A Slight Change of Plans

In my last blog of 2020, I wrote about my writing plans for 2021. At that time, I planned to finish the Cactus Creek, New Mexico, series of five books: Second-Choice Bride, Sterling Orphans, Poor Relation, Returning Neighbor, and Southern Belles, and then finish with a Christmas book, The Sweetest Christmas. For the first time, I had a whole year planned out in advance for my writing and publishing.

I did finish the Cactus Creek series as planned. I also published the book I had planned for Christmas, but it changed from what I had originally thought. That change came through a MAP (multiple-author project). A new opportunity came when I had the chance to join a team of authors in the Old-Timey Holiday Kitchen series. Each author would write one or more novels in the series. The guidelines said it must be historical, set around the holidays, and feature a food with the recipe coming at the end of the book. Guess what? I had the manuscript already written.

Yes, The Sweetest Christmas fit all that criteria. I only had to change the main character's name from Alana to Wylene to conform with the pattern of the titles and include my Mom's walnut cake recipe at the end. Therefore, The Sweetest Christmas became Walnut Cake for Wylene. I saw the fact that this completed manuscript fit the project so perfectly as a good indication that I should join this project, and I've been very happy I did. Walnut Cake for Wylene was fun to write, has been very well-received, and quickly became one of my best-sellers. It's available in Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, print, and Audible. You can get your copy from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0964JF3P9.

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