Ruth Casie: 'Timeless Keepsakes' and friends
Ruth A. Casie, co-author with Lita Harris, Emma Kaye, Nicole S. Patrick and Julie Rowe of Timeless Keepsakes – A Collection of Christmas Stories, shares how their short-story collection got off the ground …
Ruth: I have a group of friends — Lita Harris, Emma Kaye and Nicole S. Patrick — that I absolutely adore. We are at different stages in writing and in our lives, but we love romance. We love to write romance. We have weekly conference calls where we discuss the stories we are writing, help each other with plot development, celebrate each other's success, and support each other when there are disappointments. We really work well together personally and professionally.
An idea surfaced at the Romantic Times Convention in Kansas City. The ultimate project. We would write and publish a book together. Each of us would write a holiday short story. Together we would self-publish them in an anthology before the end of the year.
We knew short-story writing was very different from writing full-length novels. The limited word count (15,000 for our stories) required a tight, fast-paced story. The four of us love telling stories. None of our stories were short. They are rich with secondary characters and subplots. This project would be a test for all of us. Fortunately, my good friend, Julie Rowe, teaches a variety of writing classes at her local college, including short-story writing in Alberta, Canada. We asked her if she would like to join the group and teach us the art of the short story. For her efforts, she would be the fifth short story in the anthology. She joined us.
Since each of us write in different genres — historical fantasy, time travel, contemporary, military, medical romances — we would use a common theme to tie the stories together, a Christmas ornament or keepsake. Each of us quickly had a story concept to work on. Everything was coming together. In our excitement we mentioned the project to Sharon Sala. As is her style, Sharon was encouraging and excited about the project. She offered to write an introduction.
Taking on a self-publishing project is much more than just writing a good story, short or otherwise, along with having a New York Times, Paste BN best-selling author participate with an introduction. To make our book as professional as possible, we developed and implemented a comprehensive project plan that identified everything from draft to release to marketing. Aside from a professional editor we needed help with cover art, formatting, conversion to e-books, and marketing. For all the right reasons we needed a company to protect ourselves and even get paid. We formed a business partnership, Timeless Scribes.
On Monday, we reached our objective: Our book, Timeless Keepsakes – A Collection of Christmas Stories, was released in e-book and print formats. On Tuesday we were on our conference call talking about holiday shopping, our current works in progress, the sagging middle, a story thread that needed tending and planned Timeless Escapes, short stories that take place in the same small town in the Virgin Islands. I have a group of friends that I absolutely adore.
Here's the blurb for Timeless Keepsakes – A Collection of Christmas Stories:
The magic of Christmas is in the memories we hold dear and those precious treasures that remind us of the past. Join us as our Timeless Keepsakes take us on five remarkable journeys that heal old wounds, remind us of days gone by, play matchmaker, sweep us back in time and prove that love can conquer all.
Mistletoe and Magick by Ruth A. Casie: She would give her last breath for him. He would give up everything to guard her well and love her more.
Christmas Spirits by Lita Harris: A widow's everlasting love is renewed by the memories of the holiday season.
Granting Her Wish by Emma Kaye: She doesn't belong in his time and he doesn't belong back home. Could they belong to each other?
Letter from St. Nick by Nicole S. Patrick: She's trying to save her home and he's never had one until now. Can an unexpected gift lead their hearts to the same place?
Secret Santa by Julie Rowe: A nurse grieving the death of her twin brother receives an unusual gift at the staff Secret Santa party: the bullet that killed him along with a message of hope and love.
Find out more at timelessscribes.com.