Yes, Christmas is over, but I’ve got one last Christmas project to finish: The Annual Christmas Story Challenge.

Since 2020, me and two other writer friends, Elizabeth Lawrence and Melissa J. Troutman, have tortured ourselves every Christmas with a writing challenge. In October, we each submit 3 words and then have until our online Christmas party (usually early January) to write a Christmas-themed story using those 9 words. Initially, we had a 1,000 word limit, but that didn’t last past the first year. So far, I’ve written a Hallmark satire story, a WW2 tragedy, and Jack Diamond’s first Western mystery. Last year, I crammed the majority of my modern day fantasy/speculative piece in 3-4 hours. If I don’t get my butt in gear, I may have to replicate that race against time for our party on Sunday! As I get a newsletter and website established, I hope to be able to share these stories with you in the future.

If you want to check out some of Melissa’s fantasy writing, you can check out her website and newsletter through the comments.

This pic is of the words for this year’s stories. Can you guess which 3 were mine.