Inspy Romance

Inspy Romance—Fall in Love With a Good Book

A Season for Writing

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I’m a planner. No, I’m a super planner. I love planning things almost as much as I love doing the actual things. I can spend a year planning a family vacation.

Imagine how unprepared I was for the curveballs of this year. I had big plans in my personal life and for my books. I plan my writing schedule about a year in advance. I write one book at a time, but I think and build those upcoming stories for months before I sit down to write the first word.

I had to learn to adapt and fast! Thankfully, I settled into the new normal without many hiccups, and it put me ahead in my writing schedule.

That’s how I ended up writing a Christmas romance in the sweltering Alabama summer. It was ridiculous and fun. My first Christmas romance, Rescued by the Hero, released in early October, but I wrote it in the wrong season.

I had to do a major mindset shift. The view outside my office window was green grass and blue skies, but I was writing about the snowy Rocky Mountains in December.

To fool my writing mind into thinking I knew what it felt like to step outside the mountain lodge into the frigid snow, I focused on my favorite time of the year—Christmas.

I didn’t go as far as to put out the holiday decorations, but I thought about all the wonderful things I love about the Christmas season. Gingerbread houses, trimming the tree, wrapping gifts, and singing carols. I can’t say I was excited about all things white and fluffy. I’m not a fan of snow, and thankfully, Christmas in my part of the world is rarely snowy.

I thought about our Christmas traditions. My husband always reads the story of Christ’s birth to our family on Christmas Eve. My daughter and I decorate gingerbread houses all throughout the month of December. We attend a candlelight service at church. We play a loose (yet competitive) game of dirty Santa with my husband’s family. There are so many things I love about the celebration of Christ and Christmas.

So, when I wrote Rescued by the Hero while watching my daughter run through the sprinklers in the front yard, I gave the main character, Aiden, a special family tradition. Aiden’s parents used to dance to Christmas carols while decorating for the holiday and opening presents on Christmas morning. When his dad died, Aiden danced with his mother at Christmas.

Don’t we all grow a little closer to each other and draw nearer to Christ in the season when we celebrate Him? I think dancing is a perfect illustration of the season where our hearts are focused on Him and the wonderful gift He gave us.

I believe the popularity of Christmas novels and movies is due to the hope and promise found in the celebration of Christ. Who wouldn’t want to shout about the gift He gave us every day of the year?

If you’re still looking for a Christmas story to warm your heart this year, you can check out the Heroes of Freedom Ridge series. It’s six Christian romances set in the fictional town of Freedom, Colorado.

I’ll be giving away an ebook copy of the first book in the Heroes of Freedom Ridge series, Rescued by the Hero. To enter, I would love it if you would share your favorite Christmas novel in the comments. A winner will be chosen on Monday, December 21, 2020.

Mandi Blake (18 Posts)

Mandi Blake was born and raised in Alabama where she lives with her husband and daughter, but her southern heart loves to travel. Reading has been her favorite hobby for as long as she can remember, but writing is her passion. She loves a good happily ever after in her sweet Christian romance books, and loves to see her characters' relationships grow closer to God and each other.


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Comments

  1. I have two favorites. The Christmas Box Collection by Richard Paul Evans and The Christmas Train by David Baldacci. I always look forward to reading Richard Paul Evan’s new Christmas book each year!

  2. Greetings from cold and Christmassy north Alabama.

    I love planning, except vacations which is my husband’s joy. Lists, lists, lists!

    Merry Christmas, IR. I miss y’all.

  3. It’s hard to pick an absolute favorite but my favorite this year so far has been The Amish Christmas Secret by Vannetta Chapman.

    I am definitely going to check out the Heroes of Freedom Ridge series!

  4. Christmas Present and Christmas Lost by Laurel Hawkes. Christmas Wishes by Barbara Metzger, which is a Regency romance and one of the funniest I’ve read; I read it every year. I’d added the Heroes of Freedom Ridge series to my Wish List. :)

    • Those all sound good. I mostly read contemporary books, but every once in a while I get the urge to read a historical novel. I’m always surprised how much I love them. It’s like a treat I never expected.

  5. I really don’t have a favorite Christmas book. I did love Rescued by the Hero, and the two or three other books in the series that I read! I *think* I have all of them now!! Though, nothing can top the True Christmas story as found in Luke!!

  7. I have such a hard time choosing favorites! Once Christmas book that I have re-read ever since I first got it is Michelle Griep’s A Tale of Two Hearts. It’s in the time of Dickens, but it’s a fake relationship romance, one of my favorite tropes. And of course, one of the couple is already smitten.

  8. I just finished Snow and Mistletoe and I loved it. The Heroes of Freedom Ridge sounds so very good and I have heard many good things about them! (not entering this ebook giveaway, but Thank you) Have a Great weekend and stay safe.

  9. I don’t have a story that I go back to again and again. There are so many I haven’t read yet! Music on the other hand, yes, definite favorites and traditions there. I’ve heard about recording artists having to do their Christmas albums in April in order to have everything ready to ship for the holidays, so I get the summer setting for writing a winter tale.

    My favorite non-December Christmas experience happened at a local convenience store. First, you need to know that I have a substantial white beard and a very round belly. While waiting in line at the store, a little fellow, maybe 5 or 6, came up to me with a puzzled look on his face and asked, “Are you Santa?”

    I wasn’t thinking clearly, being taken off guard. All that came to my mind was the fact that my older brother had done Santa duty before for some Christmas celebration where he lives. So I told the little boy, “No, that’s my brother.” He looked up at me in total confusion. “Santa has a brother?!” No doubt the poor child will need serious therapy at some point later in life! :)

  12. There are so many wonderful Christmas books. I love the Christmas Box. I would say the one that I enjoyed so much this year is Jingle All The Way by Debbie Macomber. Merry Christmas.

  13. I don’t really have a favourite Christmas novel. I love them all. My favourite Christmas experience was one year we went to a Timeshare Resort the week before Christmas and had our young daughter who was about 7 with us. She watched with interest from our balcony as Santa skied on the ski slope outside our lodge. Later in the day we went swimming, and there ‘he’ was sitting in the hot tub. We joined him in the hot tub and she inched closer and closer, and then she interrogated him for several minutes. He answered each question without a hitch. Where was Mrs. Claus? She was home opening up all the Santa letters and putting the information in his computer. Where were the reindeers? They were resting up for their long flight around the world. Why was he here skiing and swimming? Well, he had been very busy all year and this was a rest for him before he started on his long trip?

    She has three older brothers 15 yrs, 12 yrs and 5 yrs older than her, and she was starting to doubt Santa. After this episode, she was fully convinced for several more years and she verified her story to all her friends. It was a fun experience.

  14. I’m a planner as well. But this year has been a yr of rescheduling and being flexible, hasn’t it? And being thankful for what and Who we hold dear.
    I recently finished Forgiven in the Freedom Ridge series and purchased Reunited for next. Great fun! And I’ve been fortunate to have had lots of (extra) time for reading this year – silver lining.

  16. I’m a planner too, my husband is more of a spontaneous guy. Over the 23 years we’ve been together, we’ve tempered each other out a bit. He’s learned that the most important thing to me to plan on a trip, is where we’re staying & I’ve learned to just “go with the flow” more on vacation. I’ve had more fun than I thought or imagined :-)

    I’m right there with you when it comes to 2020, it sure has thrown my world topsey turvey! New routines had to be learned, which isn’t the easiest thing for me to do in the first place. But on the other hand, I’ve seen God’s hand more & more through it all!

    I don’t have a favorite novel because I read so much! Christmas stories started the last two weeks of November and my massive pile will take me well into the New year :-) I’m enjoying reading for the pure pleasure of reading. Getting lost in a story is the best way to wile away my time!

  18. “A Walk to Remember” is such a sweet story. I remember crying a lot the first time I read it.

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