Addison James's Blog: FREE Scottish Christmas romance short

The latest in the I Love a Scotsman series, SCOTTISH CHRISTMAS TWO, was just released on St Andrews Day! It’s a short sweet contemporary Scottish romance that follows Janey, the twenty something daughter of Beth from the first Scottish Christmas, as she overcomes adversities to fly from Boston to Edinburgh to spend Christmas Eve with Beth and Gordon and the rest of the MacKay clan in St Andrews. Do not need to read the first Scottish Christmas to read the second. However, soon I will be hosting a giveaway of audio versions of the first Scottish Christmas.


After the success of the first Scottish Christmas, I wanted to revisit the MacKay family but did not want to follow Beth and Gordon. They’re a couple. They’re in love. I did not have anything else to say about them, so I looked elsewhere. I had considered one of Beth’s coworkers, or someone else in the MacKay family, but Janey stood out. In the first novel, she was on the other end of a phone call with Beth, informing her mother in tears that her father was marrying his pregnant much younger yoga instructor and he was having a baby boy. That story appealed to me. I thought about the angst Janey must be experiencing, first her parents’ divorce, her father marries a much younger woman and is immediately a new dad (and I’m assuming more attentive to his new son than his older daughter), but her mother has married a man in a different country and moved across an ocean. She’d feel hurt, lonely, angry, abandoned. And that story appealed to me. Now what happens to Janey? When we find her at the start of the second Scottish Christmas, she ditched her long time boyfriend from the first Scottish Christmas, has a successful career but afraid of love. She saw what happened to her parents and does not want to follow their example. Until she is seated next to a handsome, charming Scot, that is!


Stay tuned in 2016, I have two rough draft Scottish novellas. One is set on a tour of the highlands a la Outlander and the other is set during the Edinburgh Festival of Arts. I had to research and interview stage lighting designers for the latter and create an itinerary for bus tour for the former. Fun!


Wishing everyone Happy Holidays and wonderful 2016.

Scottish Christmas Two

My holiday romance, Scottish Christmas, is free on Amazon this weekend.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P...

It all started a month ago. Someone at our local Silicon Valley Romance Writers' Association had the idea to self-publish a bundle of holiday romances and put the call out to members to join in the fun. I had never self-published and wanted to learn more from fellow writers, so I joined in, writing a 10,000 word story in 2 weeks (the last holiday romance short I wrote was 15,000 words and it took three months - Scottish Christmas, just released).



I've learned so much on this journey, all of it from fellow writers. How to get a freelance copy writer. Where to find non-royalty photos online. How to promote via Twitter, Facebook and blogs. How to do a Facebook launch party. I've been writing daily posts for Candy Cane Kisses and Enchanted Embraces, our ten bestselling and award-winning romance writer anthology which published today! And what a thrill it is! We just had a launch party and I love connecting with readers. Writing is such solitary work, that connecting with readers is priceless. Look for our tweets under #KissesEmbraces. On #MistletoeMonday we have a Facebook party. Next is #TeaserTuesday, #Wishful Wednesday, #ThankfulThursday and the week ends with #FestiveFriday which means holiday recipe and/or crafts. My caramel shortbread was last week's post.



Most of all, I've connected with nine wonderful writers who support and encourage each other. And, today's surprise is that our anthology is #35 in Kobo bestselling Fiction Anthologies! And #97 on Amazon Kindle top 100 Holiday fiction! Whoo hoo! Thank you all!

Monday was my very first Facebook release party, and it was a total blast.

I'm fortunate to be one of ten bestselling and award-winning romance authors who contributed to the Candy Cane Kisses and Enchanted Embraces anthology. One of our authors is an old pro at self-publishing and promotion, so she had us each take a 15 minute shift during this pre-release party last Monday and interact with readers and writers. It was such fun! I was dreading it to be honest, partially since I was flying in from out of town and my flight arrived just over an hour before my shift. I arrived home 15 minutes before and promptly had my old laptop take 15 minutes to restore and warm up. Meanwhile, I had my smartphone, tablet and was about to steal my teen's laptop in case mine didn't function at the appointed time. But it all worked out.

We're doing it again next Monday. Looking forward to it!

Hello!

I just submitted a Scottish Christmas romance to Books to Go Now publishing to be part of their Christmas romance anthology.

Meanwhile, here in California, it's been one of the hottest summers in years!

Saw a wonderful production of Price and Prejudice as part of Shady Shakespeare last night. Jane Austen's story resonates so well 300 years later. It's so much more than a romance but a comedy of manners, of missed perceptions, of social standings, class and economics. Would strongly recommend the video series, Lizzie Bennet diaries for anyone wanting a superb modern version of this classic story.

http://www.lizziebennet.com/

February 7th is a big day:

THE BEST BAD VALENTINE'S DAY is released by Muse It Up publishing

https://museituppublishing.com/bookst...

I wrote a blog for Penny's One Writer's Journey:
http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogsp...

And a guest blog in the RWA Contemporary Romance Writer's group about my magical lap top:
http://contemporaryromance.org/2014/0...

My Romantic Short Story, THE BEST BAD CHRISTMAS GIFT, has been nominated for Romantic Short in the Predators & Editors Reader's poll. It was in 3rd place but slipped to 5th. Please vote for it!:

http://critters.org/predpoll/shortsto...

My Best Bad Christmas Gift is published by Muse It Up!

And I just signed a contract with MIU to publish The Best Bad Valentine's Day, to be published in February.

Quickly:

The Christmas Romance Volume 2 anthology is free on Amazon Sunday Dec 1st only. My story, CHRISTMAS GLOVES, is included:

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Roman...

Wow! After a nearly two year drought, I will have two short stories published next month!

One is the second in my series that started with the BEST BAD DATE (published by Muse It Up): THE BEST BAD CHRISTMAS GIFT. Hint: it's a gift found in erotica novels. The story itself is PG rated. I'm working on the final proofs now and have the pre-order page below. You can pre-order at a discount, publishing date is Dec 13th. I'm thrilled with this story and hope you will be too.

https://museituppublishing.com/bookst...

The second story is called CHRISTMAS GLOVES and will be published by Books to Go Now next month as well. It's the story of a young woman searching for a last minute gift for a young man she's been dating but not officially her boyfriend. Ever been there? Awkward. More information about the publishing date and link as I receive it, but I just edited the story last week and sent it back to the publisher.

These are both contemporary romantic comedy short stories set during the holiday season. I hope you enjoy them!