I’m having a lot of firsts this month. My first novella releases on Sept 28th. It includes my first story set on a beach. First book in ten years without a cowboy on the cover. But my guy is still a cowboy and he even owns Romantic Beach Rides so couples can rent a horse to ride along the beach. It’s also the first novella where I’ve edited the other authors’ work in the collection. Actually, when I edited three of the stories, I hadn’t written mine yet. But I did have the synopsis on paper. I was amazed how each story in the collection had something in common with mine.
We didn’t have any guidelines on our novellas, other than wordcount and Christmas on the beach. Yet, mine and Amy Anguish’s stories are about
pretend romance. Mine and Hope Dougherty’s are about childhood acquaintances and class angst. Mine and Linda Fulkerson’s have a real estate thread and saving a beloved home. Mine and Regina Merrick’s are set in the hospitality arena—mine an inns, hers a B&B. We planned for each story to be set on a different beach. Amy’s is Georgia, Hope’s is in North Carolina, Regina’s is in South Carolina, Linda’s is in Hawaii, and mine is in Texas.
It’s also, the first time I haven’t been to my setting. Surfside Beach, Texas has been on my radar screen for a few years now. I often get to visit places I’d like to go if I set a book there, as long as it’s close to our route to see Texas 
family. A few years ago, I googled best shelling in Texas. Surfside Beach popped up. When I decided to set my novella there, I planned to actually go there before I wrote the book. This past spring would have worked just fine. But my dad had heart surgery. And then every complication that comes with it. By the time he was well enough for me to feel like I could go somewhere, it was August, when the manuscript was due to my editor. So I researched the area online, read up on and looked up pictures of rental property there to get a feel for it.
I still plan to visit Surfside Beach and pick up lots of shells. Probably next spring. I have craft projects, jars, and more—full of shells all over my office. But I still need more. I never swim when we go to the ocean. I wade the shore and pick up shells. We visited Corpus Christi around five years ago. My husband and son went out in the water. I watched for shark fins.
In the meantime, since I did so much editing and proofreading on the novella, I needed a good long break last month. So I did two puzzles. My friend since 8th
grade got me the one with ghe guy in the boat. Just about the time my son stopped wanting to do puzzles with me, about five years ago. So I never did it, until now. The second one is my favorite time of year. I’m so ready for fall. I’m sick of hot, humidity, bugs, and everything that goes with summer.
So, what do you collect? Do you like reading books when you know the author has been there, or does it matter? Have you ever been to the beach? 
What’s your favorite one? Do you like to swim in the ocean? Answer one or more questions to get in the drawing for a print copy of Candy Cane Wishes & Saltwater Dreams. Deadline: Oct 2nd.
Candy Cane Wishes and Saltwater Dreams
by Amy Anguish, Hope Toler Dougherty, Linda Fulkerson, Regina Rudd Merrick and Shannon Taylor Vannatter
Mistletoe Make-believe by Amy Anguish – Charlie Hill’s family thinks his daughter Hailey needs a mom–to the point they won’t get off his back until he finds her one. Desperate to be free from their nagging, he asks a stranger to pretend she’s his girlfriend during the holidays. When romance author Samantha Arwine takes a working vacation to St. Simons Island over Christmas, she never dreamed she’d be involved in a real-life romance. Are the sparks between her and Charlie real? Or is her imagination over-acting … again?
A Hatteras Surprise by Hope Toler Dougherty – Ginny Stowe spent years tending a childhood hurt that dictated her college study and work. Can time with an island visitor with ties to her past heal lingering wounds and lead her toward a happy Christmas … and more? Ben Daniels intends to hire a new branch manager for a Hatteras Island bank, then hurry back to his promotion and Christmas in Charlotte. Spending time with a beautiful local, however, might force him to adjust his sails.
A Pennie for Your Thoughts by Linda Fulkerson – When the Lakeshore Homeowner’s Association threatens to condemn the cabin Pennie Vaughn inherited from her foster mother, her only hope of funding the needed repairs lies in winning a travel blog contest. Trouble is, Pennie never goes anywhere. Should she use the all-expenses paid Hawaiian vacation offered to her by her ex-fiancé? The trip that would have been their honeymoon?
Mr. Sandman by Regina Rudd Merrick – Events manager Taylor Fordham’s happily-ever-after was snatched from her, and she’s saying no to romance and Christmas. When she meets two new friends—the cute new chef at Pilot Oaks and a contributor on a sci-fi fan fiction website who enjoys debate—her resolve begins to waver. Just when she thinks she can loosen her grip on thoughts of love, a crisis pulls her back. There’s no way she’s going to risk her heart again.
Coastal Christmas by Shannon Taylor Vannatter – Lark Pendleton is banking on a high-society wedding to make her grandparent’s inn at Surfside Beach, Texas the venue to attract buyers. Tasked with sprucing up the inn, she hires Jace Wilder, whose heart she once broke. When the bride and groom turn out to be Lark’s high school nemesis and ex-boyfriend, she and Jace embark on a pretend romance to save the wedding. But when real feelings emerge, can they overcome past hurts?
Candy Can Wishes & Salwater Dreams – Amazon
Award winning author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter writes contemporary Christian cowboy romance and has over a dozen published titles. A romance reader since her teens, she hopes to entertain Christian women and plant seeds in the non-believer’s heart as she demonstrates that love doesn’t conquer all—Jesus does. She gleans fodder for her fiction in rural Arkansas where she spent her teenage summers working the concession stand with her rodeo announcing dad and married a Texan who morphed into a pastor. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her husband and son, flea marketing, and doing craft projects.
My favorite beach is about 2 hours from home, Isle of Palms in Charleston, SC! I like to read books based on places I’ve been but it doesn’t matter to me if the author has been there prior to writing the book. Collections. Hmmmm. I like to collect Disney stuff! Mostly mugs and ornaments! I always get one of each when I go.
Hi Jessica, I love collecting ornaments. And you can’t ever put too many on a tree. We have 3 trees at Christmas. A rustic one in the family room decorated with antlers, bears, and deer. A pastel one with stars and Christian ornaments in the living room. They’re both skinny, so they don’t take up any space. I have a small beachy one in my office.
Hi Shannon! This Michigander lives within a few miles of several pristine sandy Lake Michigan beaches. While we do not collect sea shells, we can find beach glass. This German American loves gnomes, which are now popular. I have indoor gnomes and garden gnomes.
As an avid traveler, I have dipped my toes in both the Atlantic Ocean (Virginia and Florida) and Atlantic Ocean (California). I have also visited a beach in the Wakayama Prefecture (Japan) which with its turquoise waters was similar to the Bahamas. I love seeing the water, hearing waves, walking the shore, but not a swimmer.
Candy Cane Wishes and Saltwater Dreams has been added to my wish list. Sounds delightful. Love reading Christmas stories with a beach setting. Best wishes. Enjoy your weekend.
Hi Renate,
We live near a manmade lake. We never go there. It’s touristy and crowded. I like to swim, but only if there’s chlorine involved. I likevto see through the water and know it’s clean. I’d love to find seaglass. It’s so pretty and amazing to me what the ocean can do to glass.
I hope your wish comes true and you enjoy the book, Renate.
Hi, Shannon! I’m looking forward to reading your collection.
I’ve been to quite a few beaches. Top on the list would be Mombasa, Kenya, purely because of the incredibly fine Indian Ocean sand. My next favourite is in the Bahamas, because of the wonderful water temperature, closely followed by Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. We once lived on a small island in the Barent’s Sea, and the beach was always cold. But there was always something interesting to see there. Once, we found a dead shark washed up onto the shore, and another day hundreds of jellyfish were covering the beach.
My most accessible beach right now is only 20 minutes away in the east of England, and we’ve had some lovely outings there.
Thanks Mila. I hope you enjoy it. That would be fun to see interesting things washed up on the beach. I had no idea Hawaiia had cold beaches. I could livec20 minutes from the beach and be happy.
Yes, it’s cold in the water surrounding Hawaii! The Pacific Ocean is much colder than the Atlantic. I’ve been stationed in Virginia Beach, and the water was warm, but when I lived in Hawaii, it was too cold for me!
Oh, these sound good! My favorite beaches are the ones about 15 to 20 minutes from where I live on the Space Coast of Florida. I’m a little further away from Cocoa Beach, and of course, Daytona Beach is even further up the road, but not horribly far, about an hour and a half or so. I collect lighthouses (books about them, pictures, statues), teapots, and Precious Moments. I don’t care if the author has actually been to places they write about. However, I do expect them to do their research! I proofread a book for an author that was writing a book set during a hurricane. She did absolutely NO research. None at all. Anyone who had been through a hurricane would have done what I did, tore it apart and told her she couldn’t put in the book what she had in there, it would NOT be realistic. I wasn’t mean, just stating facts. As long as an author researches, I’m happy.
Hi Trudy. My sister in law loves Florida beaches. I have a church friend who collects lighthouses and I have a lighthouse jigsaw puzzle I haven’t done yet. I do my research. I’ve even contacted the chamber of commerce in places I haven’t been. There are always helpful people there. I bet that author appreciated you.
I love visiting the beach and I like Atlantic beaches the best. Sometimes I will swim but often I just wade and walk along the shore. I love the sounds and smells of the beach!
Me too, Jessica. I love the smells and sounds. So peaceful and soothing.
I don’t collect anything but books anymore, lol! I used to collect little frog, rabbit, or shoe figurines but that got to be TOO much. I still admire them, of course, but I got tired of dusting them or rearranging them around the house.
It doesn’t matter to me if the author has visited the place they wrote about in their book. As long as the research is accurate…or as close as a writer can get anyway.
Of course I’ve been to the beach :-) I live on the Oregon coast about a five minute drive to ours. I don’t swim in it because the water is freezing, even in the middle of summer! One day I’d love to visit a beach where the water is warm, say, in Florida or somewhere like that. Then I can dip my toes or go all the way up to my knees to enjoy it.
Hey Trixi, books are something everyone should collect. I’m with you on the dusting. I keep my smaller shells in jars, so I only dust the glass.
While I do appreciate the work put behind research, since I haven’t been to most places books describe, I usually take the author’s word for it. Of course, if research was well done, I’ve heard from some authors that when they eventually get to visit the place they wrote about, they got (the feeling of) it right. :)
As for beaches, I’ve always lived relatively close to them throughout my life, though the one we used to visit when I was a kid was sandy and the one I live close to now is pebbly.
Hi Priscilla, all my books are set in real places. Several years ago, I set a series where my husband’s step mom lives. I described the town and used some real businesses, but I plopped my heroine’s fictional business where I wanted it. His stepmother told me I got the layout of the town wrong. I don’t think she understood fictional liberty :)
Hey Trixi, books are something everyone should collect. I’m with you on the dusting. I keep my smaller shells in jars, so I only dust the glass.
I think it helps if the author has been to the place where the book is set.
It’s a lot easier to write about somewhere I’ve been, Jcp. Even if its a place I’ve been to several times, I take lots of pictures and notes when I’m there to help me remember details.
I don’t have a favorite beach as I’ve been to so many! I grew up in Southern Calif. so went to the beach many times growing up. I lived for many years in Oregon so loved the beautiful Oregon coast but the water is cold!!! I’ve been to many different countries in the world so I’ve seen gorgeous beach in the Caribbean, Europe, Central American, Asia and both coasts of America, including Hawaii. It’s hard to choose out of all those! You new books looks fabulous!
Hi Valri, wow, sounds like you’ve been everywhere. I’m not big traveler. Never have been. Most of our trips are to see family. So we find places to stop on the way for fun.
Hi Valri, wow, sounds like you’ve been everywhere. I’m not big traveler. Never have been. Most of our trips are to see family. So we find places to stop on the way for fun.
Hi, Shannon!
What fun and serendipitous (spell check says I got that right, lol) connections with the other authors’ stories. I don’t expect that authors should have visited the places they write about but, like the others above, I do want to see some sign of adequate research. Not just for geography but for characters as well. I recently read a story where the heroine was supposed to be British. The attempts at jargon were over the top and some of them were idioms that would be considered quite rude in American (and British!) conversation.
I’m not a water baby like my wife but I love to hear the waves and see the spray against the rocks. I’ve gotten some nice photos of the beach in Maine and also in Maryland but none of them really do justice to being there.
I am a collector. Period. If there is more that one of something that I’m interested in, I am likely to buy it just because. Not everything appeals. For example, I’m not a big fan of figurines like Precious Moments or Hummel. BUT let me show you my collection of movies and TV (DVD and BluRay both). Oh, and my collection of just about everything published by C. S. Lewis (and the movies and audio plays made from them). And all the series among my 1700+ books in my Kindle library. And the Gene Kelly movies on VHS tape that I inherited from my late sister-in-law. And on and on. I still have pretty much all my college text books though some of them are for things like computer languages that no one uses anymore. It means I am surrounded by clutter. I’ve begun to think about asking God for help with letting go of the stuff that does not have eternal value or true temporal joy. Yup, I’ll get on that praying thing real soon I’m sure. Mm hmm, real soon. :-/
Your new collection looks like a great read. Best wishes for the launch!
My husband has an extensive DVD collection, Vince. So many of what he has is on Disney +, I’ve tried to get him to sell his collection, but he can’t seem to do it. Most of the time, the movie isn’t in the case and we have to search the house over for it. I always put the movie back in the case, but my son and husband don’t. And then it gets misplaced.
Now I want to be on the beach…
Congratulations Shannon!
Me too, Natalya. Maybe we’ll both get to go soon. Thanks.
This was such a fun collection to be a part of! Shannon, you may not have been there, but you’ve been close!! I’ve been to my setting in SC 3 times, and would live there in a heartbeat!!
True, Regina. Surfside is close to Galveston. I wouldn’t mind living close. But not on the beach. I can only take windblown bad hair days and sandy legs for so many days.
I collect “Joy” themed Christmas items. I also collect books. :) It doesn’t matter to me if an author has visited a book location or not. I have been to two beaches , one in the Florida Panhandle and the other on Lake Michigan. I was surprised how white the sand was in Florida
I have the word Joy ornaments I put on my tree every year. They’re covered in mauve glitter. So pretty.
About white sand, my son came home from preschool and told me he needed to take some of my shells to school to give the older kids so they’d let him play in the fort. Upon further questioning, I learned the playground had sand for cushion, with tiny shells in it. Of course, I called the school and no one had to pay in shells for fort time after that.
I’m in SC, but I’ve only been to the ocean several times. My dad did not like the water, so we always went to the mountains. I do think it is beautiful and peaceful, but like you I’m walking on the sand, not swimming.
One year, my husband and son swam at Corpus Christi. I watched for shark fins more than I picked up shells.
I collect snowmen and seashells. I have a room I call my snowman/beach room, it’s where I do my Bible reading and prayer time. I love the beach at Gulf Shores, Alabama. I also just wade and pick up shells. I am so excited for this book. I won’t be visiting the beach in person this year but I will be traveling to different ones as I read these stories!
I need to come see your snowman beach room, Vicki. And we need to have pasta. Vicki and I have been friends since the 8th grade.
I preorder a lot. Mostly it because of the discounted price, since many times the price goes up almost immediately after being released. If the preorder is for a book to a series that I absolutely have to read as soon as it is released, I will preorder regardless of price. Preorders ensure that I don’t miss the release.
I pre-order occasionally, Mary. It depends on if it will mess up my free shipping. I’d rather pay more for a book than pay shipping.
Hi, we live no where near a beach, but when we went to Hawaii, I loved the Oahu beach, it was beautiful, they have alot of beautiful beaches in Hawaii, . Our 2 children were in Middle school at the time and we all enjoyed our time at the beach. Have a great week and stay safe.
Hi Alicia. We went to Galveston before our son was born. He was 14 when we went to Corpus Christi. It was really special seeing it for the first time through his eyes.
I collect puzzles I really enjoy doing puzzles all year long.yes I like the beach we go to long beach it’s in Oregon.i went to dewy beach one time it’s in Delaware I really liked that beach the water is really warm.i don’t swim in the ocean.
For years, I rarely did them because the only place I had to do it was on the kitchen table. When our son got old enough, we’d do a puzzle during Christmas break from school. When he was in his teens, he didn’t want to do them anymore, so I quit. But once we got the sun porch and that huge wicker table, it’s the perfect spot. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one with no desire to swim in the ocean.
I collect dust! I use to collect postcards. Its good when an author has been or knows about a place they are writing about. (Nothing worse than someone writing about Australia never having been here or knowing the actual area they write).
Have been to the beach as its only an hour (country hour) away and we would go most years growing up with the church. I have been to other beaches on trips. I like a calmer beach to swim in. I went to Surfers Paradise got dumped in ankle deep water so went back to the hotel pool. In Hawaii I loved the sunsets at the beach but didn’t go in the water but I do love Hawaii
I collect dust too, Ausjenny. I love it. I like calmer beaches to wade in. And warmer is nice too.
My favorite beach would be Corpus Christi, TX.mwjich is a few hours away but Hawaii does have the most amazing beaches. I collect comtemporary Fiesta dishes and accessories.
Corpus is beautiful, Perrine. I see those dishes in flea markets a lot. I like all th colors.
Been to China Beach and had a great time. It is in B.C., Canada.
I’ve heard of it, Robyn. Didn’t that used to be a TV show? I had no idea where it was.