Today on Writer Wednesday we welcome Terri Blackstock, author of Catching Christmas.
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Catching Christmas! Congratulations to Kathleen (jkb****@yah****) who won Robin Lee Hatcher’s Who I Am with You! Please e-mail my assistant (hello{at}triciagoyer{dot}com) to claim your prize! Note: This post contains affiliate links.
Where Writers Write
A few years ago, my husband and I did something we’d been wanting to do for years. We built a house. Most people focus heavily on the kitchen or the family room when they build, but I’m not like most people. I decided this was my one chance to have the office I’d always wanted. In my decades as a writer, I’ve written in some strange places. I’ve had offices in my den, my bedroom, a shed in my backyard, a dining room, and even in an office space I rented away from home. I’d never found a place that seemed just right for me, so it was time for me to design the room that would help me write my best.
I pictured myself sitting at a desk beside the window, looking out on the woods behind my house. Instead, my real work desk faces the wall. It’s where most of my work gets done. It’s a desk that allows me to work sitting or standing. It’s flanked by two small bookcases. My main computer is my laptop, but I have a big display that I plug it into, and that makes things easier on the eyes. I use a Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad when I’m using the monitor. On the desk is a sheet of glass I had custom cut, and I slide notes and pictures under it to represent my characters and anything I need to remember while writing a book. Usually, I have stacks of paper and manuscripts everywhere. I’m terrible at filing and I’m not very organized.
Behind that work desk, I have a prettier desk that faces the rest of the room, but honestly, it’s mostly for show. That desk has a better view since I can see out the window as deer sneak by my window or hummingbirds feed. It’s great for spreading out when I need more work surface or more room to stack papers or books. I rarely use it for writing, though. I think it provides too many distractions. Across from it are a couch and chair that my family often commandeer, and the coffee table is often covered with construction paper, children’s books, and play dough.
I succeeded in building my dream office, but I can’t say that I’m only productive there. I still find myself working in my bedroom a lot, at my kitchen counter, and even in my car. It’s important for me to move around from place to place and write in different ways. What worked for me one book ago may not work for me today. I’m always looking for a better way to focus.
I’m glad I was able to build the office I’d always wanted, but what I learned was that it doesn’t matter where I start out. What matters is where I end up … completely immersed in another world, with characters who only exist in my mind and the minds of my readers!
Terri Blackstock is a New York Times and USA Today best-seller, with over seven million books sold worldwide. She is the winner of two Carol Awards, a Christian Retailers Choice Award, and a Romantic Times Book Reviews Career Achievement Award, among others. She has had over twenty-five years of success as a novelist. Terri spent the first twelve years of her life traveling in an Air Force family. She lived in nine states and attended the first four years of school in The Netherlands. Because she was a perpetual “new kid,” her imagination became her closest friend. That, she believes, was the biggest factor in her becoming a novelist. She sold her first novel at the age of twenty-five and has had a successful career ever since.
In 1994 Terri was writing romance novels under two pseudonyms for publishers such as HarperCollins, Harlequin, Dell and Silhouette, when a spiritual awakening prompted her to switch gears. At the time, she was reading more suspense than romance and felt drawn to write thrillers about ordinary people in grave danger. Her newly awakened faith wove its way into the tapestry of her suspense novels, offering hope instead of despair. Her goal is to entertain with page-turning plots while challenging her readers. She hopes to remind them that they’re not alone and that their trials have a purpose.
Terri has appeared on national television programs such as “The 700 Club” and “Home Life,” and has been a guest on numerous radio programs across the country. The story of her personal journey appears in books such as Touched By the Savior by Mike Yorkey, True Stories of Answered Prayer by Mike Nappa, Faces of Faith by John Hanna, and I Saw Him In Your Eyes by Ace Collins.
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More about Catching Christmas
This Year, Christmas Comes Just in Time
As a first-year law associate, Sydney Batson knows she will be updating her resume by New Year’s if she loses her current court case. So when her grandmother gets inexplicably ill while she’s in court, Sydney arranges for a cab to get her to the clinic.
The last thing cab driver Finn Parrish wants is to be saddled with a wheelchair-bound old lady with dementia. But because Miss Callie reminds him of his own mother, whom he failed miserably in her last days, he can’t say no when she keeps calling him for rides. Once a successful gourmet chef, Finn’s biggest concern now is making his rent, but half the time Callie doesn’t remember to pay him. And as she starts to feel better, she leads him on wild goose chases to find a Christmas date for her granddaughter.
When Finn meets Sydney, he’s quite sure that she’s never needed help finding a date. Does Miss Callie have an ulterior motive, or is this just a mission driven by delusions? He’s willing to do whatever he can to help fulfill Callie’s Christmas wish. He just never expected to be a vital part of it.
Purchase a copy of Catching Christmas
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