Last Saturday I came into Facebook and saw a post from one of the authors, Kirsten Osbourne, that she wanted to put together a short story anthology. The stories did not have to be romances but did have to be Christmas related. Then she said she wanted to donate her portion of any profits to a charitable organization known for their good work at Christmas and around the year. Because it was almost Christmas, she added she'd have to have any stories by Monday morning.
Kirsten is an author whose ability to put together projects, I admire. I knew if this came off, it'd be good. She knows what she's doing. I went out of Facebook wanting to be part of it. Even more so as all the authors involved said they wanted to do the same thing-- all profits would go to a charity that not only is good at this time of the year but year round.
Writing has some moments like this-- where you wake up with no idea what you'll be doing. It's one of the things I love about being a writer. I sat down at the keyboard and immediately knew who the characters would be. This was some years later, but they had been in my fourth Oregon series. The drawback is that book won't be out until the 21st, but I figure this anthology will be around a long while since Christmas stories sell year round.
When you have the characters, often the story just flows and that happened Saturday. After editing it multiple times, I submitted the story the next morning. Along with over twenty other authors, it's in the new anthology. Some of these writers had a story from before, some did what I did and wrote it that week-end. The selection is a mix of romance and not so much-- with even two authors noted for sci-fi.
To be part of this was such a win/win for me. It was a challenge to see if I could come up with something new when I'd been editing for the last two months, and even better to have it go to a good cause. Check it out, and if you like short stories, you can enjoy the read as well as be supporting a good cause.
Lately short reads have been great for me, and I look forward to reading these stories by some authors I am familiar with and some new to me. Another win/win.
