Dear Readers, I love
Sally’s writing. I featured her first full-length novel earlier on the blog, so
I was eager to share this Christmas novella with you. I always look forward to
reading a lot of Christmas novels and novellas each year.
Welcome back, Sally. God
has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on the horizon?
I’m excited to be releasing my second full-length novel, Love and Roses, early in 2018 and eager
to begin work on my next book. I’m grateful every day for the opportunity to
write, and I pray that my books may not just entertain but also bring
encouragement to readers.
Be sure to contact me
about the new novel when you have a pub date. I’ll want to feature it on the
blog, too. Tell us a little about your family.
I’ve been happily married for 24 years. My husband and I
have a son and a daughter, both in college. This is our first year as empty
nesters, but we seem to be adjusting all right as long as I remember when I buy
groceries that a half gallon of milk will last a week.
Has your writing
changed your reading habits? If so, how?
Writing has made my reading more focused and intentional. In
fiction, I make sure to read widely in my genre of contemporary Christian
romance, as well as in historical Christian romance. I also read British chick
lit and cozy mysteries, and I intentionally read some national bestsellers each
year including a little literary fiction.
Also, since I began writing Christian fiction in 2009, I
have made a point to begin every writing session by reading the Bible. It gets
my writing off to a good start and puts my mind in the
right place.
Yes, and I pray a lot
while I’m writing. God often changes things in my books. What are you working
on right now?
I am doing the final polish of Love and Roses and toying with ideas for a novella.
What outside
interests do you have?
I enjoy kayaking, birdwatching, swimming, BBC television,
and crossword puzzles. And, of course, reading!
How do you choose
your settings for each book?
All my books are set in small towns in Missouri , where I was born. I can’t imagine
writing a book set in a city. I love the interconnectedness of small towns!
If you could spend an
evening with one historical person, who would it be and why?
Hmmm, I bet everyone answers “Jesus.” If that answer is
taken, I’ll say Agatha Christie. I love her books and I believe she helped her
husband on archeological trips. I’d love to know more about her.
A new movie of Murder on the Orient Express is coming
out very soon. James and I are eager to see it. What is the one thing you wish
you had known before you started writing novels?
I wish I had known that even big-time authors have books
where the plot isn’t quite right at first. I had no idea how much a book could
be revised.
What new lessons is
the Lord teaching you right now?
God is teaching me to try new things and not to limit
myself. For example, I’m teaching adult Sunday School for the first time.
Teaching children was no problem, but I always thought I’d be nervous teaching
adults. I’m actually enjoying it!
What are the three
best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?
Find a critique group (online perhaps?), read extensively in
the genre you want to write in, and participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel
Writing Month).
Yes. That starts
today. Tell us about the featured book.
Christmas in Abundance is a contemporary Christian romance
novella about a couple at odds over a holiday light display.
Fifty thousand bulbs can shed a lot of light … but will it
be enough to help Kyle and Lanie see that they belong together?
Lanie Phillips has a quiet holiday planned. So quiet, in
fact, that the only sounds in the house where she’s staying should be the
clicks of her computer keyboard and the occasional bark from a chocolate
Labrador retriever. No joyous choirs of angels, no jolly laughs from Santa, and
no jingle bells—nothing to distract her from her master’s thesis or bring up
painful Christmas memories.
But for the single dad who’s her closest neighbor, simple
holiday decorations just won’t do. Kyle Mattox is determined to give his
five-year-old daughter the best Christmas ever—one that includes an outdoor
display lit with fifty thousand lights, activated in time to music shared
through four giant loudspeakers.
When Lanie comes to complain that she can’t write with the
lights flashing and carols blasting, Kyle realizes that—unknown to her—their
circuits have crossed in the past. If he wants his daughter happy, he needs to
keep that information to himself, keep the show running, and keep his distance
from Lanie.
Please give us the
first page of the book for my blog readers.
The last thing Lanie Phillips needed to hear was Christmas
music.
She jabbed the button of her car radio and cut off a chorus
of elves singing “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Wonderful? Not likely,
considering she’d be spending it alone.
The wail of the wind intensified, and her headlights
reflected off pellets of snow that whipped across her line of sight. She pulled
her wool scarf higher around her neck. Even with the car’s heat on high, the
cold seeped in. She squinted through the squall of white, wishing for some indication
that she was nearing the Mattox place. Finding her way down the county roads
outside her hometown of Abundance, Missouri ,
was bad enough in the dark without adding a snowstorm into the mix.
Around the next bend, a small sign barely stuck out over the
snow. “You’re almost to the Mattox house!” it read.
How can readers find
you on the Internet?
My website is www.sallybayless.com.
Readers can find excerpts from all my books there, can email me, and can sign
up for my newsletter and my street team. Newsletter subscribers are the first
to learn when I release a new book.
I’m on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/authorsallybayless/.
Facebook is my favorite social media, so I check it often.
I’m also on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/sally_bayless/
and Twitter at
Sally, thank you for
sharing this Christmas novella with us. I know my blog readers are eager to
read it.
Readers, here are links to the book.
Christmas in Abundance: A Novella (The Abundance Series)
Christmas in Abundance: A Novella
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