No one loves Christmas as much as Chelsea Macintosh, the heroine in my recent novella The Last Mountain Christmas in the Marry Christmas Collection. I recently sat down with her to discover a few of her favorite things. We met up at a coffee shop where she ordered a hot chocolate and offered me half […]
Loss
LOSS. The word even sounds sad to me, unless you are trying to lose weight. Then it is a happy thing. When I was looking for a photo to use for this post, dozens of photos of people with scales, measuring tapes, and skinny blue jeans were the results of my search. I finally […]
Once Upon an Audio Book (and giveaway)
A few years ago, I joined a novella collection of modern fairytales titled Once Upon a Christmas. Because I was the last invited, I didn’t expect Cinderella to still be available, but to the delight of my hidden-identities-loving heart, I got to write Christmas Ella. For my setting, I picked Jackson Hole, Wyoming as an […]
Guest Fairy Tale with Regina Rudd Merrick
Amy, here. My friend, Regina Rudd Merrick, had a fun new book release yesterday. I couldn’t resist asking her to come tell you more about it. Thank you, Amy, for inviting me to guest-blog today about my upcoming Christmas novella, 12 Days of Mandy Reno! In Book 3 in the RenoVations, Inc. series, we diverge […]
Escaping into Christmas
Do you ever just want to escape? Whether from life’s daily grind or anxiety from the seemingly endless conflict and suffering in our world, I often need a break. While escapism isn’t always the answer—we need to sometimes take action and always remain prayerful—finding ways to unwind helps with my stamina and renewal of spirit. […]
World Pizza Makers Day
The pizza in the photo above is a pizza I made. When I made this pizza, I had no idea there was a day celebrating pizza makers. I make my own dough, but I use pre-made sauce. My family loves my pizza. But whether you pull out a frozen pizza and pop it in the […]
Checking the Boxes & Giveaway
Have you seen those memes on social media that give you a Bingo board to check off as you watch holiday movies? They’ll have things for you to watch for as you view the movie. Did the character drink hot chocolate? Mark that one off. How about a parade? Check. Decorating a tree? Yep. Got […]
SNEAK PEEK: The Last Mountain Christmas
It’s October, which means the season for Christmas books is upon us! We’ll start to see contemporary Christian romance holiday releases popping up all over. Are you a fan of holiday books? I’m a sucker for just about any story that happens during the Christmas season. Throw in romance and I’m hooked! That’s why I’m […]
Story Inspiration: The real rodeo cowboy who inspired the book
In the summer of 2022, I created a side character… (in the book Blind Date with a Hero), Jason Keen was Jared’s wayward brother, a rough-and-tumble rodeo cowboy living in Western Colorado. I named him Jason in honor of my own cousin, Jason — the toughest cowboy I know. He’s fifteen or so years older […]
Stories Told Through Texts…Plus Giveaway
I didn’t set out to include a whole chapter of texts in my upcoming Christmas collection, We Three Kings, and I honestly didn’t even know if it would be allowed. However, it helped to quickly show connection between characters over a span of time, which is important when writing shorter forms of fiction. My editor […]