Looking Out The Window: Lisa Lickel Tells The Story Behind Her Christmas Novella, Crazy Creek Christmas. Gives Away A PDF Copy of Two Christmas Novellas To Two Lucky Winners.

A Warm Welcome To Lisa Lickel

Lisa will give away a pdf copy of Crazy Creek Christmas to anyone who names a favorite horse and a copy of Meow Mistletoe to anyone who has a brief story about their favorite cat. To enter to win leave your comment below with an email address.

The Story Behind Crazy Creek Christmas

My husband and I were on our way home to Wisconsin from my favorite western state, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park, when my phone rang. My editor was calling to tell me some good news and some challenging news. The good news: the story collection she had started three years earlier was finally getting a release date. March 2020! Yay! It’s going to be a great collection based on the elements of Philippians 4:8: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

These stories are similar to another earlier collection based around I Corinthians 13—the Love Is verses. My story was a sequel to one I wrote for that collection called “Everything About You.” The Philippians story was titled “Everything About Us” and features the same characters another stop along in their romance.

The challenge? In the meantime, two years ago, I had written a third episode in the Danny and Shelly saga (the “Everything” characters) as a holiday extravaganza novella for our publisher. Number three, “Everything Noel” cannot come before Number the second, “Everything About Us.” Just can’t. Wait and see.

It’s September. These holiday stories are due to the publisher in June. “Can you quick write another one? A different one?” my editor asks me.

We’re passing through Minnesota, after a lovely trip to Wyoming. I had been noodling an idea for a Western, a genre I hadn’t written in before. Let’s see, the heroine could come from…Minnesota! The story could be set…on a ranch…in Wyoming!

“Sure,” I say blithely. “I can do that.”

“Good. You’ll get bumped to the head of the editor’s list,” she says and we hang up.

My editor knows me. I rise to a challenge. We completed the project in good time. In fact, the publisher came out with a cute cover before the editing was complete.

Wait, you say, you wrote that “Everything” story two years ago. What happened?

Last year we were releasing my updated and new cozy mystery series. At least my editor called me up in good time for that challenge. She explained that the Philippians stories were on hold, which meant “Everything Noel” would be…you guessed it! Out of order. “I think you should write a mystery, a cozy cat mystery as a prequel to the Meow mysteries, and call it Meow Mistletoe,” she tells me.

Yes, I do like a challenge. Last year, I was tasked to write a holiday story for a title. This year, it was to write a replacement story in a new genre. “I can do that!”

Hopefully we’ll all get to see “Everything Noel” next year, and I won’t be scrambling in March and April (or September) to write a replacement holiday novella. Instead, we can enjoy “Everything About Us” in the spring, and find out what happens to Danny and Shelly next Christmas.

Although my publisher did mention that she liked my main character from “Crazy Creek Christmas,” Noel, who thinks he wants to sell the ranch, when in reality, he just wants to find home…what could come next for him?

Na…even my editor wouldn’t do that to me, would she?

About Crazy Creek Christmas

Crazy Creek, Wyoming saves Leah Hanes's life. Running on fumes and bald tires, she thanks heaven for Cupcake and Jeanette Wimmer who send her to the Rocking J Ranch as a winter cook. Leah arrives to discover the ranch and the people need more than a cook.

Noel Johansen, heir of the Rocking J, happily left for the big city years ago. When he loses his family in a terrible accident, the best thing for everyone is to sell the place, ditch the memories, and move on. But his brother-in-law has other plans, and the beautiful new cook they've hired for the season threatens Noel's desire to remain detached.

The ranch represents Noel's future and selling it becomes more important than ever when one more tragedy leaves him with nothing. But memories can't be bought and sold, nor can a broken conscience heal itself. Home, heart, and future are irrevocably tied in Crazy Creek.

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About Meow Mistletoe

Ivy has just cause to be wary of men. Her long-time fiancé backed out of their wedding. The slow fizzle of their undramatic relationship leaves her wondering if romance is a myth.

Then, Adam, an intriguing new member of her pet organization, catches Ivy's attention. Unfortunately, his cat Isis, a beautiful purebred Egyptian Mau, prefers to pick on her cat, Memnet. Ivy would like to get to know Adam better, but with her self-esteem in the gutter and feline fights at every turn, she wonders how to proceed.

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Bio:

Lisa Lickel is a Wisconsin author who loves books and dragons, she writes inspiring fiction. Besides writing inspiring fiction, she also writes short stories, feature articles, and radio theater, and loves to encourage new authors through mentoring, speaking, and leading workshops. She is an avid book reviewer and blogger, and a freelance editor. Find more at LisaLickel.com.