How I Started Writing a Christmas Novel by Dora Bramden

It all began when I decided to participate in a Melbourne Romance Writers Guild online writing challenge. The first consideration was, what can I realistically commit to? I hadn’t written any new words for a long time because I’d been reworking a book I wrote earlier. To fire up my creative spark, I needed the excitement of a fresh story. Also, I craved trying to write something unlike anything I had ever done before.

What would give me joy? What would be a pleasure to immerse myself in? Christmas in July came to mind. I love Christmas shops, the ones that are stuffed full with happiness decor. Elves and Santas, fairies and angels, nativity scenes and forest animals, I love them all. Anyone who knows me can tell you how much I love Christmas decorating. I have posts about it on my blog: Dora’s Romantic Lifestyle.

It wasn’t long after I started imagining a cute Christmas shop that Samantha Bell, the shop’s owner, made her appearance behind a counter tucked into a corner. She turned and looked at a staircase that led to a mezzanine area full of boxes crammed to the ancient oak beams. Then she looked out the shop’s front glass door. The street outside was in an English village that was paved in brick and lined with  Tudor style shops. I have my heroine and the setting. I have the beginnings of a Christmas novel.

Samantha Bell has been struggling to keep up Jingle Bells, her father’s Christmas shop, since he passed away five years ago. I wondered, in author style, what is the worst thing that could happen to her? I imagined her arriving at the shop one morning, coffee in hand, ready to open up and start her day. It’s the first of October and the official start to her Christmas season. New stock will start arriving today, and the town’s people will be calling in to see the new displays she’s setting up.

But someone has put a piece of paper on the front door with a big red X on it. On closer inspection, the fine print declares that her building has been condemned. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Jingle Bells. Her life, as she’d always known it, would be finished too. How would she provide for herself without the shop?

Samantha heads straight to the council offices to sort out what must be a terrible mistake. It’s here she meets Nicholas Grant, the super organized and efficient manager of the building department. He excels in administering the department codes. Following the guidelines suits him perfectly. Oh, and he doesn’t do birthdays, anniversaries or Christmas. He spends those days with his model railway, which he’s very proud of.

But there’s something about blond curls and red cheeks and tears in blue eyes that make Nicholas look a little closer into Miss Bell’s situation. It seems a fire report has been the cause, strange that it hadn’t been flagged until now. Then he remembers how her father, always came to the orphanage where Nicholas lived for six years, dressed up as Santa Clause to give presents to the orphans. Miss Bell had accompanied him, dressed as an elf. She was all grown up now at five feet tall, but she still has blue eyes, bouncing blond curls, and red cheeks.

Before Nicholas knows it he’s up to his armpits in helping Miss Bell to unravel the council’s building codes that apply to her shop

I have an idea where the story will go from here, and I’ve been uncovering a lot of this lovely couple’s back-story. I’m enjoying my time in the Christmas shop world of Samantha and Nicholas and I’m getting to know the villagers who are their friends and supporters.

I hope to have it finished and ready to release in time for this Christmas, but it could end up being a Christmas in July story for next year. I plan on including that kind of information in my newsletter that I'll have up and running soon so if you'd like to be on the list, email me at dora@dorabramden.com and I'll pop you on it.

 

Don’t forget to check out my Christmas decor posts on my blog. Just follow the link below and choose the Christmas Category to see them all.

Dora Bramden writes heart-melting, passionate, romance.

http://www.dorabramden.com

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Dora’s Romantic Life Blog

 

Christmas Memories

 Baking Up a New Batch of Christmas Memories

By Alexis Morgan

I think for most of us, all it takes is one breath of the rich scent of cloves, cinnamon, and ginger to put us all in the spirit of the holidays. I know for certain that if I failed to bake my family's three favorite types of cookies, I'd never hear the end of it. Our celebration just wouldn't be the same without cream cheese spritz cookies, no-bake peanut butter and chocolate cookies, and Russian teacakes. As we eat them, they always evoke memories of Christmases past even while we build new memories together.

Of those cookies, it's the cream cheese spritz that means the most to me because my mom and I used to make them together, starting back when I was a little girl. Every time I get down my old-fashioned Mirro Cookie Press and start cranking out those cookies, I think of her.

I think that's why when it came time to write a novella set during the Christmas season, I knew immediately that I wanted to center the story around Something's Brewing, the new coffee shop and bakery in my fictional town of SnowberryCreek.

For Bridey Roke, the owner of the shop, this will be her first Christmas back in her hometown. She's been experimenting with new recipes that she hopes to feature over the holidays. Her attempts to perfect her gingerbread cupcakes and pumpkin spice lattes perfume the air in her shop. It's no wonder that her customers tend to linger a little longer at this special time of year. And if she's especially happy to see a certain handsome man spending a lot of his free time in her shop, well, that's her secret.

Coming January 2014

Seth Kyser has his own reasons for staking out his own corner in Something's Brewing. A sculptor by trade, he has hit a dry spell in his career and moved to Snowberry Creek in the hope of finding renewed passion for his art in the beauty of the Cascade Foothills. To his surprise, his inspiration for making this an extra special Christmas has nothing to do with the mountains and everything to do with Bridey. Together they learn that love is the best gift of all.

I'd love to hear about what types of pastries and cookies are part of your family's traditions. You know the kind I mean—the ones where a single taste reminds you of all the people in your life that you love.

Alexis