It’s finally DECEMBER, you guys!

December 1, 2020December 4, 2020 Jaycee

And boy, what a month it’s going to be. I’ve got a ton of bookish things on my calendar that I want to share with you, and I hope you’ll stop by and participate in some of them! Especially because most of the news I’m sharing involves tons of giveaways for books and Amazon gift cards (and who doesn’t want all that this time of year?)!

If you aren’t already subscribed, I highly recommend joining my email newsletter. Not only will you receive a free book, it’s the best way to get the latest updates. I try to only email 1-2x a month and make it worthwhile and not overly salesy. Yeah, I know, that’s not really a word (though it definitely IS a feeling, am I right?).

Okay, so here you go, with links and all, come join the fun:

December 1 — Becoming Us release day! It’s available NOW in paperback AND eBook, and is FREE to read via Kindle Unlimited. This collaboration with Jenn Faulk is one of my favorite projects of my writing career so far! We’d greatly appreciate your reviews when you’re finished (your honest reviews, however simple, are essential!).

December 2 — I’m blogging over on Inspy Romance! I’ve crafted a post FILLED with excellent reading options to last you the whole month long, and I’ll be choosing one lucky winner from the comments to receive a copy of Love, Laughter, and Luminarias!

December 1-24 — The Bookish Advent Giveaway by Chautona Havig features 24 days of book giveaways from Christian authors (including ME!) PLUS a $350 Amazon gift card grand prize! Check daily on Instagram, IGTV, Facebook, and HERE to enter.

December 1-31 — A HUGE Christian eBook giveaway happening over here all month long. Discover some great new-to-you Christian authors and get free books, including my newsletter exclusive, Just Say Yes, plus a chance to win a $30 gift card to the eBook retailer of your choice.

December 7-12 — I’ve teamed up with Celebrate Lit for their 2nd Annual Merry Christmas Readers event. Enter for your chance to win 45+ books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books yourself! The link to enter is HERE, but it won’t be active until the 7th, so check back then.

December 6-12 — Hallee Bridgeman is hosting her annual Christmas blog scavenger hunt! With 35+ authors participating, we’ll be awarding $350 Amazon gift card for first place, $250 Amazon card for second, and $150 Amazon card for third. The fun begins Sunday the 6th, and all scavenger hunt answers can be found using Amazon’s “Look inside” feature! START HERE on the 6th and follow the links at the bottom to enter and then visit the next post for their clue.

December 7-20 — Something Borrowed goes on tour with the amazing bloggers at Celebrate Lit! This super fun collection will make nearly 30 stops with spotlights and reviews, and for readers, a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card, a set of 4 jewel pens, and a custom designed box of assorted chocolates from Chocglitz and Cream!

December 22 — I’ll be sharing the story-behind-the-story on Love, Laughter, and Luminarias over on Alexis Goring’s Romantic Reads blog and giving away a copy to one lucky recipient! Also, did you see that I FINALLY got this one put into paperback? Yay!

Okay, that’s it. (Whew!) I’m tired already and the fun is just beginning today. But praise the Lord, His mercies are new every morning and He is faithful to sustain me through the season. He’s faithful to sustain YOU, too, if you only turn to Him and ask!

As you enjoy all the blessings (and probably a few hardships) of this holiday season, I pray you will find love, joy, and peace in abundance. I pray you and yours will find grace and mercy when you need it most and expect it least. I pray you will remember the Greatest Gift, that of our Savior Jesus Christ, who loves you infinitely more than you can imagine.

Be blessed and happy reading!

Sharing local holiday traditions in fiction + giveaway

December 10, 2019 Jaycee Weaver30 Comments

Culture is fascinating, isn’t it? I think a big part of what I love about reading is how we can travel anywhere in the world just by picking up a book. And at each stop in our travels, we learn something new and interesting about the culture, the people, or traditions of a place.

I especially love reading Christmas stories. It’s so fun to explore world traditions while also reading about new love or friends discovering new feelings. Some days it’s nice to be immersed in a stereotypical small-town white Christmas story with the vintage red truck and a flannel-wearing hero and his neatly trimmed beard while our big-city heroine rethinks her executive boyfriend and decides to stay and help save the local food pantry. But other days, nothing will do but an escape to some unexplored-but-real locale. An adventure with an unconventional hero and heroine someplace we’ve never been.

Being a lifelong reader and virtual world traveler is probably why I enjoy describing local traditions in my own books so much. As much as I love discovering new places, I treasure my role as virtual tour-guide to my beloved home, Albuquerque, New Mexico. New Mexico is a culturally rich environment with a ton of traditions all year through, especially at Christmas.

So far, I’ve written three Christmas novellas, one standalone and two as part of collections. In each, it’s been my pleasure to share such special holiday events as the Old Town stroll and the River of Lights. The Christmas table is often filled with authentic New Mexican dishes such as enchiladas, posole, tamales, and biscochitos. There’s a Twinkle Light parade and a tumbleweed snowman that stands tall by the freeway every year. Other cities have their own special traditions and tourist lures, but none as dear to my heart as the lighting of luminarias on Christmas Eve.

Statewide through the month of December, horizontal surfaces everywhere are covered in lanterns made from plain paper bags filled with sand and a single candle. Rooftops, the tops of walls, along sidewalks, all over. Then on Christmas Eve, the candles are lit and a vigil begins. I could wax poetic on the magic and wonder of our luminaria tours for another five hundred words or more. Instead, I’ll leave you with a few pictures and an invitation to come visit New Mexico in my Christmas stories, where you can visualize the wonder and beauty I see and enjoy with my family every year.

And if you live or have visited somewhere enchanting for the holidays, I’d love to read about it in the comments below! Even if the visit happened literarily, tell me about it! I’ll draw two names from the comments randomly for a copy of Love, Laughter, and Luminarias.

Be blessed wherever you spend this holiday season. May the Lord bless you and keep you, and may your own traditions increase the hope and joy of the season for you and the ones you love!

books · inspirational · Uncategorized

Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is coming, but it’s never too early for CHRISTMAS!

November 1, 2018 Jaycee

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!