Sandra Leesmith Celebrates Christmas With Us!

Hello Seekerville,

How fun to join you again today.  I was just up to the North Pole and got caught in a whirlwind of activity with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Guess what Mrs. Claus wants to do now?

Write a novel.

My, my, they took advantage of my visit and picked my brain.

Now you might be asking what I was doing up at the North Pole and you might also be asking why Mrs. Claus has the sudden urge to write a novel.

Well it turns out both are for the same reason. We both have had a lot of changes in our lives and the old traditions we had for Christmas just won’t be happening any more. In my case, family and friends have moved on to celebrate with the Lord and so we won’t be traveling to California to their house as usual and won’t have the big family get-together, bicycle rides on the beach or the homemade tomales.

In Mrs. Claus life, she has all this time on her hands because their children are taking over most of the jobs she used to do. She is delighted with this change because it gives her time to pursue a dream she has apparently harbored in her heart for years.

Santa advised both of us to find a new tradition to replace the old. How fun is that?  And you know how the Lord places us in positions to help each other. So that is how I came to be around to help Mrs. Claus. I’d never been to the North Pole and thought it would be a perfect destination for the holidays.

Mrs. Claus has never written a novel before so we had to start at the beginning.  Placing my finger on my chin, I thought back to that lovely visit. I asked her what kind of books she loves to read because that is the genre you would be best at writing.

“Romance novels,” she replied.

“Great,” I responded, excitement bouncing around in my heart,  “I happen to have a lot of experience in that genre and I know a great place to get help.”

“Where is that?”

“Seekerville .”  And I told her all about the wonderful support and writing tips that abound on this marvelous blog.

 Mrs. Claus wrote down all the contact information and smiled, “I’m ready. So what do I need to know?”

“The elements of story to start with,” I settled into the big wing back chair and tucked the down comforter around my legs. “A romance involves a heroin and hero who fall in love, but there are conflicts that prevent them from doing so. The story shows how they resolve those conflicts so that they can live happily ever after.”

“I have a heroine for sure and I think my hero might take after Mr. Claus a wee bit.”

“That’s perfectly normal to use people we know as character models.”

“I’d be careful not to make it obvious,” Mrs. Clause twirled a strand of her white hair around her finger.

“There is a problem with using characters we know and love.” I chewed on the end of my pen. “There has to be conflict. We need to be mean to those characters and make their life rough.”

Lines creased across Mrs. Claus’s brow. “I can’t be mean.”

I straightened and pointed my finger. “Exactly. That is why its best to make up your character. Because my dear, you will have to write in problems that will make it seem its impossible for the hero and heroine to ever get together. Read some of the Seeker novels. They are very good at doing that. Their characters get into some real pickles sometimes.”

Santa danced around the Christmas tree. “You don’t do so badly yourself on that score, Miss Sandra. Tell her about poor Danny on the isolated and primitive island in the San Juan Straights. The city guy had to be taught how to dig for clams, collect oysters off the rocks and….”

“Yes, the heroine of LOVE’S REFUGE, who had escaped to the island because of the trauma she’d faced in an attack from gangs in the city.” I smiled, happy Santa thought to use an example from one of my books.

“I get it,” Mrs. Claus straightened, “She’s a country girl and he’s a city boy.”

“Oh yes, but its much more complicated than that. He works with youth trying to get  out of gangs.”

Santa turned and winked. “The novel was quite humorous during their trials on the island, but when Skye found out about his work, it put her to the test.”

“And that’s another thing you need to keep in mind.” I tapped her notepad. “The hero and heroine need to grow and overcome their flaws.”

Mrs. Claus scribbled more notes onto her notepad.

“The other element you need for story is a setting. And it helps to make it intricate to the conflicts within the plot.” I readjusted the comforter before it slipped to the floor.

“In LOVE’S PROMISES, the setting played a key role.” Santa stepped back, admiring his handiwork. “The heroine wanted to build her famous father’s last house at Lake Tahoe, but the hero worked for the agency that prevented her from doing so.”

“I get it.” Mrs. Clause grabbed Santa’s elbow and spun around in a delightful dance.

Snatching up the notepad that had dropped on the floor, I quickly scrawled a list.

ELEMENTS OF STORY

1.      Strong characters

2.      Setting

3.      Conflict

4.      Growth of characters in resolution of the conflict.

Mrs. Claus clapped her hands before grasping the notepad. “This is wonderful. I’m ready to write.”

“You have a start, but I advise you to get online and follow Seekerville. Each post is stock full of helpful tips and useful information.”

“Thank you so much.” Mrs. Claus hugged me tight.

I smiled, thankful I had made the journey even though it was freezing out.

And hey, since autographed books make terrific Christmas gifts, I will pick two winners for my latest book "Love's Healing."

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sandra Leesmith is retired now, but she used to write sweet romances to warm the heart. Sandra loves to play pickleball, hike, read, bicycle and write. She is based in Arizona, but she and her husband travel throughout the United States in their motorhome and enjoy the outdoors. Sandra’s books are still available and three of her most popular books are audio books. You can find all of Sandra’s books and audio books on Amazon.