NK Chats With… Alana Oxford

Hi Alana, thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell me about your novel, A Modern Midlife Christmas Carol and what inspired it?

Thank you so much!

My book is about a frazzled wife/mother who is fast approaching burnout for the holiday season.

I am part of the “sandwich generation” myself, meaning I’m caught in the middle of helping aging parents, but I still have my own children at home to care for as well. I’ve had a lot of powerful conversations with friends and colleagues about navigating this challenging time of life and I drew upon our collective experiences, embellished and fabricated, to explore those feelings under the added pressure of holiday expectations.

I thought this stressed wife/mother character would make a fantastic modern day Scrooge and went from there.

What’s your typical writing day like? Do you like to write in a particular spot? Silence or noise? Any other writing rituals?

I don’t like to be around other people when I write, so depending on who’s home, I’ll either write with my laptop on the dining room table, or closed up in my office.

I prefer to have music playing when I write. I also create a playlist for every book I write. Certain songs act as theme songs for different characters, or they get me in the right frame of mind for certain scenes I’m writing. If I have to step away from writing for a few days due to life, the music will put me right back in the world I’m creating.

What were the challenges you found when writing your novel especially when A Christmas Carol is so well known?

I wanted it to harken back to the original, but not too much. Scrooge himself makes a brief appearance in my book, but I really enjoyed playing with the idea of an overtaxed woman who’s lost her Christmas cheer but is expected to make holiday magic for everyone in her family.

To give myself more direction, I wanted to keep the length of my book to about the length of Dickens’ classic. His is a little more than 30,000 words. Mine came in around 37,000.

Which songs would make up a playlist for your book? 

 Great question! I have actually included a playlist at the back of the book because I listened to those songs so many times while writing I wanted everyone to know what they were.

         Some of the top songs from the list are:

         Beginning to Feel the Years – Brandi Carlile

         What Was I Made For? – Billie Eilish

         Virginia (Wind in the Night) – The Head and the Heart

         Midlife – Ordinary Elephant

         Underneath the Christmas Lights – Sia

         Underneath the Mistletoe – Sia

         Pin Drop – Sia

         Christmas Lights – Straight No Chaser

(I really love Sia’s Christmas album!)

What’s your favourite word and why?

Kerfuffle is a lot of fun to say. If you say it forcefully enough, you could also pretend it’s a sneeze.

From idea to finished book, what’s your writing process like and how long does it typically take you? Any tips on how to approach research, starting and editing?

It takes me a little less time to complete a book every time I do it, which hopefully proves that I’m learning something each time.

I have a hectic life. I have a decent sized commute to work and I shuttle my kids back and forth to school and activities. My work schedule changes all the time. I’m a librarian, so morning, afternoon, evening, and weekend shifts must be covered. So, I’m not able to make a consistent routine. Instead, I’ve learned to fit in my writing time as life allows and just do the best I can. As long as I keep coming back to it, it’ll get finished.

What are you currently working on?

 I’m currently writing a short story for an anthology that comes out next summer. After that, I have a couple different romance stories vying for my attention.

Which book have you read that you wish you could forget, just so you could discover it again? (One you didn’t write.)

The Rainey Seasons by Michael Lawrence is one of my favorite books ever. It explores alternate realities and posits that for every 50/50 choice that occurs in life, another reality is created for the opposite choice. To me, that provides never-ending fodder for my imagination and I think about that often.

 The book itself, however, was such a joy to read, because I’d never thought of things in that way before, that I’d love to erase it so I could experience that revelation all over again.

Any advice to overcome writers block?

Taking a walk or a shower usually helps to get my ideas flowing. Also, music. If I play music that evokes the mood of the book I’m writing, it gets me back on track.

If you could transport yourself to any fictional world to meet any fictional character, where would you go any why?

How much fun would it be to have tea and marmalade sandwiches with Paddington Bear? I think it would be wonderful to enjoy an adventure with a well-meaning, well-mannered bear who just happens to be able to speak.

Think of the possibilities! That would be a really memorable experience.

Would you rather –

Have the ability to see into the future or be able to visit the past?

Visit the past. I like that the future is unknown.

Have the ability to move things with your mind or read minds?

I have enough going on in my own head. I’ll move things with my mind.

Sing or dance to your favourite song for the rest of your life?

Sing. I’m singing along to music all the time.

Have money or power?

Money, so I could travel wherever I wanted.

Have an endless summer or winter?

Summer. The darkness of winter saps my energy too much.

Tea or coffee?

Black tea.

Movie or book?

Book

Morning person or night owl?

Night owl.

Paperback or eBook?

Paperback.

Christmas or Halloween?

Christmas.

About Alana Oxford: 

Alana Oxford is a Michigan author of romcoms, sweet romance, and humorous women’s fiction. She wants her stories to bring sunshine and smiles to her readers.

She enjoys improv comedy, moody music, everything book related, and has an ongoing love affair with the United Kingdom.

Say hello to Alana via Instagram, X, Facebook and TikTok.

About A Modern Midlife Christmas Carol

Christmas cheer was dead, to begin with.

The world rests on Eliza’s shoulders. The kids, her husband, work, her elderly mother and don’t forget her newest friend, perimenopause. It’s too much to carry, but she’s been doing it for years. It’s just what a good wife and mother does, isn’t it? 

When another Christmas rolls around, Eliza is drained by all the expectations and logistics of the holiday season. She’s fast approaching her breaking point, only no one around her notices she’s on the edge.

After an incident at her in-law’s on Christmas Eve brings things to a boiling point, she finds herself with three unexpected visitors. The spirits of the past, present, and future take her on a journey through her life to shake her out of the rut she’s gotten into. Their messages leave her with new possibilities: reconnect with her past, reclaim her present, or forge a new future, and you, the reader, decide which option is best! 

 A Modern Midlife Christmas Carol was released in October 2024. Click to buy on Amazon UK, Waterstones and Apple Books. 

Win A Copy Of The Gingerbread Christmas Village by Kiley Dunbar – 

Alana Oxford has kindly said that she would like to do an ebook giveaway for another author who writes charming and cozy Christmas books so we have a Kindle copy of The Gingerbread Christmas Village by Kiley Dunbar up for grabs for one lucky winner.

To enter, simply follow this link. This is open to UK and US only. See terms and conditions below.

 
About The Gingerbread Christmas Village

Everyone deserves a Christmas treat…

The annual Wheaton gingerbread exhibit (a model village made of gingerbread) and grotto has been an important part of the sleepy Cotswold hamlet’s Christmas celebrations for decades.

For years the gingerbread exhibition drew visitors from across the region and each year the model town grew more elaborate and ambitious but recently, interest has been dwindling. The gingerbread grotto needs to be rehomed or close forever.

Sixty-four-year-old Margi, the event’s founder, has had enough of village life (and its total lack of eligible men) and is planning to sell up and head to Birmingham to live closer to her niece.

She has lost her spark and her Christmas spirit and decides this will be her last gingerbread village, but despairs when she finds her only support is her old friend, Izzy, her niece Lucy from Birmingham, and Fern, the shy young farmer’s daughter. Oh, and Patrick, the gorgeous, reliable school caretaker.

As if this wasn’t enough, Lucy is determined to get her out dating again and persuades her to try some online dating apps but Margi’s had her heart broken too many times and wonders if she has just missed her chance.

Can they save the Gingerbread Grotto and can Margi get her old spark and her Christmas spirit back?

*Terms and Conditions –

UK & US entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter link above. 

The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner.

Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. 

Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.