I was outside all day blowing leaves. I have three wooded acres, and I do all my own outdoor work. From October to December I spend every weekend outside blowing the leaves into the wooded areas. And today, when I came inside to check my e-mail, I had an e-mail exchange with an editor about doing a Christmas Novella. The e-mail went like this:

Editor: Can you do a Christmas novella by December 1st?

Me: I’m not sure that’s enough time. I already have one coming out and I have so much going on. But thanks for thinking of me anyway.

An hour later. I think I’m off the hook (smile).

Editor: We’d really like one. We can change deadline dates so you can work on this right now.

I hesitate before I reply this time. I wrote a Christmas story for an anthology last year titled, “Home for the Holidays,” and I’ve been dying to develop those two main characters for a long time. So I reply fast.

Me: Okay. I’ll do it.

Editor: Thanks!!

And I really am looking forward to doing this novella. Out of all the characters I’ve written, these two, Nathan and Lance, stick with me all the time…for some reason I can’t explain. So I’ll be posting about two Christmas novellas this season. This week blog posts may be scarce while I’m working on this new one.