Once Upon a Time, I Wrote a Story

Oct 25, 2021 by Jeanette Hanscome

It was 2013 and I’d been back to the Bay Area for just a few months. I was still feeling my way out of the dark after . . . On second thought, let’s not rehash all that. This is supposed to be a happy story. Let’s just say, my creativity was so dried up that I wondered if I should set writing aside for a “real job” (as if writing isn’t). Thanks to a wise friend, who encouraged me to do some pressure-free just-for-me writing, I didn’t quit.

Just as my creative brain was clicking back on, I got an email from a writer I’d met through an author network. She was compiling a series of short eBook stories called 12 Days of Christmas and needed one more contributor to write story #12. Each story had to be 8,000–9,000 words long and take place on one of the days leading up to Christmas. Mine came last, so it would take place on Christmas Eve. I said yes without hesitation, which I know is a bad idea, but the storyteller in me needed to write some fiction. A character immediately showed up, complete with a setting, a supporting cast, and a sad story behind why she gives away anonymous gifts but can’t accept one that arrives in the mail with her name on it.  

An almost-9,000-word story that I titled “Gifts” flowed out like nothing I’d ever written. But as much as I adored the story, it felt incomplete. I got attached to characters who were expected to go home even though I wanted them to hang out with me a lot longer. I knew deep down that the story would have been even richer if it spanned more than ten hours on Christmas Eve. Still, I thanked God for sending this opportunity at a time when I desperately needed to write something that recharged my creative spirit. The story “Gifts” had been a gift to me.

But whenever I considered the idea of writing fiction again, I wished I could continue Justine’s story and write another starring her spunky Aunt Sheila.

Flash forward to this year, and the characters from “Gifts” showed up in my head again. I realized that, according to my original contract and the fact that the publisher no longer existed, I had my rights back. The season of Christmas novellas was coming up, and I had a great source for indie publishing through my agent. Did I have enough time to turn “Gifts” into a more complete story and sell it as a short novella?

Here is the proof that I did: Tada!

And that pretty girl in the center opening a present? She was what I wanted on my original eBook cover.

I am already plotting a sequel with plans to turn it into a series of novellas.

Once again, this story has been a gift—God’s confirmation that this is His timing for me to write fiction that flows from my heart.  

When has an opportunity felt like a gift from God at the perfect time? I look forward to hearing your stories.

To pre-order the Kindle edition of Gifts for only 99 cents, click here.