Oh Yeah, I Do Have Something!

This sweet little anthology of true Christmas stories is coming out soon! In all the "busy" of my life (my friend Annette Lyon would call it resistance) I sort of forgot that this was something to look forward to. That's pretty sad. But these stories are not sad! They are full of hope and love and everything that reminds us to look up, to look forward, and to remember why we are here. To have joy.

This publication is a little nostalgic for me for a couple of reasons. One is that five years ago my very first published story came out as a true story in Covenant's "A Christmas to Remember" anthology. My first novel, "Of Grace and Chocolate," came out the following year. So this is where it started. I'm so grateful.

I'm so pleased to have been asked to be a part of this collection again. I know some of these authors and they are the best sort of people. And I know my gift-giving just got a little bit easier this year. What will you be giving? I hope it's a little joy.

Coming October 2016. Find it here. I'll add more links as they show up.

Krista

With All My Heart is out! Triple the Romance Countdown Contest: 2

This one is SO FUN! Anita Stansfield. Sheryl C.S. Johnson. Me. Want a teaser? Okay, I'll give you a teaser. From HANGING BY A MOMENT, as Kendal returns from the ladies room:

      Lila turned, saw Kendal approaching, and smiled. Big. She thumbed toward a figure in a ball cap pulling a huge duffel off the conveyor. He reached again for some kind of bulky equipment wrapped in a tarp and duct tape. His T-shirt fit him well. Really well. Nice tan. Nice . . . but it wasn’t like Lila to check out guys at an airport.

      Kendal raised her eyebrows at Lila in question, but when the guy settled his luggage and tugged off his ball cap, revealing short, dark blond waves, Kendal knew why Lila was smiling like a kid in line at a carnival.

      Bret McCray had arrived in St. John’s. And he was looking right at Kendal.

      He grinned. He could still pull off that reddish scruff of facial hair. Dang. “Hello, Magic.”

      Oh, good. College nicknames. She smiled. “Hello, Bret.”

Yay! I love this one.

WITH ALL MY HEART: LOVE UNEXPECTED is available at the following websites, and at Deseret Books and Seagull Books stores. It's being pushed nationally (not LDS or inspirational themed) so I'll let you know where else it shows up.

Amazon

Deseret Book

In the meantime, how about a contest? I'm making this one simple. Everyone worked so hard for that last one! All you have to do is share, tweet, retweet, blog, pin, just POST this book and either link above. I already have a post to share on FB at Krista Lynne Jensen, and watch for a post to retweet on Twitter. Easy peasy!

Authors love to give these books away, but the way these contests help us the most is by spreading the word. Even if you plan on purchasing the book (thank you so much) a share will still help more than you know. And you could win a second book to give away yourself! Win Win!

Congratulations to the winner, Nikki Lewis! Thanks for playing, everyone!

And some other fantastic news: THE ORCHARD is a Whitney Award finalist in the Romance category! Thank you to those who nominated and voted! That was a delightful surprise.






And don't forget! My book launch is Saturday, February 22!

~Triple-the-Romance Book Launch~

DAY: Saturday, February 22

TIME: 11:00am-1:00pm

WHERE: Fort Union Deseret Books

Midvale, Utah

A Timeless Romance Anthology: Love Letter Collection

HERE JANUARY 28, 2014 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

It's here! I'm so excited! The beginning of the Triple the Romance countdown!

Hmm, that's a good name for a contest . . .

ANNOUNCEMENT:

I'm giving away one ebook copy of A TIMELESS ROMANCE ANTHOLOGY: LOVE LETTER COLLECTION, and I will call the contest . . . 

TRIPLE THE ROMANCE COUNTDOWN CONTEST:1.

*Congratulations to Evelyn Hornbarger who won the contest! Thanks everyone!*

This is such a fun way to kick off the next month! Each week until the Triple the Romance Book Launch on FEBRUARY 22, I will give things away! Just give them. *makes swirly magic fingers* Like, I can almost grant wishes. So, in order to be entered into this week's contest, you must perform 3 (THREE) tasks. These are:

1) LIKE my Facebook page. Here you will be kept up to date (even much better than on this blog) on all the writerly things happening in my little world of writing things. *note: If you've already done this not only are you super cool but you are that much closer to being entered.

2) SHARE the cover of this beautiful ebook, The Love Letter Collection, on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, your own blog, in emails to your family and friends or book club, etc.

3) LINK to information here about my TRIPLE THE ROMANCE BOOK LAUNCH. The more, the merrier. The link is: http://kristalynnejensen.blogspot.com/2014/01/i-hope-everyone-had-wonderful-holiday-i.html

*TIP: Post the picture with the link to the book launch attached.

If you complete all three of these noble tasks, you will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of A TIMELESS ROMANCE ANTHOLOGY: LOVE LETTER COLLECTION!

THEN, come back here and *in the comments section, let me know what you did! It's the best way for me to keep tabs of all entries. And, if you feel like you'd like to SHARE again within the week, that will gain you a bonus entry.

*Okay, most of you are just letting me know by Facebook, so that's accepted, too. :)

Do you need more incentive? Well, I will give you some!

About the Anthology

A Timeless Romance Anthology: Love Letter Collection

Six Award-Winning Authors have contributed new stories to A Timeless Romance Anthology: Love Letter Collection. Readers will love this collection of six novellas—three contemporary and three historical—all with one thing in common: Romance.

In Maggie’s Song, a charming story by Karey White, Maggie Jensen is part of a trio of best friends with Lucas and Dan. Together, they own and run Wild Country Hiking Tours. When Lucas returns to the company after getting his college degree, Maggie realizes that the crush she had on him as a teenager has now blossomed into so much more. But Lucas still treats her as one of the guys, and Maggie worries that if she tells him her real feelings, their relationship will be damaged forever.

In Just Fly, Krista Lynne Jensen's captivating novella, Wren is faced with the devastating news of her grandfather's death. But when her mom finds a mysterious letter from a woman named Dot in Seattle, Wren decides to visit the woman herself to deliver the news in person. Wren learns of the bucket list Dot and Gramps had put together with the help of Dot's grandson, Seth, and Dot challenges Wren to take her grandfather's place in completing the list. Before the week of adventure is over, Seth has impressed Wren in more ways than one. But is that enough to overcome Wren's fear of losing those she loves?

How to Rewrite a Love Letter, an enthralling novella by Diane Darcy, high school teacher Julie Ashburn believes she’ll never live the “event” down in which she wrote her true feelings in a love letter to Principal Dane Parker, and he laughed out loud, mocking her. Now that her honors English students want to write love letters for the school fundraiser, Dane turns down the idea flat. Julie tries to convince him that it was her students’ idea and not any sort of payback. But when a student writes a fake love letter from the principal to Julie, everything gets even more mixed up, and both Julie and Dane are caught up in a series of misunderstandings that might be impossible to sort out. 

In Sarah M. Eden’s delightful story, A Thousand Words, Shannon Ryan has been waiting half a year to be reunited with her fiance, Patrick, with only the letters between them keeping their relationship alive. He finally sends for her after securing a good job with the Sidney newspaper, and she can’t wait to be reunited with him, swept up in his arms and thoroughly kissed. And of course, married as soon as possible. But when she arrives at the train station, there is no Patrick waiting for her. Shannon must discover if the man she loves still has feelings for her.

Between the Lines is a sweet romance by Annette Lyon. Jane Martin is intelligent but extremely shy, especially around men. When the Aid and Cultural Society proposes a letter-writing program, Jane signs up, hoping she can find true friendship. The program doesn’t run as smoothly as expected, and unknown to Jane, one of the men in her city becomes her writing friend. Thomas Allred has always known shy and quiet Jane, but reading her letters written to his secret persona, opens his eyes to what an amazing woman she is. The only trouble is, Jane doesn’t know that the man who she is falling in love with through letters is also Thomas, the man who is falling in love with her in person.

In the enchanting novella, Blackberry Hollow, by Heather B. Moore, Lucy Quinn travels to England to inspect her inherited estate. Unfortunately, as a resident of New York and nearly engaged, Lucy needs put the house on the market. But first, she wants to learn more about her ancestors. What she doesn’t expect is Calvin Bevans, the man living next door. The two families have been divided by a misunderstanding decades old, and when Lucy discovers a set of love letters, she learns the truth. As Calvin helps her unravel the hidden secrets between the two families, Lucy finds that she has more reasons to stay in England than to return to New York. And Calvin is at the top of that list.

How's THAT? It's a really fun book. I'm so delighted to be in a compilation with these other authors. This ebook series is available for Kindle and Nook.

Contest will close at 10:30 PM on Friday, January 31st. I'll announce the winners on Saturday. Then, on Monday I'll post the next contest! I know, it's magical.

TRIPLE-THE-ROMANCE BOOK LAUNCH

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I enjoyed it very much. So many things to be thankful for, and so many amazing things happening. A Happy New Year to all!

Enough with the chit-chat. TA DA!

~Triple-the-Romance Book Launch~

DAY: Saturday, February 22

TIME: 11:00am-1:00pm

WHERE: Fort Union Deseret Books

Midvale, Utah

Don't they look pretty lined up like that? Whether you'd like one or two or all three, come see me at the beautiful Fort Union Deseret Books store. I'll have treats and bookmarks and of course, books to sign. Falling For You and With All My Heart are paperbacks, and the Timeless Romance: Love Letter Collection is an ebook, available soon at Amazon.com. 

What a month for romance!

Stay tuned for a contest you don't want to miss out on. Three winners will be chosen!

A Novella

Wikipedia told me a novella is a work of fiction anywhere between 17,500-40,000 words.
Short stories: under 7500 words.
Novelette: 7500-17,500.
Novel: 40,000 words or more.

My latest project clocks in at just under 21,000.

Behold, I've written a novella.

Several months ago my editor at Covenant requested that I submit a short story for an anthology (around 17,000 words, so novelette-ish). I was happy to give it a shot. HANGING BY A MOMENT is set on a yacht rental in the British Caribbean. This was an easy choice. Last October my husband and I took a rare opportunity to escape to the British Virgin Islands with my sister, her husband, and some of their friends. I kept a journal, all the while considering that the experience might work into a story someday.

The only hiccup was, 10 days on a rented pontoon yacht does not a full novel make. Although I had a basis for a story-line in mind, I couldn't shake the feeling that I would have to add or force additional settings to make it longer. But really all I wanted to do was create a focused story centered on the trip.

And then I got the request from my editor, and lo, a light shone around my story idea and I said, "SO LET IT BE WRITTEN. SO LET IT BE DONE." A focused story the way I envisioned it. A novella.

I'd never written a novella before, but I had written a short story, and I'd also seen the benefits of outlining when writing any story. The main thing I learned in writing short stories is to start in the middle, or even near the end. Lose subplots. Keep the MC up front. These guidelines worked well for the novella, too.

I figured I'd write about 1500 words per "chapter" (I kind of used scenes instead of chapters when drafting this shorter story). I divided my end goal word count by 1500 and wrote a skeletal outline. Super skeletal. I chose a word or phrase per "chapter", numbered them, and went to work getting my characters from one scene to the next. Sometimes I flipped scenes around, or crossed some out, or added a new one, but for the most part I stuck to the outline, hit the chapter word count almost without trying (that seemed to be how my pacing just played out and my characters quickly began to lead me), and let the fun happen without pulling all my hair out. Only some of my hair got pulled out.

Mission accomplished.

*sigh* It's a bit of vacation all over again:

The driver answered their questions in his thick island accent and as she listened, Kendal watched a different world pass by the windows. So much color. Poverty, wealth, commerce, tourism, all packed together in a humid tropical paradise. Bicycles, motorbikes, limousines, rusty old trucks, taxis, and flowers everywhere flowers could grow.  They passed a school yard filled with cocoa-skinned children dressed in white shirts and black shorts running crazily after a soccer ball.

She found herself leaning forward, nose almost touching the window, taking it all in.

“First time here, Magic?”

Kendal pulled away from the window and faced Bret, who had turned in his seat, his arm draped over the back. She hadn’t been called that in a really long time, and she wasn’t sure she liked how it made her feel. She shook her head. “Have you?”

A New Challenge: The Short Story

Be obscure clearly.  ~E.B. White

 In studying the short story, I found this to be very true. This is the challenge. I am a novice, but I took notes.

• Have a clear theme
• Begin as close to the conclusion as possible
• Grab the reader from the first line
• conserve characters and scene... one problem, one drive

I found this site, of all the places I researched, to be the most helpful, and this idea stayed in my mind:

Your job, as a writer of short fiction--whatever your beliefs--is to put complex personalities on stage and let them strut and fret their brief hour. Perhaps the sound and fury they make will signify something that has more than passing value--that will, in Chekhov's words, "make [man] see what he is like." -Rick Demarnus

You may have less than 5000 words to make your character beloved, or hated, the conflict mean something to the reader, and a resolution that resonates. Yikes.
As one who tends to drag out my endings because I just... can't... let... my story... go...  (and so my editors ask me to chop them off) I found this advice very encouraging:

In short fiction, it is difficult to provide a complete resolution and you often need to just show that characters are beginning to change in some way or starting to see things differently.

I understood that. I could envision it with my idea.

Accepting a short story challenge was exciting to me. I still prefer the novel, the juicy details and telling dialogue. But I really liked the 'get to it' feeling of writing the short story. As with anything new you put out in front of others, I am nervous about feedback. But I enjoyed what I learned. I'll try to remember that after the critique.