E is for Ethan Chase

Ethan is the hero in Debra's freebie Mistletoe and Folly.

Right after I signed with TWRP, they came up with a publicity promotion of sorts. Current authors could write short stories that would be offered in their catalog for free. The idea would be to give readers a small sampling in the hopes they'd like your style and buy books that actually cost money. I decided to get on board and pen a short Christmas story. I don't really know if the promotion part was successful in that it led to other sales, but I do know I still 'sell' copies of this story each Christmas...and it was a fun, quick story to write.

The idea came from a Toby Keith Christmas song called "Blame it on the Mistletoe". In the song, the two main characters meet in the checkout line while doing some last minute Christmas shopping. They wind up indulging in a Christmas romance.

I moved my opening scene from the store to a local coffee shop. Friends of friends run into each other again after first meeting at a Christmas party earlier in the season. Other than the details of how they met in a passing sentence, with such a short story (It clocks in at a 'whopping' seven pages.), I don't give much more of their backgrounds.

We know Chase and the other friend went to college together, but we don't know where or what he studied or what he does now.

We don't know anything about his family...are his parents still alive? Does he have any brothers and sisters?

We do know what Chase looks like. Dark hair and eyes. At the coffee house he's wearing a cream colored sweater.

But again, with such a short story, going into explicit, specific detail isn't really necessary. It's meant to be a quick, fun read.

We do get a little peek 'inside' of Ethan at the end of the story. The heroine is having second thoughts about their night together, wondering what he thinks of her. In the morning, Ethan reassures her in this scene.

"Mia." The husky sound of her name on his lips sent a fresh wave of desire through her. "Look at me." He exerted gentle pressure on her shoulders so she had to turn to face him, then placed a finger beneath her chin and tipped her head up until her eyes met his.

A look of warm contentment graced the brown orbs. But doubts assailed her. Words spilled out before she could stop them. "I never do this. I mean I don't usually sleep with someone on the first date, and we didn't even really have a date, and I--"

He pressed a finger to her lips. "What exactly do you think happened here last night?"

"We slept together."

He shook his head. "No," he whispered. He smiled, a lazy slow smile full of love and shared intimacies. "It was much more than that."

Her breath caught.

"I don't believe in one night stands," he said softly. The promise of forever shone in his eyes.

A glimmer of hope started deep inside her heart, chasing away the doubts. Could it really be that easy? Could love happen just like that? "What do you believe in?"

He drew her close. "Happily ever after."

So, even though we don't know a lot about Ethan, we know the most important thing. He's not a cad looking for an easy score. He's a guy who believes in commitment and forever.

If you're in the mood to think about Christmas in the middle of summer, Mistletoe and Folly is available for FREE from The Wild Rose Press.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Y is for Yuletide

Debra shares blurbs from her three Christmas stories.

Maggie Pearson has no time in her busy life for love, but an immediate attraction draws her to a mysterious stranger at The Corral, a local bar. However, any romantic feelings are ruthlessly squashed when he accuses her of having an affair with his brother.

As a divorce lawyer, Van Rawlings has seen the ugly side of marriage too many times to believe in love. But having gotten off on the wrong foot with Maggie, and genuinely contrite over his faux pas, he offers to help her with an upcoming Christmas charity dinner. The more time they spend together, the more he realizes he’s never met anyone like Maggie, who gives so generously of her time.

Can Maggie and the magic of the season help Van believe again? In Christmas and in love.

Newly single, Heather Morgan gathers her courage and decides to take a Christmas ski vacation on her own. However, the festive holiday atmosphere reminds her how dispirited and alone she feels. When she meets a mysterious stranger, her lonely vacation takes an unexpected turn.

Sam is at the resort at the urging of his brother, who thinks he needs to get out and have a little fun. Having no desire to get involved with anyone, Sam needs a way to get his brother off his back. The intriguing Heather seems like the perfect solution to his dilemma, so he makes her an offer she can't refuse.

Sam restores the joy of the season to Heather. Their time together is magical, something she'll never forget. Soon her feelings for him deepen beyond their romantic holiday fling. But Sam has a secret, one that could prevent the fantasy from ever becoming real.

A chance meeting. A friend of a friend. Mia Preston hasn’t been able to get Ethan Chase out of her mind. A cozy coffee house leads to a night of romance. But will their kiss under the mistletoe lead to heartbreak or the love of a lifetime? (This is a FREE read from The Wild Rose Pres.)

Merry Christmas!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Ten Sentences from my WIP

Since I have Jake and Amber on my mind a lot lately...and that's a good thing!...I thought I'd share a short excerpt from their story, "This Feels Like Home". This is the first time the couple meets.

“You look like you’re new in town.” The slow, husky drawl penetrated the background din and distracted her from her task.

She looked up with a frown. The shadow from the brim of his cowboy hat obscured most of the man’s features, but a dimple winked in his cheek when he smiled. A black T-shirt stretched tight across his shoulders, and well worn jeans hugged his lean hips.

She bit back a groan and disconnected the call instead of punching in her code. She wasn’t in the mood to be hit on by one of Gail’s 'nice' cowboys, but she plastered a smile on her face. “Not really. I’m visiting my cousin.” She avoided his gaze and took a sip of her drink. The tart flavor slid over her taste buds.


Any thoughts?!

Until next time,

Happy Reading and Merry Christmas!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

For your holiday reading pleasure:

A Christmas to Remember
Mistletoe and Folly

Still At It

I've been working on a second round of revisions on "This Feels Like Home" for a couple of months now. When I first got the e-mail asking for more revisions, I really didn't know what to do. After reviewing the editor's comments (several thousand times or so it seemed) I went at what I thought she was looking for. I made some progress. But the flow didn't seem quite right. So I left the mss alone for a while.

Later I went back to it and got into a little bit of a flow. But nothing was really shouting out at me to really keep working on the project. So I stopped looking at it again.

Recently, I've been back at it. Ideas are flowing, and I'm having those "Aha!" moments even when I'm not sitting in front of my computer. That's a good thing.

In theory.

Trouble is, we're in the middle of the Christmas season. And between work, shopping, Advent services, wrapping, baking cookies, and Christmas cards, I haven't found much time to work on the mss. So what's bumming me out is I feel like I've finally found a direction (I hope) to go in, but I have no darn time to work on it.

I'm almost there. It's almost ready for a read-through. My goal is to have the revisions done and to the editor by the end of the year. TWRP does an end-of-the-year shut down...think back to your school days and Christmas break. With this, I finally caught a lucky break. It reopens January 2, which means I have the whole week after Christmas (because I'm on vacation) to do some final polishing before sending it off (again). All of the shopping, wrapping, baking, etc. will be done, and I can devote my time to this.

It's like a Christmas miracle!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com


For your holiday reading pleasure:
A Christmas to Remember
Mistletoe and Folly - a FREE read

Guess Who.....

My main characters aren't based (trait-wise) on any real person. I do have to admit that Noah Grant in WILD WEDDING WEEKEND was based looks-wise on Brad Pitt. And Jake Hawkins in my WIP "This Feels Like Home" is based looks-wise on Matthew McConaughey. But their personalities are all their own.

I do some name dropping with people I know as minor characters. In WILD WEDDING WEEKEND I used all of my friends and their families as Noah's brothers and sisters. I didn't tell them, so it was fun to get their reactions after they read the book for the first time. They were all delighted to be immortalized in print!

So far my settings have all been based on real places. It's just so much easier for me to create a world for my characters to walk around in that I've actually seen. I've done some tweaking, like "moving" the setting to another part of the country, but most of the settings are very recognizable to those who know me. THIS TIME FOR ALWAYS features the bar where my husband and I met. I take Noah and Abby to all of the places we visited on our honeymood in WILD WEDDING WEEKEND. And Zach and Jessica fall in love in THIS CAN'T BE LOVE at one of our favorite yearly vacation spots. Even my free read MISTLETOE AND FOLLY features my neighborhood downtown area.

Lawsuits? Probably not. Inspiration? Plenty of that.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com