I’ve been hastily putting together a cover for my festive themed short story these past few days.  Initially, I struggled, chewed a few pens in a brainstorm session, hammered mercilessly on my keyboard, trying to choose an appropriate font.   Imagine my relief when the darkness lifted yesterday morning and I could suddenly see the perfect image for my book cover: a Christmas tree.  ‘Not very original,’ you might say but this is a Christmas tree with a twist:  it’s mainly to do with colour choice, a little to do with Adobe Illustrator tweaking and a lot to do with imagination.  I’m secretly (ok, now publicly) quite pleased with it and as with all good ideas it came to me in a flash, was put together quite simply and will hopefully dazzle a few potential readers this Christmas 😉

The title also came to me without warning.  The main character in this story is a writer who hates Christmas but has been asked to write a festive novel by his publisher.  Through his attempts to get into the Christmas spirit he discovers the season has it’s merits after all.  I spent many an evening mulling over possible titles that would capture these essential elements. Several floating through my brain were overly sugary and twee and my story is not.  However, I did feel the title should have ‘Christmas’ in it somewhere to alert the reader to it’s seasonal flavour.  So _________  Christmas, I thought to myself, playing it like a game of Hangman.  Christmas, writing, writing Christmas . . . ‘Rewriting Christmas’ perfect!  By the end of the story my main character Bill has changed his perception of Christmas which will almost certainly have a effect on his writing. I hope the title neatly sums up the transformation which occurs in the story and that some of you may fancy giving it a read!

Let’s see, what are the main selling points?  There’s love, tinsel, snow, chocolate cake, apricot cheese, mulled wine , Southern Comfort and vol au vents.  Just realised I’m primarily obsessed with food and alcohol . . . Ah well, tis the season!

P.S. Will put up a picture of the cover when it’s complete, just a few finishing touches to add.