I LOVE Christmas! It’s such a magical time of year. I have a big family and my childhood consisted of what my hubby calls “movie-type holidays”. I love adding those memories in with a good dose of small town Christmas traditions and a sprinkle of romantic moments.
Could you give a short synopsis on the books for my readers?
I have two new releases, both are Clean Cowboy Christmas Romances. In fact, they are set in the same world.
The first is The Cowboy’s Chocolate Covered Christmas which is a bite-sized novella that sets the stage for the rest of my Cowboys at Christmas Tree Ranch series. In this prequel we follow Ellie and Jim in their second chance romance. Ellie returns to their small hometown to help Jim bring the magic of Christmas to their families.
I’ve jam packed this work with all the ingredients for a wonderful small town Christmas story: baking, snow, sleigh rides, Christmas Tree cutting & decorating, small town traditions, and, of course, Christmas miracles. Ellie and Jim become Grams and Gramps in the rest of my Cowboys at Christmas Tree Ranch series.
My newest release is The Cowboy’s Romantic Christmas which is book four in the series. The first three books follow the older grandsons and granddaughter of Ellie and Jim. The Cowboy’s Romantic Christmas follows another granddaughter, cousin to the first three characters. When Rachel falls for her cousin’s friend, Drew, a secret he’s too afraid to share threatens their love and her greatest desire—to become a mom.
This book is full of even more small town Christmas traditions, a ton of family, Christmas in July, super swoon-worthy mistletoe kisses, and a sweet girl in foster care who brings more Christmas miracles than she’ll ever know. If you love Small town Christmases, this series is for you.
What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?
Do you have a few hours? 😂 I did mention how much I love Christmas, right? In real life, my favorite Christmas traditions are decorating the Christmas tree with my son, baking and making homemade presents, hanging out with family, opening presents next to the Christmas tree, and the food—can’t forget all the yummy food!
In fiction, I love including parades of lights, cookie sales, dances, Santa, and anything in the snow—snowball fights, snowmen building, sledding, sleigh riding, and catching snowflakes on the tongue, just to name a few.
What’s next? (future books, novellas, special appearances you want to mention)
I have at least three more books in the Cowboys at Christmas Tree Ranch series to get through all of the siblings. I normally release my holiday books at Christmas time and sometimes for Christmas in July. In between those releases I work on my Clean Cowboy Romance with a touch of suspense series called Hope Lake.
What’s the best writing tip you’ve learned or been given you’d like to share?
The best tip…can I only share one? 😂 I’ve learned so much over the last forty plus fiction books published. I guess if I could only share one it would be to write as if you’re watching a movie. Visualizing your story as a movie playing out in front of you helps you to see how the characters are moving, their gestures, their facial expressions, and what else is going in the scene around them. It will also help your dialogue to become more natural if you think about your characters as in a movie where not everyone talks the same—or even proper. 😉
This is a great question! In the beginning I saw the entire experience about the actual writing of the book, and though that is the heart of being an author, there is so much more to it.
New writers (this was me too) have the tendency to feel the work is done once we write The End. That way of thinking can cause a lot of heartache. Not only is the book not really finished until several rounds of editing, but the next and essential step is publishing, which can look different depending on if you go indie or traditional.
Editing is an important part of the process, vital to having a good, professional book. And its hard! Even those who say they love editing end up having times of struggle when it comes to this stage. Having someone else critique your baby…because all books become your babies…it’s easy to take an editor’s comments and corrections as a personal attack, leaving the writer feeling discouraged.
So, here are my tips for working with an editor (regardless of who that editor is).
1. Keep reminding yourself that this is only making your book better, more relatable, more able to shine the brilliant story we have created.
2. Do the easy edits first. Go through the edits and correct the easy things like punctuation and grammar.
3. Then go through the more in-depth edits. If your editor’s comment triggers you, move on to the next one. Give yourself a day, and go back to the comments that made you react emotionally. Sometimes that space allows you to see things from a different perspective and with less of an emotional charge.
4. Repeat until all edits are corrected OR you have decided after multiple sessions that the suggested correction would go against the grain of your book. This happens, and it’s important to keep your voice when working with others, but you want to make sure that you have looked at the correction several times to make sure that you aren’t solely reacting emotionally.
Any last words or tips?
My greatest advice is not to give up. If you want to write and become an author, don’t stop for nothing. Learn everything you can about writing, read books in your genre and study them, and be open to edits—see it as a way to improve your already wonderful story. I feel like writing is a skill that anyone can learn, but a storyteller is born. If you have a story, don’t let a skill not yet honed stop you from succeeding, keep learning and keep writing. You’ll get there!
Oh…and find a community! A supportive writing community is so vital to succeed as an author and to keep your sanity. 😉
Are there any other books that you’d like to tell my readers about?
Besides my Cowboys at Christmas Tree Ranch series and Hope Lake, I have a few other series: More Than Friends Holiday Romance, Faithful Cowboys, and my best selling Unforgettable Cowboys series.
That's all for today's interview. Hope you've enjoyed learning about Danae's stories and writing esperiences. Check out her books. There are a lot to choose from!
Danae's bookstore: https://store.danaelittle.com
Facebook reader group:
The Cowboy’s Chocolate Covered Christmas:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DJY6FWRX
The Cowboy’s Romantic Christmas:
https://www.amazon.com/Cowboys-Romantic-Christmas-Cowboy-Romance-ebook/dp/B0CNR81ZZF/
And here's a tip for my readers...If you sign up for her newsletter, you can choose either the prequel for Unforgettable Cowboys or the prequel from Hope Lake as my gift.
Her Forever Cowboy: Unforgettable Cowboys:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/7i6wvq54f6
Hoping on Forever: Hope Lake:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/vq7zfkfyys
The Cowboy’s Romantic Christmas:
https://www.amazon.com/Cowboys-Romantic-Christmas-Cowboy-Romance-ebook/dp/B0CNR81ZZF/
And here's a tip for my readers...If you sign up for her newsletter, you can choose either the prequel for Unforgettable Cowboys or the prequel from Hope Lake as my gift.
Her Forever Cowboy: Unforgettable Cowboys:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/7i6wvq54f6
Hoping on Forever: Hope Lake:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/vq7zfkfyys
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