How Christmas Weekend Came to Be

There’s a story behind every book. It’s sometimes called the back story or origin story. So it’s basically the story of how the book came to be. The stories behind my stories have always been deeply personal. That’s especially true about my upcoming YA novel Christmas Weekend, scheduled for release this August by Linda Leith Publishing.

The story’s narrator is Geoffrey and it’s set at a cottage in Quebec’s Laurentian Mountains. Geoffrey and his kid sister Angela aren’t too thrilled about having to spend Christmas Weekend at their dad’s cottage – with Rebekah, their dad’s latest girlfriend. Things get even worse when a freak storm hits and the family finds themselves trapped, with no way of getting back to the city.

So, here’s a little hint about the back story: I dedicated Christmas Weekend to my two step-kids and to their (now our) dog Pepper.   

I got the idea for the book nearly six years ago – when I spent Christmas weekend with my then boyfriend (he’s now my husband), his two teenagers and their dog at the family cottage. Let’s just say the kids weren’t exactly overjoyed. Not only was the Internet lousy, but even I’ll admit that I can be a lot. (I’m noisier and more energetic than the average person!)  It didn’t help that on the drive to the Laurentians, the dog came to sit on my lap. (It was much easier to win over the dog than it was to win over the kids!!) Anyway, there really was a freak storm and we really did get trapped in the cottage.

You may be thinking that I don’t have much of an imagination – that all I do is borrow real-life events and turn them into books! But there’s a game I like to play in my head that is also an essential part of my writing process. I call it WHAT IF?

So when, on one of the nights we were trapped in the cottage, I noticed a deep fryer (perfect for making French fries) on the kitchen counter. I’d heard deep fryers are a common cause of kitchen fires – so I started wondering WHAT IF while Guy and I were asleep, the kids decided to make French fries and the house caught on fire?

Of course, all this happened strictly in my IMAGINATION. But it was the magical combination of real events and imagined ones that led me to begin work on Christmas Weekend.  

It also helped that my (now) step kids are both very funny – in very different ways. My stepson (the inspiration behind Geoffrey) has his dad’s deadpan or dry sense of humour. My stepdaughter (the inspiration behind Angela) has a sense of humour that’s more like mine – let’s call it silly and fun. Paprika, the dog in the story, didn’t need much disguising. Our real-life dog is named Pepper (so you can see I had fun changing his name to Paprika.)

For me, writing is about working hard, but also having fun. (I did both while I was working on this book.) Writing is also a way for me to address subjects that are close to my heart – such as what it means to be a family, and the challenges of reconstituted or blended families. I’m still learning as I go along (both about writing and living). But it seems to me that going through challenging times together helps build enduring bonds. And that laughter makes everything better.