Winner of The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt Chapter Contest

[UPDATE: The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt is FREE on Kindle December 14-17 - Grab Your Copy Here!]

First, an invitation. Today, we open the Magnificent Hope Christmas Party! It's a virtual party that will last all of December, so come on over and share your Christmas with us. All our authors are already there, and we have photos, videos, memories, music, quizzes, polls, and lots more! You can drop by and browse, or you can set up an account (just e-mail address and name - there's no cost involved), and then create your own page to share your photos and memories with us! No sales gimmicks - just a new-fangled, old-fashioned Christmas party! Hope to see you there! And tell all your friends we'd love to meet them, too! (We'll be giving away some gift baskets and gift cards all during the month, too - everyone who registers is entered to win!)

Mid-October, we put out a call for a unique writing contest. We wanted to create a Christmas novella with several of our authors, and we opened up one chapter for a "guest author." Anyone interested in participating had to request the contest details, and then start writing. The participants were provided with a short synopsis of the potential story and then were asked to write one chapter of approximately 2500 words based on that synopsis.

As the contestants were writing the entries, eight of our authors were writing their own chapters of The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt. Our participating authors are:

Joan Campbell
Jennifer Fromke
Sheryl Holmes
Deanna Klingel 
Fay Lamb
J.A. Marx
Ruth O'Neil
Debbie Roome

They not only wrote their chapters, they also spent precious time brainstorming, editing, marketing, and judging the project, too! They made this project fun, and created a wonderful story for all of you - our readers.

On Monday, we will begin a sharing The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt on blogs - half a chapter each day. We'll also be introducing you to each of the authors individually, and sharing some of their favorite Christmas memories and recipes with you. Some of the authors even have special posts planned during this time, so you'll want to bookmark all of them and check back regularly. On December 14th, we'll release the entire novella on Kindle. And for four days only, we'll be offering it as a FREE GIFT to everyone, as our way of saying THANK YOU for your support and encouragement of our authors and of our publishing companies.

But today, we're excited to introduce you to the winner of The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt chapter contest! Please welcome to the WIP family of authors:

Marji Laine

Marji is a home-schooling mom of four with the oldest at UT Dallas. When she can't indulge in her passion for story-telling, she's transporting teenage volleyball players, teaching writing classes at a local co-op, and directing the children’s music program at her church. She loves acting in musical comedy, has directed many stage productions, leads a worship team, sings in her church choir, coordinates high school classes for a large home-school group, scrap-books, crochets, and designs Love Story books for newlyweds. She invites readers to unravel their inspiration, seeking a deeper knowledge of the Lord’s Great Mystery that invites us all. You can find her hanging around her website, Facebook page, or you can follow @MarjiLaine on Twitter.

Find her on the web:

Website 
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads


Marji jumped right in on this project like she'd been there all along, and one of the judges even made the comment that her chapter fit into the rest of the project like a glove! We're excited to have her, and we can't wait to share the story with you.

Here's a hint of what's coming Monday:

Grace takes delivery of a package and her life is turned upside down by nine sealed mystery envelopes from her late grandmother. Grammie’s instructions require Grace to take the journey of her lifetime, not only to far off places, but also into the deepest parts of her heart. As she follows the trail laid out for her and uncovers her family’s darkest secrets, Grace is forced to confront the loss and betrayal that has scarred her past and seek the greatest Christmas Treasure of all.

[UPDATE: Start reading Chapter One here.]