USA Today Bestselling Author
I’m blogging at InspyRomance today about something old (2019) and something new (2020). Comment there for a random ebook giveaway.
Link: https://wp.me/p47ZZG-8uN
Happy reading!
It’s almost Christmas, friends! I’m blogging today at InspyRomance and my topic is about Christmas themes. What are your favorite things about Christmas? Check out my blog post and comment.
Blog: https://www.inspyromance.com/favorite-christmas-themes
My favorite Christmas theme is always the same year after year: Jesus Christ. I know it sounds simplistic, but in the hustle and bustle of the busy Christmas season, I feel more joy and peace focusing on Christ and Him alone. I remember the sayings “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” and “Without Christ, there is no Christmas.”
Throughout the year, I celebrate Jesus Christ as the Lord of Lords and King or Kings, but Christmas is such a special time of the year set aside to commemorate God sending His only begotten Son to earth to live a sinless life and then carry all our sins on Himself at the cross of Calvary. Because of Christ, I have eternal life and am saved forever. That’s a celebration!
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Happy early Christmas!
Rejoicing in Jesus Christ,
Jan Thompson
Here is the archived content of the blog post I wrote above:
Wow. It’s December. Can you imagine? Just over a week ago we were having Thanksgiving dinner in good old November. Suddenly, we’re less than one month away from the year 2020.
How is your December coming along? Busy? Will you be traveling for Christmas or staying where you are? Have you decorated your home for Christmas yet? Or do you celebrate Christmas at all?
What are your favorite Christmas decorations?
Well, decorating is always hard for me because I immediately think about having to box everything up again after Christmas. Do you keep your decorating simple or do you go all out?
My Christmas tree is basically eclectic. Some of the ornaments are from years past and some are newer. I have seen some pretty Christmas trees that are rustic, glitzy, Victorian, modern, minimalist, and so forth. How about yours? How would you describe your Christmas tree?
What is your favorite outdoor Christmas scene?
We don’t usually have snow here in the southern USA, but many towns and cities hang outdoor lights to make streets and parks look festive. It gets icy cold sometimes, though. What about where you live? Do you have a winter wonderland there?
The December outdoor at night is too cold for me, so I prefer to stay indoors. And maybe listen to carols on iTunes or on the radio. Some radio stations have started playing Christmas songs since early November. How about your local radio stations? Have they been playing Christmas music?
What are your favorite Christmas carols?
I have so many I can’t list them all, from “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” to “Away in a Manger” to “O Holy Night” to “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” to almost all the carols that sing about Jesus. Do you have a favorite Christmas carol? Or many favorites? What are some of your memorable ones from your childhood?
What is your favorite Christmas food?
Yummy is all I can think of when I see Christmas cookies, especially the ones that won’t help my diet LOL. What about you? Do you like Christmas cookies? Are they too sweet for you? Or not sweet enough? What about gingerbread cookies? That’s an all-time favorite for many. I’ll eat any cookie, to be honest!
I know the fruitcake is much maligned, but sometimes they can be pretty good (I eat anything at Christmas). I don’t see much of it sold nowadays, but I do remember getting a small fruitcake from Costco a while back. Or was it a German Christmas Stollen bread instead? I can’t remember. Maybe it was a special featured item at that time because I don’t recall seeing it ever again at Costco for years since then. Do you still see them sold anywhere else besides online?
What is your overall favorite Christmas theme?
Some years ago, a local church here hosted a living nativity. The line to get in was so long that it was impossible to wait for several hours with a young child just to walk through the live action stable past my son’s bed time in the cold evening. In some places, they have drive-through nativity, but we haven’t been to one. Have you taken your kids to any of the living nativities? The church we used to attend made the nativity a part of their Christmas play, so we would go to that instead (indoors, with heat).
My favorite Christmas theme is always the same year after year: Jesus Christ. I know it sounds simplistic, but in the hustle and bustle of the busy Christmas season, I feel more joy and peace focusing on Christ and Him alone. I remember the sayings “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” and “Without Christ, there is no Christmas.”
Throughout the year, I celebrate Jesus Christ as the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Christmas is such a special time of the year to commemorate God sending His only begotten Son to earth to live a sinless life and then carry all our sins on Himself at the cross of Calvary. Because of Christ, I have eternal life and am saved forever. That’s a celebration!
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Feel free to comment for a giveaway of any ebook that I have written. Amazon won’t let me gift an ebook on preorder, but one randomly selected winner will be invited to browse through my published catalog of books at JanThompson.com/amazon and whichever published ebook she selects, I’ll gift it to her as the special prize. This giveaway ends on Sunday, December 8, 2019.
Speaking of how busy the Christmas season is, I thought I’d save you time and money with this offer of four ebooks at $0.99 each. Save a total of $13. That’s a whopper. The four ebooks are on Amazon only. You can also rent them via Kindle Unlimited if you’re a member there. If you already own these ebooks, how about buying them for your reading friends? They’d make great stocking stuffers (take up little space). This special sale ends this month. Happy reading and happy gifting!
- If you like Christmas romance… Wish You Joy
- If your winter needs warming up, how about visiting the Bahamas… Smile for Me
- Or the beaches of Tybee Island, where the sand is made for bare feet… Ask You Later
- Orchestra music is not just for Christmas, but any time you want to enjoy it… Share with Me
Don’t forget to comment to be entered into a drawing for a free ebook of your choosing from my published collection.Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!Celebrating Jesus Christ,
Jan Thompson
I’m blogging at InspyRomance today about thankfulness and the callings of God in our lives. A random reader who comments will get a free ebook from me. Check it out.
A Thankful Heart blog post: https://wp.me/p47ZZG-83O
Do you know what your calling in life is? Has it changed over the years? Do you think that there are some callings that don’t ever change?
Here we are in the weeks between the Canadian Thanksgiving (October) and the American Thanksgiving (November). During this Thanksgiving season, I think about the many things I am thankful to God for, the many near-misses He has delivered me from (some of the “saves” are probably unknown to me until I get to heaven), and the wonderful blessings that God has poured out on us as Christians. Blessings to overflowing, and blessings upon blessings.
Which leads me back to my initial question. Dear friend, what has God called you to do? In your own heart, do you know if you’re closer to achieving it or if you’re still struggling along?
Regardless of our individual callings, God has called us to be thankful:
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18).
As I was thinking about being thankful to God as I press on toward His upward call for my life to write Christian books, I made a list of three points of thankfulness:
- Always thank God.
- Always praise God.
- Always remember God.
Regardless of how far along we are in our journey, we can go so much farther if we are thankful to God for everything. When we obey God, we have peace, and our hearts are filled with gratitude.
What are you most thankful for? Whom are you most grateful for? Feel free to comment.
If you’re the USA, I wish you and your family a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving coming up at the end of the month!
Happy Thanksgiving month, everyone!
Thanking God for my salvation in Jesus Christ,
Jan Thompson
Here is the archived content of the blog post I wrote above:
Do you know what your calling in life is? Has it changed over the years? Do you think that there are some callings that don’t ever change?
Here we are in the weeks between the Canadian Thanksgiving (October) and the American Thanksgiving (November). During this Thanksgiving season, I think about the many things I am thankful to God for, the many near-misses He has delivered me from (some of the “saves” are probably unknown to me until I get to heaven), and the wonderful blessings that God has poured out on us as Christians. Blessings to overflowing, and blessings upon blessings.
Which leads me back to my initial question. Dear friend, what has God called you to do? In your own heart, do you know if you’re closer to achieving it or if you’re still struggling along?
Regardless of our individual callings, God has called us to be thankful:
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18).
As I was thinking about being thankful to God as I press on toward His upward call for my life to write Christian books, I made a list of three points of thankfulness:
- Always thank God.
- Always praise God.
- Always remember God.
Regardless of how far along we are in our journey, we can go so much farther if we are thankful to God for everything. When we obey God, we have peace, and our hearts are filled with gratitude.
What are you most thankful for? Whom are you most grateful for? Feel free to comment.
If you’re the USA, I wish you and your family a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving coming up at the end of the month!
Giveaway: Of all the books I’ve written, I only have two books that are set in the fall (autumn) season. Reach for Me(Vacation Sweethearts Book 2) begins in the Great Smoky Mountains when the beautiful flaming colors of fall have swept across the mountains. Cherish You So (Savannah Sweethearts Book 4) has a few scenes set in the same region, when my main character goes camping with her father at a mountain campground. In any case, I would like to give away one of these two ebooks to a random winner who comments. You can pick whichever ebook you would like to read.
Happy Thanksgiving again! To the rest of the world, you know what they always say: Everyday is a day of thanksgiving!
Thanking Jesus Christ for saving me,
Jan Thompson
Do you like music? Listen to it a lot? Sing? Play an instrument?
As you may know, I blog once a month at InspyRomance, where a few dozen contemporary Christian authors gather to chat with our readers and potential readers. Check out my blog post for October 2019.
https://www.inspyromance.com/seaside-chapel-music
In my blog post, I featured my Seaside Chapel series, which is filled with music and instruments of the orchestra. Books 1-2 have been out a while, and Lord willing, Book 3 will be out soon.
“Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise in the congregation of saints” (Psalm 149:1, KJV).
My Seaside Chapel series has an undertone of music, featuring a local area classical orchestra and a small church orchestra. While these two entities are a figment of my imagination, I chose a real life setting by the Atlantic Ocean. One of my most favorite beaches is St. Simon’s Island on the coast of Georgia, USA. Superimposing my imagined story world into a real world setting has been the most delightful and fun thing ever that this author can do.
In Share with Me:
“Sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise” (Psalm 33:3, KJV).
In Share with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 1), Ivan McMillan is a crossover violinist with a concert career in front of him until his grandfather dies and he goes home to St. Simon’s Island to take care of his elderly Grandma Yun.
For the next six years, Ivan busies himself teaching violin in a studio, playing first violin in the local symphony orchestra, and serving as a violinist at Seaside Chapel’s sanctuary orchestra. Every now and then he dreams of touring the world again, but those concert days are pretty much over for him.
In the same novel but only playing the piano occasionally, billionaire heiress Brinley Brooks has inherited quite a collection of musical instruments from her now-deceased Grandpa Brooks. She keeps those expensive violins in a vault that is rarely opened. The violins are precious to her because they once belonged to her grandfather. She cannot imagine anyone playing them… Except maybe one particular musician…
In Share with Me, Brinley gets embarrassed a little bit when she tries to play a classical piece she hasn’t practiced, but she knows that her parents won’t mind her mistakes at the keyboard because they love her anyway.
In Step with Me:
“I will sing a new song unto Thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto Thee” (Psalm 144:9, KJV)).
The next novel in the series, Step with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 2), has more orchestral music. This time, I feature the pedal harp, another lovely string instrument found in orchestras. While my musician character, Emmeline O’Hanlon, can play several types of harps, including the Irish and lap harps, her preference is for the pedal harp. Her father taught her and her older brother to play the harp. The two siblings also compose music. Actually, her brother will get his own book, but that’s another story I will tell soon.
Sing with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 3) will be coming soon. Preorder the novel now on Amazon!
Here is the archived content of the blog post I wrote:
Do you like music? Listen to it a lot? What kind of music do you like to listen to?
“Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise in the congregation of saints” (Psalm 149:1, KJV).
I so enjoy church hymns, especially when accompanied by a full live orchestra. I’ve attended small and big churches with varying sizes of orchestras. Some smaller churches have ensembles if they don’t have enough musicians to recruit from their congregation. Regardless of whether it’s a small duo, trio, or quartet, or a half orchestra, live classical instruments add to the scope of church music, in my humble opinion.
I also love classical music, and enjoy attending concerts whenever I have the opportunity here in the metro area where I live, and also at my son’s college campus in years past when he attended music camps. God has made so many talented musicians who can play so well, with precision and musicality, and from such early ages.
Do you or someone in your family play a musical instrument?
My family is somewhat musical. Our son competed in high school piano competitions. In university now, he still plays the piano in ministry. My husband used to play the French Horn, and for years was in a church orchestra. I myself also played the piano for many years, until I went to college and was too busy studying. After graduating, I worked and had no time to learn new songs or spend time at the piano.
Since I have been unable to schedule time to practice on the piano in my real life, I decided to write what could have been into my novels. I combined my love of church hymns and classical music into a whole collection of books in my Seaside Chapel series. And yes, I make my musicians practice! Haha. I can because I invented my characters and they do whatever I tell them to do, including practicing and rehearsing for the next performance!
My Seaside Chapel series has an undertone of music, featuring a local area classical orchestra and a small church orchestra. While these two entities are a figment of my imagination, I chose a real life setting by the Atlantic Ocean. One of my most favorite beaches is St. Simon’s Island on the coast of Georgia, USA. Superimposing my imagined story world into a real world setting has been the most delightful and fun thing ever that this author can do.
I’m going to share some little tidbits from the first two novels in the Seaside Chapel series, but only from the perspective of incorporating music into these contemporary Christian small-town beach romances. I’ve written so much more than these into my novels, of course, but the purpose of this blog post, I shall only focus on certain musical instruments.
In Share with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 1), Ivan McMillan is a crossover violinist with a concert career in front of him until his grandfather dies and he goes home to St. Simon’s Island to take care of his elderly Grandma Yun.
For the next six years, Ivan busies himself teaching violin in a studio, playing first violin in the local symphony orchestra, and serving as a violinist at Seaside Chapel’s sanctuary orchestra. Every now and then he dreams of touring the world again, but those concert days are pretty much over for him.
Does anyone here play the violin? Feel free to comment on what violin you play. If you don’t play the violin but love the music, do comment on your favorite pieces played on the violin. How about the Flight of the Bumblebee? My character, Ivan, tries to play that too.
In the same novel but only playing the piano occasionally, billionaire heiress Brinley Brooks has inherited quite a collection of musical instruments from her now-deceased Grandpa Brooks. She keeps those expensive violins in a vault that is rarely opened. The violins are precious to her because they once belonged to her grandfather. She cannot imagine anyone playing them… Except maybe one particular musician…
Do you play the piano? Or have taken lessons when you were little? I started somewhat late in middle school, but my son started playing the piano when he was four years old (also when he gave his first concert performance at the music academy he was in).
Feel free to comment on your favorite piano music. In Share with Me, Brinley gets embarrassed a little bit when she tries to play a classical piece she hasn’t practiced, but she knows that her parents won’t mind her mistakes at the keyboard because they love her anyway.
“I will sing a new song unto Thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto Thee” (Psalm 144:9, KJV)).
The next novel in the series, Step with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 2), has more orchestral music. This time, I feature the pedal harp, another lovely string instrument found in orchestras. While my musician character, Emmeline O’Hanlon, can play several types of harps, including the Irish and lap harps, her preference is for the pedal harp. Her father taught her and her older brother to play the harp. The two siblings also compose music. Actually, her brother will get his own book, but that’s another story I will tell soon.
Do you play the harp or know someone who does? Which types of harps? Lap or pedal? I have never played either one. However, I do enjoy the music of the harp, and once attended a concert of ten harps, called a harp choir. It was amazing and unforgettable. I recall that the hymns they played sounded spectacular, like “the voice of many waters.”
Well, thank you for letting me share about the music I have incorporated into my Seaside Chapel series. I’ve published the first two novels in this series. The rest are coming soon. I take my time to write this series. I know I will not be able to cover every single classical musical instrument in the orchestra. So, if you play the contrabass clarinet… Well, hmm, yes, I do mention the contrabass clarinet in Share with Me, actually!
“Sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise” (Psalm 33:3, KJV).
One random commenter will be given one free ebook, either Share with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 1) or Step with Me(Seaside Chapel Book 2). The next novel, Sing with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 3), is coming soon. It’s available for preorder on Amazon.
Praising the Lord and singing unto Him new songs,
Jan Thompson
For my August blog post at InspyRomance.com, I asked some of my author friends how long it takes them to write some of their books. Find out what they say in today’s blog post.
http://www.inspyromance.com/how-long-does-it-take-to-write-a-book-and-giveaway
As for me, my latest novel, Call You Home, has taken me a few years to complete, from draft to polished book. From the time I wrote Know You More, the first book in the Savannah Sweethearts series, back in 2014-2015, I knew that chef and restaurateur Piper Peyton was going to get her own book. Unfortunately she had to wait ten Savannah Sweethearts years, or four real life years, before her story is published.
I outlined Call You Home in 2016, wrote the draft entirely by pen on paper in 2016-2017, took a hiatus in 2018, and then I began revising it in 2019. When I was done with the book, it went to my copyeditor-proofreader, plus two other proofreaders, and also a few of my trusted early readers. From concept to publication-ready, it spanned three years of my life.
I am giving away a copy of my latest novel, Call You Home (Savannah Sweethearts Book 10) to a random commenter, so stop by and don’t miss out on the giveaway!
Joyfully in Jesus,
Jan Thompson
Once a month, I blog at InspyRomance, where I talk about random writerly things or about my books. This time, I mentioned two books in the Savannah Sweethearts series: Wish You Joy (Book 9) and Call You Home (Book 10). Check it out:
Jan’s July 2019 Blog at InspyRomance:
https://www.inspyromance.com/art-imitating-life-life-imitating-art-and-giveaway
If you haven’t preordered Book 10, it’s releasing on July 16, 2019. It’s almost 83,000 words long. Buy it on Amazon or read it via your Kindle Unlimited subscription.
Call You Home (Savannah Sweethearts Book 10): JanThompson.com/call-amazon
Happy reading!
Joyfully in Jesus,
Jan Thompson
Here is the archived content of the blog post I wrote:
Have you read a book and said, “Hey! I’ve done that!” at least once? Do share your stories in the comments below for a giveaway (giveaway ends Saturday, July 13, 2019).
There I was, writing and cooking on the same day, as I have done for years. This time, I was revising Call You Home, Book 10 in my Savannah Sweethearts series. This novel is about two chefs trying to save a family restaurant, so I wrote a lot of scenes set in a commercial kitchen. As you know, kitchens are pretty dangerous places. Fires, cuts, falls, you name it.
While I was revising some of the restaurant scenes one day, I was also cooking a giant pot of chicken soup in my kitchen around the corner from my office. Well, the water was boiling. So I rushed from my home office to the kitchen to take the chicken out of the soup, the next step in the recipe. The long-handled tongs in my hand suddenly snapped underwater and splashed hot boiling water all over my face and chest. Thank God I was wearing glasses, so they protected both my eyes. But the rest of me… Let’s just say I was scalded at a few places and now have new scars for the rest of my life.
I remember thinking: Wow. There I was writing about an imaginary kitchen, and here I am scalded for life by hot chicken soup. Thank God for protecting me, especially my eyes!
In the same novel, I required my chefs to cook or mention dishes. Well, I also tried to cook some new dishes in my kitchen in real life. I didn’t like some of the dishes I tried in the making of this novel. Fortunately, my family was collectively a good sport (either that or they were starving because Mom was busy writing a book) and they ate what I cooked. I won’t cook those dishes again, let’s just say.
In Wish You Joy (Savannah Sweethearts Book 9), the book before Call You Home, one of my main characters locked her keys in her car. She didn’t mean to do it, but there she was. It was in the middle of a hot July day in Savannah, Georgia.
Have you locked your keys in the car before, or misplaced them somewhere? I’ve done it quite a few times myself. And my family members have too. No, I don’t have one of those newer keyless cars.
And maybe you haven’t, but I have also locked myself out of my own house. Life happens.
What about the books you’ve read? Anything sounds familiar?
Readers have told me that they have found other things familiar to them in my books. I do have quite an active imagination (much needed as a novelist), so I can imagine a lot. Some of the things that have happened to my characters do not happen to me in real life, so don’t think that everything I write about is from my own personal experience, especially in my other genres (suspense, for example).
Even in my contemporary Christian beach romances, I myself have never been a police officer, private investigator, or real estate agent, and so forth, but I have written about them. Yes, I know people in those professions, and I have asked them questions while researching for my books.
What about you? Have you read a book and remembered doing something similar to the characters in real life? Any funny stories you’d like to share?
What about this also: Have you read a book and go, “I would never do that!” You know, like skydiving? Or maybe you have gone skydiving. Do tell!
A random reader from the comments section will be chosen to win the first three books in my Savannah Sweethearts series of Christian beach romances, that I’ve boxed up as Markers (Savannah Sweethearts Prequel & Books 1-2). This boxed set is also in Kindle Unlimited.
Ask You Later is about an artist and the non-artist daughter of a gallery owner, Know You More is about a single pastor seeking God’s will for his personal life, and Tell You Soon is about a private investigator and the real estate agent trying to sell his house.
Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend in the Lord!
In Christ,
Jan
USA Today bestselling author Jan Thompson writes clean and wholesome multiethnic contemporary Christian romance with elements of women’s fiction, Christian romantic suspense with an air of mystery, and inspirational international thrillers with threads of sweet Christian romance. Jan’s books are for readers who love inspiring stories of faith, hope, and love in Jesus Christ.
