Tag Archive | summer

Writing in the winter.

Honestly, writing in the winter is generally my most productive time. Really, sitting in one spot for hours can be hard to do in the summer, when it’s hot out and there’s fun things to do. But in the winter, there is less out there.

The reason I moved here was mostly because I hate the snow. I don’t like driving in it, I don’t like trudging through it. On the west coast where I live, most winters it either doesn’t snow at all, or we get a dusting and within a few hours it’s gone. But, since we hardly get any, and because it’s wet, and this is hilly turrain, most people can’t drive sensibly on it. Which is why when it snows, I don’t go.

Even without the snow, sometimes it rains for a week nonstop. Or longer. And the sky is greyer than grey. That’s a good time to sit at the computer and dream up summer stories.

Maybe that’s also why I write most of my Christmas themed stories in the summer.

Go figure.

Does weather inspire a book?

There is definitely a tie between books and weather.

As a reader, when do you want to read a Christmas story?  While I am sure that most of us rabid readers have all read a few Christmas stories in the summer, the preferred time to read a seasonal story is in the season. Valentines Day books. Christmas books. There aren’t many that I’ve seen, but Eastertime stories. Thanksgiving (slightly different if you are in the USA or Canada). Summer vacation. The list goes on.

But here’s the thing.  It takes time to write a book. Then time to get it edited and proofread, then formatted. It also takes time to get a good cover designed. Add all these things up, and chances are, a writer is not writing a book in the season in which it is written.

I don’t know if I’ve ever written and completed a book in the season in which it was published. I’ve written a number of Christmas books, the most recent for Harlequin, The Best Man’s Holiday Romance. It was written mostly in the summer. Outside, on the back deck, in bare feet and wearing shorts. My iced tea was the only thing cold.

I’ve also written summer themed books in the middle of winter, when it was snowing, and I would rather eat wieners and beans for supper than go outside and do the grocery shopping. Thinking about the summer weather was no more than wishful thinking.

So my answer to that question is, yes, weather does inspire a book. Because most of the time, it’s wishful thinking. And that’s the most inspirational of all.