One thing I've noticed is that certain themes keep surfacing. One is that I write a lot about family. My parents died young and I miss them. My little sister died young too, and I really miss her. We were eight years apart in age but close in sisterhood. We spent most Christmases together the last decade of her life.
I also write about heroines and their grandmothers. I was brought up in a three-generation family, with my maternal grandmother living with us for huge swathes of time while my grandfather was in and out of the nearby veterans' hospital. My grandfather was old and rather remote, but my grandmother was very much involved in our lives. And she was a character and a half. I use a bit of her and her various sisters and friends every time I write an older woman. You can purchase it here.
You can also pick up the other stories (all of them bite-sized and available on Kindle Unlimited for your reading enjoyment).
A Cozy Christmas Night
Preorder here.
This is one of two divorced couples/second chance love romances on offer this Christmas. The other is Merry Christmas, Darling, which is one of my Silver Birch stories.
You can preorder that here.
Probably one of my favorite stories on preorder is Gifts for Christmas, which is a love story, but it's also about a distressed community coming together and providing a lovely winter holiday for all its citizens. This is a story that was first inspired by the loaves and fishes, but also by the children's book Stone Soup. I first learned about that book becuase it was one of the books featured on Captain Kangaroo. I've remembered it all these years.
Both my grandmothers were award-winning bakers and fine cooks, and during the holidays, they set bountiful tables. I've akways been grateful for that bounty, and as I've gotten older, I have become well aware that too many people are hungry. There are all kinds of giveaways for the holidays, and people are usually generous with their donations to food banks around the season, but people are hungry all year long. I'm lucky in that there's a tiny food pantry near me, so donating is easy. But when I have extra money, I also like to support the work of Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen.
