Some people have asked me if my stories ever evolve into something different than I was expecting. Or if my stories ever change as I’m writing them. Sometimes they do slightly, other times quite a bit.

Did you want to see what the changes for one story look like?

I give you The Old Mansion’s Secret

Believe it or not, this story started out with a picture on Pinterest and for some strange reason, I didn’t pin it. I wish I had. The image was a gold decked Christmas tree seen through a window. The floor was black and white checked, but what struck me as odd was that it didn’t seem like a living room or anything like that. It seemed more like a hall because there was a back wall fairly close to the tree. Now, why would a tree as beautifully decorated as that one, be doing standing in a hall?

And so the story started. I didn’t know where it was going or what was going to happen. Several times I sat at the supper table asking my dad how something could work or if this other idea was possible. The parts where the kids are trying to figure things out and asking questions was exactly what I was doing. Would X work? No. What about Y or Z? Maybe I need to go back to Q.

This was my first Christmas Novella, but not my last. It was fun to write a story that was a little longer than my usual Christmas Collection length.

Have you read or listened to this book? How do you like the cover? Is there a story you’d like to hear the background on?