Hello and welcome to this week’s blog hop! Glad I am able to join in this week. If you missed what S.C. Mitchell had to say just click and pop back.
Today’s challenge comes from the wonderful A.S. Fenichel and she asks us: Choose one of your books and tell us where the idea came from. Was it a dream, an overheard conversation, did it spark from a previous book you wrote? How did the idea come to you and how did it evolve into a full story. If you want to share a snippet, that would be awesome too!
I don’t have that many books written. In fact, I only have one full length novel and one novella. I’ve talked most about my novel so this time I will talk about my novella. This novella Upon A Winter’s Night just sort of came to me one day. Sometimes my ideas have to sit for a while and I make notes, but this idea popped out. I was supposed to be writing a novella for a Christmas romance anthology but it never ended up happening.
Once I had the idea it just spilled out of me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I knew the theme had to be Christmas, but I got to take this novella and make it my own. Once I started writing I knew it would turn into a novella.
However, one of my other novellas I will write has stemmed from my full length novel Wrongfully Wed. I am excited to eventually share that one.
For now here is a snippet of Upon A Winter’s Night:
Chapter One
The wind pushed against his coat as he struggled forward in the snow. Every step took him backwards. Wetness seeped into his boots. Viscount Logan Brackley loathed being wet. In fact he detested the winter, especially Christmas. Ever since she ran off with another man.
Logan didn’t care if he never spent the holidays around family again, yet here he was, slogging through the cold wet snow. Each time he blinked, his eyelashes stuck together with the falling slush. He’d been called to his great aunt’s house and no one ever turned down an invitation once invited.
Somehow on the journey north the carriage slipped on the icy road and broke a wheel. Logan had been forced out of the comfort of the carriage and walk in the dreadful weather for miles in hopes of finding a place to sleep. He wouldn’t make it to his great aunt’s tonight.
In the distance he spotted small yellow blobs. Logan squinted his gray eyes. His sight had not been wrong. The lighted windows of an inn grew bigger in the murky snow-white air. He drew in a deep breath. Circular white puffs blew out of his mouth as he shrugged deeper into his fur-lined coat and trudged on.
Logan left his manservant Hodges back with the horse and carriage. As soon as he got inside he would send some men back to help. His brooding returned back to her. The woman he had intended to marry. But she had turned her back on him and gone to another.
He could almost feel the warmth of the inn as he drew closer. A blazing fire and a dram of whiskey would chase the chill away. A sign with Stone Hill Inn etched into the wood blew back and forth in the gale. Logan walked up the icy walkway and knocked on the door.
A buxom woman with disheveled blonde hair tucked under a white cap stared back at him. The wind blew snow into the open doorway.
“My goodness, whatever are ye doing out on a night like this one, sir?”
He stomped his feet. “My carriage broke a wheel a couple of miles back. I’ve come for an open room if you have one.”
“Yes sir, come in.” You’re in luck, there is one room left. It’s not the biggest, mind you. A woman arrived just before you did and has the main room.
“I’m sure the one you have will do fine. Anything will be better then walking in this terrible weather.” The snow melted on his hands as he ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair.
The older woman placed a hand on his arm. “Come in and out of the cold. I’ll have the cook bring you some food if you want to wait in the parlor. The other guest is waiting for dinner as well.”
“Thank you…”
“Mrs. Taylor.”
“Thank you again Mrs. Taylor. I’m Logan Brackley. I shall need to send someone to help bring back my horses and carriage. They will freeze if they stay outside.”
“I’ll send me ‘usband out with some men from the stables. They will take good care of your beasts. Now go down the hallway into the parlor to warm up.”
Logan nodded, took off his fur-lined coat and hung it on the pole by the door as Mrs. Taylor disappeared into the Inn. He found the parlor a few doors down the aged hallway. The inn was small but it held all the comfort he needed for the moment. He strode into the room.
A woman in a blue silk gown stood in front of the fireplace. Her back was to him but all of her curves shone beneath the gown. Her hair was a rich shiny brown.
Logan walked to the sideboard and poured himself a glass of whiskey.
The woman tilted her head.
He could see full pink lips begging to be kissed. He shook his head, cleared his throat and drank the amber liquid. Fire burned down his throat and into his body. Pinpricks ran up and down his fingers as they warmed up.
The vision in blue turned toward him.
His heart stopped in his chest. It couldn’t be. Logan took a laboured breath.
“Charlie?!”
I hope you enjoyed the start of Upon A Winter’s Night. Now continue on the hop to see what A.S. Fenichel has to say about her ideas. Until next time!
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