Lee Carver – Story Behind the Story – Part 1 of 1

Shannon here: Lee Carver shares how the novella collection, Love in Mistletoe Springs came to be. Answer the question at the end of this post to enter the drawing for a copy. Print for contiguious USA. Kindle for international. Deadline: Oct 3rd, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Lee:

With five novellas in “Love in Mistletoe Springs”, too many delightful heroes and heroines jump off the pages of the set to do character interviews typical of this blog. At a book club meeting last week honoring my WWII novel, “A Secret Life”, the readers were curious about how authors come up with stories and what goes through their minds when they’re inventing characters. Perhaps both readers and authors would enjoy a stroll down the path to creating a novella set.
Multi-published author Gail Sattler invited several authors to put together a set, which would come out over the summer. For some of us, it was a chance to publish a short novel between major works; for others, the appeal of writing with other significant authors drew us in. Besides Gail and myself, Kimberly Rose Johnson, Lee Tobin McClain, and Ginger Solomon responded with unique stories around a central theme.
E-mails flew between us, with one person drawing a map of the fictitious town, another creating a huge chart of the characters and stores so we could overlap. For one author, weather and phases of the moon are important to her writing, so she sent out a comprehensive chart for our use. Gail wrote the prologue and epilogue, which was edited in details by all participants. She also bird-dogged the cover, which was created by a college art student. No one kept a record of how many times we voted on specific elements in the creation process. Finally, I put it together, adjusted the formatting and last-minute edits, and uploaded it in both print and Kindle forms.
During my years of establishing homes in various countries, I learned an important lesson: if you want to make new friends, work together with people on a task. Roll up your sleeves and become acquainted trying to effect a common goal. That’s the idea behind this set of stories, which lead to five sweet romances.
The Mistletoe Springs animal shelter loses their grant, endangering the lives of countless stray dogs, cats, even birds and turtles. The community attempts to save the shelter by running a Christmas in July fundraiser. Groups of volunteers scramble to get all the details together while managing their personal lives. For ten people, love gets in the way.
Here’s a quote from my favorite review of the set: “I’ve never read a book written by this many authors, but they pull it off beautifully. As a quilter, I know how important that at least one or two colors show up consistently in each different square to keep the consistency of the quilt. These writers pulled this same concept off extremely well in this book.”
Included in the set are the following stories:
“A Cockatoo for Two”
Nikki Waldrop is given a cockatoo because her son is allergic to hairy animals. But this biology teacher needs help from the principal, who once lived in Indonesia and knows about caring for a cockatoo. When the sick bird responds with “Gimme a kiss,” hearts begin to soar.
“Brewed with Love”
When Amber Cook meets firefighter Bryan Grant, can she overcome her deep seated fear of fire and discover true love?
“Stray Gifts”
Dani Cooper has vowed to focus on her four kids and stay away from strays, whether animal or human. But will she be able to resist the handsome, mysterious veteran who shows up on her doorstep looking for work…and maybe, for a home and family too?
“Mistletoe Madness”
To say Kayla can’t function in a crowd is an understatement. The only help she can get to do her part to help the shelter is the bane of her existence, her brother’s best friend who has teased and harassed her mercilessly all her life. But Drew’s feelings for Kayla have suddenly changed. Can he both help the shelter, and help Kayla change her mind about him?
“Mr. Christmas and Miss Scrooge”
Mitch Silverton agreed to be in charge of decorating for the fundraiser. And he needs his boss, Margaret Holberg, to donate her family’s vast array of decorations to make the day unforgettable. BUT…
She’s not sharing. Christmas is not a holiday she wants to celebrate in July, and saving the animal shelter is not high on her list of important things to do.
He wants her to share more than the decorations. He wants her heart. Will he succeed in changing Miss Scrooge into Mrs. Christmas?
We’re giving away a print copy to someone within the contiguous USA who responds to the reader question (below). Outside of this area, we’ll send a Kindle version.
Question for readers: Are you especially drawn to novels featuring animals as significant characters? If so, what animals interest you most?
About Lee: Lee Carver is once again failing at retirement. After rearing her family in seven countries, she has settled down with her husband in Texas and begun to write novels. She also serves as president of her local chapter of ACFW, is a Stephen Minister, sings in the choir, and crochets for the Prayer Shawl Ministry. The Carvers still enjoy travel, which they must do to visit their two children and five grandchildren.
Both print and Kindle versions may be found at http://amzn.to/1KglJf3 . The Kindle version is being sold at the special price of only $0.99 for a limited time.