Writing for the Holidays
by G.G. Royale
Every year I try to write one holiday-themed release. Last year, it was a short, romantic fairy tale based on Norse mythology, “The Longest Night.” I ended up self-publishing that for Kindle, because I didn’t get it ready in time for the publishers.
From a writer’s perspective, making the choice to write a story set around the holiday season can be difficult. It has it pros and cons. Cons? Well, you definitely have to stick to a stricter publishing schedule. You can’t miss deadlines or procrastinate in the least. Another con is that you may only sell the book for the length of the holiday season. Just think of how the Christmas movies are on TV. We all gather round to watch Elf and A Christmas Story over and over again leading up to Christmas, but as soon as the holiday is gone, we forget those movies for the next eleven months. I think people feel the same way about romances set around the holiday season.
The major plus for writing a holiday story is the a potential for a new audience. Some readers will buy into the promotions publishers have during the holidays and purchase holiday-themed books from writers with whom they are unfamiliar. This could win the author a new reader who will come back for book after book. Not to mention it’s fun to write holiday stories, getting to play with all those traditions and trappings of the season.
This year, I wrote The Adoration of Addana, which releases 14 December with Loose Id. This story is special to me. Most of my readers know I live in New Orleans, and I have for nearly a decade now. I am fiercely proud of my city and its citizens. I love setting my stories here, not just because my familiarity with the area makes it easy to write and gives a sense of realism to the details, but also because it possesses such vibrance and diversity. It’s a setting rich with possibility and promise. Much of that grows from the suffering that comes from living here: the hot-as-hell summers, the mosquitoes, the floods... But the town and its people are resilient, resourceful, and joyful. We have to be.
What better time of year to feature those qualities than the holiday season? This story really came about because of my own experiences during those first few months after Hurricane Katrina, just about five years ago now. After the evacuation, we weren’t allowed back into the city until October. Luckily, since I live in “the sliver by the river,” my house didn’t flood, but going into the holiday season of 2005, my coworkers, students, and friends were dealing with rebuilding, Thanksgiving dinner cooked on FEMA trailer stoves, and all the mess that came with the clean-up after the hurricane.
I wanted to write a story about those hard times and fill it with hope. The National Guard troops stationed here did bring hope, and safety, to a lot of people, so it seemed fitting to have a sergeant serve as my hero. Even though I don’t live in Holy Cross -- a neighborhood just to the east of the Industrial Canal -- I’ve always loved its unique qualities, so I decided to set the story there. My heroine, well... She had to be a strong black woman who was fighting the battle of her life to keep her family together through very hard times. The people in this story are true, though they may not actually exist outside the virtual pages of the ebook. All the bits and pieces that make up The Adoration of Addana come from reality. I know people who felt these feelings, who did this work.
I hope you, readers, will take the time out this holiday season to read The Adoration of Addana. It’s probably a little more emotional than my other books, but I think it’s well worth it. In addition, I’ve pledged to donate 20 percent of my own royalties to two local charities who are still helping to rebuild Holy Cross, the Ninth Ward, and other neighborhoods throughout the city: Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together. Many people are still trying to come home, and there are many historical homes in need of renovation and loving families. If you have a little extra left this season, I hope you will donate too.
Happy Holidays!
Blurb about The Adoration of Addana:
It just doesn’t feel like the holiday season with her young boys still evacuated in Houston, but Addana Carmouche will make the best of it as she works to rebuild the home Hurricane Katrina destroyed only a few months earlier. When Sergeant Aleister Colmes sees her on the street one day, he’s intrigued by the small, determined woman clearly living by herself in a place little better than a war zone. He takes it upon himself to look after her, and from that, something more develops. Love grows as Christmas approaches and the neighborhood shows signs of a slow, painful rebirth. But will their relationship survive Colmes’s retirement? His old farm house in Nebraska beckons, but so does the fiery woman who’s spirit and heart he’s come to adore. Addana will never leave Holy Cross. Can Colmes learn to love the neighborhood as much as he does her so they can stay together?
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