Christmas With the Neighbours

Nanowrimo 2022 has come and gone. Of the twelve challenges that I have completed since 2010, this one was unique in many ways.

First of all, I didn’t get started on time, and then I took an entire week off in mid-November to go to the Grey Cup in Regina! Somehow I still managed to squeeze 50,134 words out of my brain onto my computer, with some record word count days (over 10,000 one day!) and a few that barely made it past 100.

Was it worth it?

Absolutely! I love the excitement of a new project and the satisfaction when you meet that 50,000 marker.

So, what did I write about this year?

Christmas With the Neighbours finally came to life! It is a series of seven short stories based on characters from my NEIGHBOURS Series. (Both NEIGHBOURS 1 and KEEPING UP WITH THE NEIGHBOURS.)

You’ll be pleased that the Malloy clan appears predominantly, but former faves like Lester Tibbett, the entire Chan family, the Carravagio sisters – even crusty P.I. Vinny Kirkpatrick and busybody Millicent Peacock make a reappearance! (They’re married now… I know!?!) 

There were some folks whose storylines, while hinted at, did not reach a climax, if you will, in the former books, so I thought I’d check back in and see what they were up to. It turns out, quite a lot!

Naturally, I had a vague idea of where each person’s story would go, and I made an outline before starting. However, even I was surprised by some of the shenanigans these characters got up to!

Will Christmas With the Neighbours actually make it to publication? I don’t know. I find I need to let any manuscript rest for a while before I go back and look at it. In the new year, I plan to take a second look. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, just for fun, here are the “titles” I came up with for each short story along with the main characters. Oh, and by the way – I found this picture of ‘rugged Santa” and it reminded me of Zeb Malloy, so I am adding it here for your viewing pleasure. 🙂

Tentative Titles & Main Characters:

One December Wedding – Angela Carravagio & Jacques Marcett

A Cowboy Christmas – Reba Malloy and Weston Drake

Miracle at the Fortune Cookie – Sherman Chan and Carmen Lamont

The Ghost of Christmas Past – Cory Roberts and Renee Tucker

Christmas Wishes – Tad Roberts and Goldie (Harper) Roberts

All Wrapped Up – Steve Russell and Tamara Spence

All I Want For Christmas Is You – Zeb Malloy and Lily Chan