I am always happy when I get to chat with Dana R. Lynn & today she’s here to tell us how she got motivated to write her newest novel – Amish Christmas Abduction – in February!
KIDNAPPED IN AMISH COUNTRY
After catching a glimpse of something she wasn’t supposed to see days before Christmas, Irene Martello is run off the road and barely survives. More shocking is the backseat whimper of an Amish toddler stowaway and the familiar sight of their rescuer—the man who’d let her down years earlier.
Police chief Paul Kennedy fears Irene stumbled onto a kidnapping ring with two dangerous agendas: retrieving the girl and silencing the witness for good. Only Paul can keep them safe for the holidays. Guarding Irene means risking his heart—and his secret—but to save the child and the woman he never stopped loving, it’s a risk he has to take.
Hi Carrie! Thank you for having me on your blog again! I love being able to connect with readers and friends I have made on this journey.
I am so excited that my new book, Amish Christmas Abduction, is now available, both in print and in digital form. I loved, loved, LOVED writing this book. I laughed, sighed, and even cried my way through it. I am so happy that I can finally share this story with others.
As you can tell by the title, Amish Christmas Abduction occurs during the Christmas season. I love Christmas. It is just about my favorite time of the year. Writing a Christmas story made it even better. I was able to get into the mood and spirit of the book right away. Of course, I was still writing the story after Christmas ended. I actually finished writing it in February. So how did I keep myself in the mood? Here are a few of the things I did:
Dana’s List of How to Create the Christmas Feeling…in February
- Christmas music- I love Christmas music. If I wasn’t at home, I had Pandora set to play Christmas music. At home, I had a plethora of CD’s to choose from. My favorite songs were O Holy Night, Mary Did You Know, O Come O Come Emmanuel, Little Drummer Boy, and Amy Grant’s Breath of Heaven.
- Decorations- To be honest, my family loves decorations, so it was no hardship for them to leave the tree and lights up until I was done with my story. Often, I would sit in front of the fire with the Christmas lights flickering around me. And since I live in Pennsylvania, the weather was accommodating with cold and snow.
- Coffee or Tea- I love to write with a beverage next to me. For this story, coffee with Peppermint Mocha creamer or Chai Latte tea were my beverages of choice.
- Slippers- I love slippers. My feet easily become cold. Every year I get a new pair of warm fuzzy slippers for Christmas from my husband. Just putting them on is like a warm hug.
- Pictures- I love using visuals for my stories. I spend time finding pictures of what I think the characters, setting, and any other special objects or places would look like. I copy these to a document and print them out so that I have them nearby as I write.
Carrie- Thanks again for letting me stop by. I am in the process right now of writing my December 2018 book. It doesn’t have a title yet, but it will have a Christmas theme again. I will definitely be putting all of these tips to use again!
Thank YOU, Dana! I love getting a behind-the-scenes peek at a novel, especially one that involves Christmas!
Dana R. Lynn grew up in Illinois. She met her husband at a wedding and told her parents she had met her future husband. Nineteen months later, they were married. Today they live in rural Pennsylvania with their three children, two dogs, one cat, one rabbit, one horse and six chickens. In addition to writing, she works as an itinerant teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing and is active in several ministries in her church.
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To put YOU in the Christmas spirit, I am giving away a copy of Amish Christmas Abduction (print if US, digital if international as long as you can accept ebooks from Amazon. Void where prohibited by law) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.
What about you? What’s your favorite thing that Dana did to get that Christmas feeling in February?
I drink hot tea year round, so that would be my go to. Thank you for the interview and giveaway opportunity. Merry Christmas!
thanks, Perrianne! 🙂
I love tea…hot, cold. Thanks for stopping by! Merry Christmas.
Slippers and Christmas music would do it for me!
Thanks for stopping by Susan!
Me too!!
I like still having pretty winter decorations up, even past Christmas!
I love ornaments! They make the home seem so cozy!
Me too!!
Coffee or tea! There’s nothing like hot chocolate in the dead of winter!
My daughter would agree with you!
Yay for hot chocolate!
I love slippers and also Christmas music.
There’s nothing like a pair of fuzzy slippers on a cold morning.
Me too!
I love the decorations.
Marilyn
Thanks for stopping by Marilyn!
Me too 🙂
Coffee or Tea
I forgot about hot chocolate! That would work too!
I think Christmas music would do it for me! Thank you for the giveaway opportunity!
Your welcome! Thanks for stopping by!
I love Christmas music 🙂
Christmas music and decorations! I haven’t yet read anything by Dana and would love to win a copy of this book. The cover is beautiful and the synopsis sounds great. Thanks for the giveaway. ?
Evangeline, thanks for stopping by. I was very happy with the cover.
Dana is awesome 🙂
All of it! I think I could leave my tree up until Valentines if my family wouldn’t mind.
Yeah, me too!
Me too. And have. LOL
My favorite thing she did was to leave the tree and lights up till she was finished.
i love that too 🙂
Playing Christmas music would be my favorite thing that Dana did. Of course I would be singing right along too.
😀 me too!
Drinking hot tea….in fact, I might just go make some right now.
😀
I love the idea of playing Christmas music. I see no reason to play it only in December and it always makes me feel Christmasy when I play it all year long. Also, I am a visual person so searching for pictures to clarify the characters would be right up my alley too. 🙂
isn’t that fun?
Christmas music gets me in the mood, no matter what time of year it is! Thank you for this great giveaway!!!
i love Christmas music! 😀
Tea and slippers! I wear my slippers a lot and drink a lot of tea all year round.
😀
I am wearing my fuzzy cat slippers right now as I work:) Thanks for stopping by!
I love how you had your Christmas decorations up to get that December feeling while writing–very smart!
I think my favorite thing was you playing Christmas music. I love Christmas music and it always puts me in a Christmas mood as I listen ti\o it. I would also leave my Christmas tree up. One year I even left it up for the whole year with the lights off. lol
I love Christmas Music
Me too 🙂
Sounds like an intriguing read! Thank you for the chance. I’ve added it to my wishlist:) I love a good chai too, reading this made me thirsty for one lol
I thing playing Christmas music is a great way to get in the Christmas spirit. Sounds like a great read, I enjoy reading Amish fiction and would like to read the book.
Family left the Christmas Decorations up,and still cold outside. So when lights on, could still get in that holiday mood.