Introducing the Advent Calendar Story Train

Image courtesy of Kevin Woblick via Unsplash.com

An Advent Count-Down with Free Fiction!

December is here with the flurry of activity that the holiday season brings. Coming on the tail end of a hectic year, the frantic pace of the season leaves me longing for a chance to sit for a few moments, to just take a break and stop.

And aren’t breaks always better with something to read?

Author, blogger, and co-host of The Merry Writer podcast Ari Meghlen proposed a collaborative writing project for this holiday season—an Advent Calendar Story Train.

More than 20 authors (including yours truly) signed on to contribute stories.

Ari gave us the prompt “The Gift,” and a few guidelines, including a word count stipulation. All of the stories are “flash fiction,” and must be 1000 words or fewer.

She is sharing all of the details and links to each day’s stories on her official site, linked here.

Each of us will also share a link to the next day’s stories when we share ours, so that if you choose to follow the “train,” you should have a fairly easy path.

I enjoyed reading today’s installment, “Lost and Found” by Ian Gough, linked here. It was a good reminder that sometimes we can run into snags even when we find the perfect gift—but I can’t say any more or I’ll spoil the story.

My story (the first brand-new piece I’ve written in 2022) will go live here on December 21st!

And, if you need something else to read…

A Giveaway and a New Release

Author JPC Allen is celebrating the 1 year birthday of her debut novel, A Shadow on the Snow with a terrific giveaway. The Grand Prize winner will get three books which include all three of her excellent mystery stories. Here is the link to her site with details for entering the giveaway.

Also, author Jonathon Mast’s series that I interviewed him about back in May is out! Well, at least the first three books are. My kids are loving the stories of Madelyn of the Sky and are loving the fact that each new book is released so quickly that they only have to wait a few weeks between finishing one and reading the next one. If you have a middle-grade reader that you’re shopping for this Christmas, this might be a series to check out!

Do you have any other story/book deals or recommendations to share?

I’m wishing all the best to you and yours this December!

-Anne