Can you believe we are already at the end of the year? It’s been quite the year, hasn’t it? But before we bid farewell to 2020, let me tell you what I have been up to in my writing life this past month and what is on the horizon to happen (hopefully) before the year ends or just as the calendar turns.
Story Updates
Here are a few updates on stories I have been working on and what I am planning to work on next:
Christmas in Gracechurch Street: This story was supposed to be on preorder today. It’s not – which fits for this story. It has not been where I wanted it to be the whole time I was writing it. I am a person who likes schedules and routine. This year has been one of working on flexibility, whether I wanted to work on it or not. 😀 However, all the edits should be done by the end of next week, and I have penciled in December 15 as the release day for this book.
The Sweet Extra to go with Gracechurch Street: This is the next story I am going to be working on. Currently, I am still in the prewriting stages of this story. I asked my patrons on Patreon if they thought I should pair Mary with the colonel or Mr. Pointon (an original character who was in Christmas at Gracechurch Street) so far, it seems like the colonel is going to win out. However, that pairing is the harder of the two to figure out, but I do like a challenge.
Mr. Bingley Plans a Ball: This story is complete and just waiting its turn to be put through the editing and publishing process. I hope to have this story published in January. This story at just over 16,500 words long in it’s pre-edits form is the longest story that, to date, I have written in a single point of view. There were times when I wanted to break away from Bingley’s point of view, but did not allow it, and while that was a challenge, I ended up really enjoying just being in the one point of view for so long.
His Sensible Heart: I am still writing this one and just passed the 20,000-word mark this week. I do not expect to have this manuscript completed until after the new year.
Publishing News
While I missed getting the preorder set up and am about a week behind in my editing, I do have a cover ready to go for Christmas in Gracechurch Street, and, here, is the first look at that cover.
Coming December 15, 2020.
The complete Other Pens series is now no longer in Kindle Unlimited, and I am working on getting them uploaded the other store fronts. There are a few steps that have to be taken before they are ready to go. I plan to have them all uploaded and available everywhere by the end of December. Currently, books 1 and 2 are available “wide,” as we call it when a book is not exclusive to Amazon but available elsewhere. 🙂
Henry’s story is now only 0.99 USD. The other books in the series are still 2.99 USD.
Just click the image below to find out where each book is available.
Book Promotion
(Click the image to find links to all the stores where this book is available.)
*$0.99 USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, with all other currencies also reduced.
Book Review
This is the most recent review for Two Days Before Christmas. Thank you, Joann ME, for taking the time to read and review. I am so pleased that you enjoyed the story.
Here’s some information for the curious sorts out there like me: Just how short is this short read? According to my stats, it is 12 chapters long and just a few words over 33,000 words. Just the length of book I personally adore reading.
(And yes, I seriously like knowing this sort of information. I would blame my years teaching junior high math, but I liked it before that. 🙂 )
Something Extra
I recently signed up for book promotion emails from a couple of sites that do sweet romance only newsletters. The reason I signed up was two-fold. I like the idea of a newsletter with only sweet reads listed in it, and I have just started experimenting with using these newsletters to help promote some of my books.
[The two sites are Sweet Romance Book Bargains and Full Hearts Romance (Sweet Hearts Romance). Full Hearts has several different romance promotion emails so make sure you’ve got the Sweet Hearts one if you’re looking for the non-steamy sort of read. 🙂 ]
On Black Friday, Sweet Romance Book Bargains had this book listed in their post along with many, many other books. I picked up a few books from that post. However, this is the only one I have read so far. It was a cute story, but you must be willing to suspend all belief when you read it because Miss Kane is Santa’s daughter. As you can imagine, that fact means there will be some Christmas magic and seemingly impossible things happening.
I just had to share this video today since it is for a Christmas cake that I think my guys would like. I make a cake at Christmas time that is packed with dried fruit and sweetened only with apple juice. My husband absolutely loves it.
(I also think that Mrs. Crocombe, dressed in red with her white apron and cap, would make a very good Mrs. Claus. I think it is her glasses and cap that make me think that.)
Have a good weekend! Be safe and well. (And maybe read a book 🙂 )
~*~*~
The next Saturday Broadsheet that you will receive will be on January 9, 2021.
MAILING LIST | PATREON | SOCIETY6
Good morning, I recently purchased Two Days before Christmas. I look forward to reading it.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂
I do hope ‘The Sweet Extra to go with Gracechurch Street’ will be Mary and the Colonel, as my Mary and Colonel bookshelve needs more books
The story I am planning is a Mary and the Colonel story so there should be another to add to your collection. 🙂
That video was so cute. I love watching [and listening] to her as she works. I imagine cooks back then had arms with muscles like steel. Man… I couldn’t live without a heavy duty mixer. Some recipes don’t warrant a mixer and suggest stirring by hand. Whew! I was tired just watching. Blessings on all your hard work, Leenie. Stay safe and healthy./
I have often thought that about cooks back then — they had to have some strength to do the job! I do love watching her videos, too. 🙂