A few years ago I had my first Christmas novella published as part of the ‘Joy to the World’ collection, and discovered just how voracious readers can be for Christmas stories. Last year I wrote a contemporary Christmas novella (Originally Yours) as a special free gift for newsletter subscribers, and a full length Christmas contemporary romance, Muskoka Christmas, as part of my Muskoka Romance series. This book was extra fun to write as it involved a romance writer (hello!) who traveled to a small town (like where I live!) in order to complete writing her novel by deadline (always!). It was extra fun to add all those fun Christmassy moments we’ve come to expect from Hallmark movies, like snow, Christmas tree-lightings, pumpkin spice – many of which aren’t typically experienced by this Aussie author during our summertime Christmases.
I’ve since decided I want to write a Christmas story each year, and so for this year I decided to set myself a new challenge: Christmas short stories, which is how Muskoka Holiday Morsels came to be. Now to be completely honest, these stories aren’t just about Christmas focused, but also involve other holidays and celebrations too, including Thanksgiving, Pumpkin festivals, weddings, engagements, and New Year’s celebrations. But it was fun to revisit the small town setting of my Muskoka books, and use this collection of short stories as a way to add some extra flavor to the other books in this series. So it means that among these stories are some epilogues to previous books, some that focus on minor characters that made an appearance in previous books, and some that may set up future books.
Each story is a standalone, so it makes sense and has a sense of completeness, and they range in length from 3-10,000 words. Last Christmas I read a collection of short stories based on Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, and I personally loved the shorter length as it proved the perfect amount for bedtime reading in a busy season.
So if you’re looking for some Christmas reading this year, then I hope you’ll check out Muskoka Holiday Morsels!
Muskoka Holiday Morsels is a collection of short romance stories with holiday and Christmas themes, perfect for a cozy read. Meet some new friends and catch up with some Muskoka favorites, and discover romance in the holiday season in this collection of bite-sized stories filled with hope, heart, humor, and all the feels. You can preorder now at Amazon, & other stores, so it’s ready for you to read on November 2.
And because it’s the season of giving, I’ve got a fun little sale on the first three books in the Muskoka Romance series, including Muskoka Shores, Muskoka Hearts, and Muskoka Christmas. Happy reading to you!
Now let’s chat about Christmas books: Do you enjoy reading them? If so, when do you start reading them? What do you like to see in a Christmas book? Do you like reading Christmas novellas or longer books? And do you have suggestions for what my Christmas project next year should be?
Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of romance, Carolyn loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her Regency and contemporary novels are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Koorong, etc
Hi Carolyn! As a German American Weihnachten / Christmas is my favorite time of year. I read Christmas stories and novellas year around. I enjoy reading a book in one sitting, so I prefer shorter works. I am in my happy place since Hallmark has 41 new Christmas movies this year. New movies every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening.
A great Christmas story should include lots of traditions that are special to the characters or their community. Christmas markets, tree lightening, Christmas pageants, craft fairs, baking holiday delectables, Secret Santa, gifts. Having a Reason for the Season. Maybe including some other culture Holiday Traditions. Christmas Around the World is my favorite holiday theme / Festival of Lights. There are common threads between holiday celebrations around the world – a Gift Bringer / lights / food. I enjoy visiting Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry Christmas Around the World display or Grand Rapids, Michigan Fredrick Meijer Gardens Christmas Around the World display. Both have model railroads. Best wishes.
Hi Renate – I always appreciate your comments! Yes, so many interesting Christmas traditions from around the world, and it’s always fun to read about them. Happy Christmas reading and viewing to you!
I love Christmas stories, I usually save them for October onwards although I have read them all times of the year. Short stories are a great idea for Christmas – I’ve got a paperback Christmas story anthology I re-read most years, as you said it’s the perfect length for a quick read at a busy season!
I do like Christmas books, and I read them year round, as some of the authors I edit/proofread for write them! Plus, they’re just fun to read when it’s so HOT in Florida!!!
I will read a Christmas book year-round. I enjoy them anytime of year.
Right? I love to get engrossed in a full length novel, but with all that goes on sometimes there’s only time for a quick read, so a short story makes for a quick, sweet read. Thanks for commenting!
As an Australian, I totally understand about hot Christmases! Happy reading!
Yes, especially when they prove satisfying and you know they’ll end well. Thanks for commenting!
Yes, I love to read Christmas books all year around. I love the happy endings, the feelings of goodwill. I like them both. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
I love Christmas stories and start reading them around December 1st. I’ll buy them earlier but save them for that date. It’s not always the 1st as I don’t read more than one novel at a time and prefer to finish the novel I’m reading and not leave it hanging.
December reading for me is almost exclusively Christmas novels.
I love short stories, The other day a friend described a novel as a series of short stories which I thought was intriguing. With busy lives and also disability it is much easier to me to read a story to from start to finish otherwise I can forget the first part nowadays. What about a series of novellas set with traditions/holidays from around the world or even those National days like doughnut day or a flower day. I would not be surprised if there is a Jacaranda Day and you could write a story about a romance and end with a spring wedding down the street from me where we have Japanese tourists come to be married. It would provide endless opportunities for stories, also reasearch and a great way for people to learn about other countries/customs/traditions. See what ideas inspyromancers come up with. Thanks for the great post. :)
Thank you so much for commenting, Debra – happy Christmas reading to you!
There’s something rather nice about devoting a month to Christmas books – happy reading to you!
Thank YOU Dianne for your wealth of interesting ideas! Yes, I really like the idea of Christmas stories from around the world. Hmm, the brain be a ticking…