Please join me in celebrating the release of two new “home-based” sets of Christmas novels for this holiday season!
~Both sets are available for a limited time only.~
Even though we’ve all spent more time than usual at home over the past couple of years, we still long for the comforts of home, family, and friends during the holidays. These collections of Christian Christmas novels bring “home” the spirit of the season. Let’s get to know some of the authors and find out how we were inspired to write our stories.
Home for Christmas: The Christmas Lights Collection
Today, we’re meeting Chautona Havig, author of The Stars of New Cheltenham, and finding out her inspiration for writing this book. Take it away, Chautona!
When the Christmas Lights Collection authors and I decided to write with a military theme this year, I knew I wanted to work with a recruiter. There was just one problem. That isn’t enough of a plot. “Marine recruiter.” Oh, how riveting!
I came up with quite a few ideas and settled on one that was a bit complicated, but it would be a great story. So, it might go over word count a bit. Oh, well. Then I ran across an idea I’d had a few years ago—one guy taking a woman around the Rockland area, showing her places that made him think of her favorite books. Talk about the ultimate sweet date, right?
But what if he did it to show her why her little brother wanted to serve in the U.S. military? What would that mean? How would he make it work, or could he? If I’m truthful, I’ll admit I didn’t even know, but I had to try.
The time came to pick my characters’ names, and all I knew was that I wanted the siblings to have slightly unusual names—just nothing hard to spell or pronounce. Off I went to my readers, and they came up with so many great names. This was right after the loss of our Marines in Afghanistan, and one reader suggested using one of their names. That was all I needed. My daughter helped me pick out the first name, Maxton, and the surname for the siblings. McCollum. Perfect.
The most fun I had, however, was trying to figure out how a recruiter would handle things. I just didn’t know some things, so in walked Liz Tolsma’s son with so much help. A long phone call and a few texts later, I had my recruiter. Now all I needed was for them to fall in love. At Christmas.
What could be more wonderful?
Visit Chautona at her website:
Find HOME FOR CHRISTMAS here:
While you’re in the mood for reading (and shopping), find HOMETOWN CHRISTMAS DREAMS here:
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