Christmas Morning Every Morning - Guest post by Whitney Braun

We all remember the excitement we had as children the night of Christmas Eve. The anticipation keeping us up past our bedtime. The wonder of the lights, the wrapping paper, the stockings, and the sugary treats. We would hardly get any rest and wake our parents up much too early. We would rush to the kitchen to make sure that Santa stopped in and devoured his cookies. We would feel the all over thrill of ripping open the paper to find out what’s been hiding underneath.

What if we had that feeling every time we sat down to write? What if moments before we put the pen to paper we felt that all over delight? What if we couldn’t wait to discover the words that would flow from our minds onto the page?

I often forget this part of the writing experience. I brainstorm and outline and revise until the wonder is gone. I get to the point where I’m sick of what’s on the page, and I just write to meet a deadline. I forget that this is a gift—time to follow my dream. I forget how necessary it is for my health, mental and physical, to purge the stories from my thoughts to make room for more. My writing time is precious time that should be reserved for positive emotions.

Not everyone is a writer, but we are. God has given us a gift and a passion for something that not everyone has. Shouldn’t that brew up enough excitement to sit down at our keyboards? Knowing that God chose us to be the ones with a desire to turn our thoughts into pages is an honour—one I forget about way too frequently.

Lately, I haven’t had much time to write. As a new mom, my time is occupied elsewhere, so when I do have a few moments to get the words out, I feel that thrill. It’s refreshing. But more importantly, it’s an important reminder that God has given me this time. 
I will rejoice and be glad in it.



Whitney Braun is a Christian romance author with five published novels. She resides near Fort St John, BC with her husband, son, and crazy cat, Nacho. Chat with her on Facebook, @authorwhitneybraun, or visit her website, authorwhitneybraun.webs.com. 

Behind the Scenes of Effortlessness - Whitney Braun

I was standing at the stove stirring what would be dinner when it happened. I told my husband about the day’s events—a normal occurrence at the end of a work day. But as I summarized the dailies, including filling him in on the latest events of a few friends of mine, Drake and Anna, my husband got this odd look on his face.

“Who are Drake and Anna?” he asked me.

At first, I was appalled that he couldn’t recall such dear friends, but not a moment later, my confusion morphed into mortification.

You see, Drake and Anna were characters in my current work in progress at the time. They were fictional. I had just told my husband about the happenings of my imaginary friends. But, bless his soul, instead of scheduling a doctor’s appointment, he laughed it off. As did I.

Not only is there humour inside of a story but also, outside of it too. That was the only time I’ve chattered on about my characters accidentally, but I foresee that mistake happening on occasion. And boy, did it ever lighten the mood as I trudged my way through the thickest part of the manuscript’s conflict! A much needed, humourous reprieve. Us writers should never discredit the benefit of these types of events.

Although embarrassing, I found this instance much easier to laugh about then when I actually find myself trying to incorporate humour into my stories. It’s no easy feat. In fact, often I find humour one of the hardest elements to perfect when drafting a novel.

I recently sat down with a high school student who wanted to meet with me to discuss novel writing. She asked me how to incorporate humour into a story. There was no easy answer, but it got me thinking…

Often, the humour in my stories comes through dialogue. My husband and I love to laugh. We joke around a lot. Most of that comes from conversation, so that’s when humour tends to shine through in my work. As I thought about how I actually wrote funny happenings, I realized it most often occurred when I was writing a scene that was primarily an exchange between characters. This way, I could not only write what they were saying, but also, add in bits of action to carry on the conversation. It could be as simple as a busy mom looking for her phone while talking on it, or a child mispronouncing a silly word to his or her parent. Easy ways to lighten the mood.

Humour should be effortless for the reader. They shouldn’t have to think too hard about the punch line. It shouldn’t be a chore to envision the scene on the page. But in order to achieve such effortlessness, it does, indeed, take a great amount of effort.

Whitney Braun is a Christian romance author with five published novels. She resides near Fort St John, BC with her husband, son, and crazy cat, Nacho. Chat with her on Facebook, @authorwhitneybraun, or visit her website, authorwhitneybraun.webs.com. 

Some Type of Crazy - Whitney Braun

“You’ve got to be some type of crazy to do something like that,” my grandfather mumbled at the television. My husband and I looked at each other with knowing eyes. We were that type of crazy.

            It was the week between Christmas and New Years of 2017. My side of the family was gathered around my grandparents’ living room watching the very first outdoor hockey game of the World Juniors Hockey Championship. Canada and the USA had one period left to battle it out. Over forty thousand spectators sat around Buffalo’s football stadium to watch the rink down below. It was a blizzard with subzero temperatures, yet the stands were full—warmed only by the love of the game. I guess my grandfather’s love of the game wasn’t as deep as theirs.

            If my husband and I had the means we would’ve been there at that very game. The year before, we attended the tournament in Montreal, walking four kilometers in -24 wind chill to and from the arena. We had a blast.

            I looked to my grandfather, and before I could stop them, the words just stumbled out. “But wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same?”

It’s not often my eighty-five year old gramps is rendered speechless.

It got me thinking about the passage in 1 Corinthians. For the body does not consist of one part but of many. We all play a part in making up Christ’s body. Those spectators in their parkas were as much of a part of the puzzle as my grandfather and the rest of us lounging in his temperature controlled home.

Not everyone can write. Not everyone can sit outside in a blizzard for three hours. That’s okay because that would be boring.

Often we find it easy to look at someone and gasp when they tell us they haven’t read a single book in a decade. Or, we might tsk at another for using the wrong punctuation in a Facebook status. But here’s the thing. They might be thinking the same thing about us. We are all some type of crazy.

My reason to write? I believe that the stories in my head weren’t put there by accident. Someone’s got to get them onto the page, right? Someone’s got to fill those stadium seats.

Let me go get my toque—it’s game time.

Photo Source: https://www.facebook.com/pg/WorldJuniors/photos/