As an author, I love when stories weave an unexpected and magical direction. It’s as exhilarating as riding on a runaway sleigh and realizing I’m not in charge. My Christmas Creek series of romances has surprised me in every way.
Initially, I conjured up Christmas Creek as a town where Christmas lives all year round. I was invited to be in a very special boxed set with Mimi Barbour and her Gang of awesome writers. I never dreamed I would be even associated with them, but Mimi is always looking for the unexpected story and serendipity in putting together her sets so she proposed a theme. Let’s write a story around a Christmas carol.
Thus, Love, Christmas: Songs of the Heart [A USA Today Bestseller] was born. Everyone chose their favorite Christmas carol, and I picked Deck the Halls, mainly because it’s public domain, so I get to include the lyrics inside my story. I set out to write a story between a Christmas fanatic named Holly Jolly and a grouchy Grinch named Gordon Gills. My first scene was Holly decorating the old Gills Mansion when Gordon walked in and knocked her off her ladder and catching her when she fell.
Little did I know that magic would come into the picture when Gordon tried to hightail it out of Christmas Creek and caught an “Uber” from the past.
Oh boy! Writers do love magic, because once I created Christmas Creek, I used it for my next story, Her Christmas Chance, which featured a cantankerous Maine coon cat, a woman with cerebral palsy, and an ex-con with a mysterious past. Once again, they meet their fate in the Gills Mansion, only in a different century.
In 2018, Mimi went back to our Love, Christmas idea, and this time proposed a set based on the theme of Christmas movies: Love, Christmas: Movies You Love [Another USA Today Bestseller]. I dipped once again in the well of Christmas Creek and wrote my own rendition of A Christmas Carol where the Ebenezer Scrooge character is played by a frustrated romance writer, Ebony Cruse, wanting to escape Christmas nonsense on her old family farm, on the outskirts of guess where? Christmas Creek.
This year, Mimi proposed a new set of Christmas Shorts, short stories as a snack for Christmas readers. While searching for a cover image that would match my other Christmas Creek stories, I came across this cute and adorable picture of a kitten in the snow. Before I knew it, I wrote not one, but two stories. Kitty, It’s Cold Outside [See my comments on how this book came about] and A Christmas Creek Caper for the boxed set. It’s a short story, and it was a challenge to fit a sweet story that touches all bases into such a short format. [See my comments on how I did it].
I hope you’ll check out all of my Christmas Creek Series as well as the Authors’ Billboard sets, Love, Christmas: Songs of the Heart, Love Christmas: Movies You Love, and Christmas Shorts, 18 brand-spankin’-new and fun stories.
Christmas Creek: Romance and a Tint of Magic
[Sassy] Deck the Hearts Can Holly’s jolly Christmas spirit help Grinchy Gordon Gills save the town of Christmas Creek? Audiobook link.
[Sassy] Her Christmas Chance A woman with cerebral palsy and her tomcat disagree about the attractive ex-con living next door. Will a dose of Christmas magic reach through his dark secrets? Audiobook link.
[Sweet] A Christmas Creek Carol A reclusive writer, Ebony Cruse, is given a one-star review on her life by characters in her past, present, and future. Audiobook link.
[Sweet] Kitty, It’s Cold Outside When mailman Mick Jolly delivers a kitten to an abandoned millhouse, he is ensnared by a mysterious Victorian woman caught in a Christmas curse.
[Sweet] A Christmas Creek Caper Someone’s stealing packages off the Christmas Creek porches. Sheriff Brad Wing is on the case, and he sets a sure-fire trap. Will he catch this cold-hearted person, or will he find something he never imagined?
Rachelle Ayala 