THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS PAST - Cindy and Erin Woodsmall - One Free Book

Dear Readers, The Gift of Christmas Past, is my favorite among all the Christmas books I’ve read this year. It’s poignant, and it stayed with me for days after I read the last page. I’ve loved Cindy’s writing for a long, and with the addition of her daughter, this book continues the tradition of stories that really grip your heart, characters who pull you into their world, and both a strong romantic thread as well as a strong spiritual thread. A very satisfying read.

Welcome Erin, and welcome back, Cindy. I know that this is a collaboration. How did this story come about?

Cindy: This story began in November 2016. Erin and I had written another Christmas novella together, but it wouldn’t be released until 2018, so there was a chance to create something new and different. We brainstormed during the holidays, working around the birth of Erin’s third child, Silas. Then we put our feet on the ground in Asheville for the research and got to work!

Erin: I’ve been doing various things for Cindy’s writing career for around a decade, working on the website and blogs, brainstorming, outlining, and more. After I lost a baby in January 2016, I needed a creative outlet. Cindy saw that, because she’s very intuitive, and we started collaborating on an Amish Christmas novella about a pharmacy, with the tentative title of A Spoonful of Christmas. It went so well we wanted to do it again!

Did you find it easy to work together on it?

Erin: Actually, yes. Our personalities mesh well together. I consider Cindy one of my closest friends and it’s been a joy to work with her.

Cindy: Definitely easy. Moreover, the brainstorming and writing together brought new and unexpected excitement to my workday.

How did collaborating with this team impact you?

Cindy: It’s hard to explain—we went from understanding each other on one level to understanding each other on a much deeper level. Collaborating means I have someone close to me who gets what I do, who is excited about the process of writing, and who knows what it takes to get the story from the “drawing board” to the written page. Going places to research has been so much fun, and we’ve made memories that will last a lifetime. We have our brainstorming sessions at our favorite coffee shop. I’ve never experienced anything like this, and I never expected to, so it’s changed me. (As of November 2017, we’ve written three books together, two for Random House.)

Erin: It’s impacted me much more than I can succinctly put into words. I learned a new skill—going from the “behind the scenes” work to creating stories and getting into the heads and hearts of characters, and in that I found a new side of myself. Cindy and I were already close, but like she mentioned earlier, after working together on novels, we have a new level of understanding with each other.  

What is the hardest thing about writing as a team?

Erin: The hardest part, surprisingly, has been figuring out a file system that works for both of us! There are a lot of files with specific information that has to be updated almost daily as we move forward—the chapter-by-chapter outline, the research notes, the character chart, our personal thoughts, and the actual chapters. It’s vital that we don’t save over each other’s work or make changes to a document without the latest information. I thought using Dropbox would be a good solution, because if either of us makes a change, it updates the document for both of us. But that system didn’t work for Cindy because of how changes show up on her computer.

Cindy: Computers. Don’t get me started on my propensity for technology glitches! Sharing information and making sure each person has the most updated files is so important. For all documents that aren’t actual chapters or the master copy, we figured out that Google Docs is a good solution.

What are you reading right now?

Both: Edits for next year’s novel!

Erin: I just downloaded Laura V. Hilton’s new Christmas novella collaboration, Love’s Thankful Heart. Novellas are so fun to enjoy during Christmastime!

Cindy: I love Katie Ganshert’s work. I’ve just cracked the first pages of Life After.

How did you choose your characters’ names?

Erin: I have three children, and with each one my husband and I found ourselves in … uh, spirited debates over names. Hadley, Monroe, and Chloe were all on my list of names that were rejected.

Cindy: Typically, I go through an Amish address book, so it was a lot of fun that we were able to hash out contemporary names. I just love the name Elliott for a girl.

Would you want to work on another book together?

Both: We already have! We feel like we’re just now getting really good at it. Next year we have two coming out through Random House’s WaterBrook Press imprint, one in August and one in October. The tentative titles are Ocean Roads and A Spoonful of Christmas. And we have at least three more ideas for future books!

I’ll want to feature both of them on my blog. What do you want to tell us about The Gift of Christmas Past?

Erin: This is Cindy’s first indie and her first non-Amish book. We’re able to offer it at a great price, in stores as a paperback, as well as free for readers on Kindle Unlimited. It’s a well-researched story with heart. We hope it feels like you’re stepping into the characters’ worlds.

Cindy:

Promises made. 
Lies spoken.

Dreams shattered.
She was arrested.
He returned to the safety of his wealthy parents.

Almost ten years later, Hadley and Monroe are both specialists in the field of speech therapy. They meet again . . . thrown together to help a four-year-old-girl rendered mute after being rescued from a fire.

Years of secrets and anger beg to be set free as Hadley and Monroe try to push aside past hurts and find common ground in order to help the traumatized child and her family.

Can the love of Christmas past drift into the present, bringing healing and hope for all?

Please give us the first page of the book for my readers.

Hadley’s mind reeled with disbelief as her foster mom shoved her clothes into an old suitcase. “But…but I’m innocent.”

“Maybe.” Dianna gave a half-hearted nod. “I hope so. It’d be an awful thing to squander the opportunities we’ve offered you.”

“I…I am. The investigation will prove it. I promise. You’ve got to believe me. Please.”

“Like I said, maybe you are innocent…of this incident. You had seemed to be making great strides since you went to anger-management classes. I’ll give you that, Hads.”

“Then don’t send me back. Please. My friends are here. Monroe is—”

“Decision’s made. You made it when you broke curfew for the third time.”

“But I was only a little late and for good reasons. You said so—”

“I’m aware.” Dianna didn’t pause her movements as she packed Hadley’s toothbrush.

Hadley bit back tears, hating any sign of being vulnerable. “Then why?”

“They’ve found two witnesses who place you in the Reeds’ yard.”

“What?” Hadley’s knee-jerk gasp was the totally wrong response. Stay cool. Remain calm.

“Yeah, apparently you were there.” Dianna released a slow sigh. “Imagine that.”

Regret twisted through Hadley. She never should’ve set foot on the Reeds’ property. “Okay, I was at their place, but I never—”

“Interesting.” Dianna stood up straight, the top of her head now even with Hadley’s nose. She yanked a beautiful red sweater off a hanger, a Christmas gift from Scott and her to Hadley a mere three weeks ago. “You’ve denied being anywhere near there until right now. They said they saw you start a fire using leaves, sticks, and what appeared to be some kind of accelerant.” She shoved the sweater into the suitcase with the other clothes as if it and Hadley no longer mattered.

Should she explain her actions? The moment the question came to her she knew the answer. No matter the subject or the situation, adults couldn’t be trusted. Anything Hadley said would be passed along to the authorities, distorted, and used against her.

Dianna jammed two pairs of wool socks into the suitcase. “Anyway, Scott and I think it’s in everyone’s best interest if you don’t live here anymore.”

(To read the rest of Chapter One, go here: http://www.cindywoodsmall.com/excerpt-the-gift-of-christmas-past/ 

Where can our readers find you on the Internet?

We can be found on Cindy’s Facebook, where we both answer readers.  https://www.facebook.com/authorcindywoodsmall

Also on Cindy’s website and blog: www.cindywoodsmall.com

Thank you, Cindy and Erin, for sharing this book with me and my blog readers. I know they will love it as much as I have.

Readers, here are links to the book.

The Gift of Christmas Past - Christianbook.com
The Gift Of Christmas Past: A Southern Romance - Amazon paperback
The Gift of Christmas Past - Kindle

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