some tension in a scene that is supposed to be sweet. Hmmm…ideas percolate

See what happens when I crank the heat and imagine, in the middle of winter, sand and sky-blue water and dining outdoors and moored boats? 

The downside of being a fiction writer, the imagination can run wild at any given time. So, picking a snowy day snuggled by the fire, over a breezy, sunny day at the ocean…well, for me, it depends on the mood of the story I am writing, and not the actual season flashing its attributes outside my window. Because in the winter I dream of sand. And in the summer, I dream of sipping hot cocoa by a fire.

Do you have a favorite season?
Do you prefer snow over sand, or vice versa?

 

Amazon

The Inn on Gooseneck Lane - Kindle edition by Lowe, Delsora. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

                       Barnes & Noble

                         The Inn on Gooseneck Lane by Delsora Lowe | NOOK Book (eBook) | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

                    Apple Books

                 TheInn on Gooseneck Lane on Apple Books

Amazon

HolidayHitchhiker: A Sweet, Heartwarming Holiday Romance: Christmas in Angels Glen -Kindle edition by Lowe, Delsora. Contemporary Romance Kindle eBooks @Amazon.com

Books2Read

https://books2read.com/u/mez9AE

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Come-Dance-Me-Serenity-Starlight-ebook/dp/B074N95RGK/

Books2Read

books2read.com/u/bMrQva

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. Her newest novella is The Love Left Behind. Look for both a Christmas novel (The Inn at Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker) later this fall.

 

Social Media Links:
Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor/community/
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe
Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/

Christmas Favorites by Eleri Grace

 Though it seems impossible it can be that time of year again already, the calendar -- if not the weather here in Houston -- says we are indeed entering the festive season. 

Once again, I find myself a bit stumped by the prompt to share a favorite holiday story. With so much of the classic Christmas tunes we still sing today having been originally recorded in the WW2 era, there are surprisingly no true classic Christmas novels set in that same era. One would think that the times that gave us perennial favorites such as "White Christmas," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "The Christmas Song," and "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" would have yielded more novels. If *you* have a favorite Christmas story set in my beloved WW2 era, please do share in the comments!  

Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd, set in 1939, is close, though I think most of us are far more familiar with the 1983 movie than with the original novel. 

So in light of my inability once again to come up with a good recommendation set in my favorite era, this year I will share my favorite novels centered around the season when Charles Dickens penned what many regard as the best Christmas story of all time, "A Christmas Carol." 

In "A Midnight Carol," author Patricia Davis reimagines a financially-strapped Dickens in the fall of 1843, determined to write something "commercial" that will simultaneously save his growing family from ruin and reawaken the festive Christmas seasons of years gone by. It's a short, lively little novel that one can easily read in single sitting, perhaps while snuggled under a fuzzy Christmas blanket. 

Interweaving history and biography with a bit of mystery and a sprinkle of comedic relief, Davis does a masterful job of putting the reader in Victorian London. I always appreciate Davis's atmospheric touches, along with the closer look at the various motivations driving Dickens to create this beloved masterpiece. Readers will cheer for Dickens as he evades the trap his greedy publishers have set and reinvests his beloved London with festive cheer, hope, and Christmas spirit. 

While searching for the title of "Midnight Carol," which I re-read most every year, I came across this recently published novel centered around the same theme and can't wait to devour it this December. The reviews are glowing, and were it not for the balmy temperatures and sunny skies of November in Texas, I would be tempted to curl up with it in advance of the proper season! 

You can learn more about me on my website and connect with me through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. My Clubmobile Girls novels are available on Amazon. 

A Christmas Story by Eleri Grace

I have a more contemporary holiday reading recommendation to share, but I wanted to start with a choice set closer to the time period in which I write (WW2). All these years that I’ve enjoyed watching this classic movie during the holiday season I had mentally dated its setting as post-WW2. I always assumed it was set during the ten years immediately after the war (1945-55). Wrong. While looking through my Christmas books for something to share with our readers, I came across the small book version of “A Christmas Story.”

 

The jacket copy mentioned that it was set in the Great Depression years. Online research reveals that a calendar seen in the film sets it during 1939, but the decoder pen that Ralph receives from the radio show is a 1940 model. In any case, clearly it’s set just prior to the American entry into the war.

 

The book is a collection of the humorous sketches that Jean Shepherd published in the 1960s that were the foundation for the screenplay. I also had never realized that Shepherd narrated the movie as the adult Ralph.

 

For an era that inspired some of our most beloved secular Christmas tunes and provides the setting for classic films such as “It’s a Wonderful Life,” I had trouble locating any holiday novels set during that time period. This is obviously a gap I should endeavor to fill with some Christmas love stories set in the war year! 

 

For a more contemporary holiday read, I absolutely adored Josie Silver’s “One Day in December” from a few years ago and would happily read it again this season. 

 

In the opening scene, the down-on-her-luck but plucky heroine spots a handsome boy and experiences a jarring “love at first sight” sensation just as her bus pulls away. Weeks later, she reconnects with the boy from the bus when he is introduced at a Christmas party as her best friend’s new boyfriend. Over the next ten years, Laurie and Jack’s relationship takes surprising twists and turns before delivering a heartwarming and sing-it-from-the-rooftops happy Christmas-time ending. Silver brilliantly draws from the very best romantic-comedy classics – if you enjoy “When Harry Meets Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” you’ll hear subtle echoes of the tropes they use, albeit sprinkled with Silver’s own special touch. 

 

 

 

You can learn more about me on my website and connect with me through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. My WW2 romances are available through Amazon.