The Very Merry Christmas bundle is now available! This bundle contains twenty stories of Christmas cheer, and is curated by the ever-festive Rebecca M. Senese. Rebecca is also the curator of the Out of This World bundle, which contains my short story The Cat’s Meow.
We’ve finally had a tiny bit of cold weather here in Colorado, and even got some snow the other day, so between that and the bundle I’m starting to feel ready for the holidays! Yes, it was 70 degrees today, but still. 🙂
I really enjoyed writing my short story “The Least Merry Elf” for this bundle. Yes, it was a bit of a challenge to write a Christmas story in September and October, but it was a lot of fun being able to play with so many of the holiday tropes. It’s not often that I start laughing while I’m writing!
Jolper used to like working at Santa’s Workshop with the other elves, but over time he became frustrated with the lack of efficiency and the tedium of making the same toys over and over and over
He’s tired of his job, annoyed at being forced to wear red and green all year long, and frustrated at having to continually fend off the co-worker who’s decided Jolper is perfect marriage material.
One night he goes for a walk wearing a pair of boots that he, in a moment of anger, cut the jingle bells off of. He runs into a young woman who’s reading a book about the history of Christmas – a history Jolper has never heard of before.
The deadline for the Haunted bundle is only a few weeks away, so I spent some time this morning looking at artwork for that story’s cover, and I’ll work on the manuscript this week. This story is titled “The Scent of Roses.” I wrote the original version for WMG Publishing’s anthology workshop, which I attended last winter. Even though this bundle won’t be available until February, there’s a Facebook page where I’m posting articles about ghosts and hauntings. 🙂
I realized the other day that in 2017 I’ve committed to participating in six bundles and have been invited to submit stories to two anthologies, so that’s a total of eight stories I need to finish – or start and finish! – between now and mid-October next year. And, of course, there’s the almost-done novel, a non-fiction book, a new novel series, and probably a novelette or novella or two or three. I’m happy, excited, and have no idea where all this writing time will come from…but I’ll find it! 🙂 This is going to be a super fun year!!!
