I’ve been toying with the idea of a lighter paranormal world for a while. After the challenges of the last few years with Covid and all the rest, I wanted to create a softer world for my characters, something fun without heaps of turmoil or angst. So I jotted down a few quick sketches of what might happen in a new series, and that is about it. I didn’t have any immediate plans to start writing the stories. Not yet.
But then a friend in one of my writing groups said “Hey, we should get a bunch of people together and do a Christmas anthology.” At first, I hadn’t planned on joining, but I thought I could offer some support to the group since I have participated in a few anthologies in the past, so I attended the first Zoom meeting. And, yeah, I ended up agreeing to put in a story.
At the time, we had quite a few authors interested in the anthology. We agreed on a broad set of guidelines and then we all went our separate ways to write. And, honestly, it was exactly what I needed. I hadn’t written much during Covid and having a deadline was a great motivator. I wrote the first draft in about two weeks. It isn’t the series I had originally planned, but they can all still live in the same paranormal world... so after I finish Gina and Alice’s stories, who knows what might happen.
I’ve always loved reading historical romances, and I don’t know that I’ll ever write a proper historical romance, so I decided to throw in all the things I love most about those Georgian / Regency-esque stories: the highwayman, the ball, the clandestine meeting in the library… It was fun, but I didn’t take anything too seriously because it was still in this new paranormal world, and I wanted it to be light and fun.
And then this person dropped out of the anthology, and then another, and so on. And, when it was time to submit the stories, we only had five authors still interested, me included. So far, so good, right? Except the other four were all wonderfully sweet stories… with nothing more heated than a gentle kiss. The original rules were that we could write up to heat level 3, which is what I did, but you know that Sesame Street song “One of these things is not like the others?” That was my story. So, we all agreed that maybe my story wasn’t the best fit for the anthology, and I decided to publish it on its own. And, voila, here we are.
I plan for Gina’s Time Travel Agency to be a trilogy. At the moment, I see the next story as Gina’s, followed by Alice’s. All three will be set during the holidays. The next two will be more obviously paranormal, which you probably already guessed since Alice’s beau is a vampire. I don’t currently have a timeline for those stories yet, but I expect Gina’s to release in 2023. To keep informed about release dates, join my newsletter. It is the best way to find out about new releases and other news.
I hope you enjoyed Cassy and Gray’s story!
Cheers,
Lori Whyte