Okay, so maybe it is a little early for Christmas. But in the wild world of publishing, it’s never too early to release a Christmas book. So…my newest book baby is born today, Love, Laughter, and Luminarias. You can find out what it’s about in the link.

What I’d like to share today is what a stinkin’ little miracle this book is for me as a writer.

I’d been working on a different holiday story and it just wasn’t going where I wanted it to. I was stuck. And by stuck, I mean, I hated the leading lady, hated how I couldn’t move the story forward, and I seriously considered my first three books an utter fluke because I must be a two-bit hack to write myself into a corner I couldn’t find a way out of. So where did I turn? Naturally, to prayer.

Which led me to reason 8,974,301 why I know God loves me. On my way to a dinner with two girlfriends from church, I was praying HARD for direction, and then…after three weeks of zero words, BAM. I had a fully outlined first chapter and character sketch for Garrett, my hero. After we said our goodbyes earlier than usual, I decided to hit up Starbucks, knowing they’d be open at least another hour. By the time I left, I had the first chapter WRITTEN, a full sketch for Nina, my heroine, AND a clear answer from the Lord. Not even kidding you, in the car on the way home I clearly heard His pressing that if I would fast from reading for the next week, then He would give me this story faster than I’ve written anything, ever. (Do you even understand how HARD that was to process?! If you’re an avid reader, you get it.) But when Jesus tells you to do something, it’s smart to snap to it and get with the program.

I survived.

And I wrote this 24k word novella in two weeks. TWO. WEEKS. Never have I done anything like that before.

And now, as I gear up for NaNoWriMo (just Google it), I feel a little more confident that I can win that, too. Which might just mean all of you who’ve been waiting on Caleb’s story, AKA the third Everyday Love book, you might just get it into your hands before next spring after all! Yee haw!

And if you love books AND giveaways, well LitRing is offering up this one, which LL&L is happily featured in! It’s only available in eBook format right now, but if you don’t have a kindle, don’t worry! Amazon offers a free app for all tablet and mobile devices! And this book is only 99¢. So go get it!

Merry ThanksChristmasGiving season!

Jaycee