Today, I’m back at InspyRomance for my monthly blog post. This time, I’m tackling the idea getting married in a castle. What do you think about having a wedding in a castle?
Post Archive:
I know, right? What was I thinking? For a romance novelist who prefers beach weddings (and the occasional landlocked weddings), I don’t know what came over me when I decided to be adventurous and write a romance novella with a wedding set in a castle. Perhaps to other authors, it’s no big deal, but to me, it’s wandering off the beaten track. The road less traveled, speaking for myself.
Thirty two years ago, I was married in a small chapel that was lovely in itself. No, it wasn’t on the beach, although I grew up in a beach town on a tropical island, and would have preferred such a location. But my real-life wedding chapel was cozy and small, perhaps seating only a few hundred people.
Question for you: Where were you married?
Did you happen to hold your wedding in a castle, or know anyone who does? Or is that the stuff of fiction for most of us?
Well, fiction is where my castle wedding is. We meet Daisy Ang, who first appears briefly in Wish You Joy (Savannah Sweethearts Book 9) as the scheduling manager at Amy Untermeyer’s destination wedding photography company. Daisy has always dreamed of becoming a wedding planner, and her opportunity comes when her sister asks her to plan the wedding of the century for her. In a castle. On a budget. How on earth is Daisy going to give her sister a castle wedding on a budget? Well, find out in Her Love So Sure, the first novella in my new series of Hometown Weddings.
Here’s a brief blurb of my novella in the box:
She is a wedding planner—sort of. He is the man of the castle—maybe. Will the two be able to pull off the wedding of the century in this opposites-attract romance?
This novella will debut in the Save the Date wedding anthology. You can find out more on our anthology website at christian-romance.com. Oh, I have to tell you more about the box set. Scroll down for some behind-the-scene tidbits.
When my friend Lisa Prysock and I came up with an idea of a contemporary Christian box set, little did we know where it would lead. Twelve authors later, we have a unique collection that I am so excited about that I can’t wait to read the entire anthology. I am looking forward to the variety of weddings we’re going to cover throughout the entire year.
The basic concept of our box set is that we would each pick a month and set our wedding in that month. I couldn’t decide when I want to have my book wedding. I went through all the seasons until I finally ended up in the summer (a natural spot for me because I write a lot of summer romance). I would have kept changing my mind had all the other months not been reserved by the time I parked in the lovely month of June. So, June it is.
We’re doing all sorts of fun things to go along with our Save the Date wedding box. In fact, Save the Date will also be published in paperback and jacketed hardcover formats. Can you imagine? I have never had any book of mine in a hardcover, let alone with a jacket cover. Our authors have seen the mockup of the jacket design, and I can tell you without doubt that super-talented Marion Ueckermann did a fantastic job with the box set covers.
One of the authors in our anthology is also a professional editor, and she has volunteered to copyedited every single novella in our anthology for quality assurance. That is, Dori Harrell doing this on top of our own layers of edits (we all have our own editors and proofreaders). Some of us have already finished writing the required novellas, while others are scheduling theirs to be completed in the spring, even though the anthology will not be released until September 14, 2021.
Another author has volunteered to make bracelets for a giveaway. Kari Trumbo is adding twelve charms, one for each month, that represent elements from our books. Since my novella has at least one castle in it, I bought a tiny castle charm. I have to protect this castle from my Literary Cat and figure out how to send it to Kari. It reminds me of how Amazon sometimes sends tiny things taped to the bottom of a big box. I am not going do that!
And that’s not all. A super-talented knitter is going to make things for our stories. I was floored when Camy Tang told me she could knit an item from my book. I was so stunned that my mind went blank. My mother is a knitter, but I can’t knit to save my life, so I never imagined that something from my novella could come magically appear in my hand. I don’t want to give away what it is yet. But suffice to say that it’s something my main character owns. I am seriously thinking that I will never give it away. Thank you, Camy!
Question for you: What are some of the most creative things you have seen coming out of or going alongside a multi-author boxed set?
Now it’s back to the writing desk for me as I continue revising a very late novel. In the meantime, I want to offer you a beach romance novel from a connected series for free. Have you read Ask You Later (A Savannah Sweethearts Prequel)? If not, you can download it for free here:
Thank you for chatting with me today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and take it easy. May the Lord bless you with many happy books to read!
Writing for Christ,
Jan Thompson
Extra animation that I made, but did not use in the live blog:
