WRITING FROM THE HEART

People often ask me where the stories in Coffee Shop Chronicles come from.

A lot are from fantasies I would share, some being made up on the spot, that would amaze people and then they would ask but how can you sort of pluck them out of mid-air?

The truthful answer to that is… they begin with people rather than plots.

A smile across a café. A lonely, stranger walking through the door. Two people sharing the last slice of cake while raindrops tap gently against the windows. Those tiny moments are where romance truly lives.

When I write these stories, I don’t begin by asking, “What dramatic thing can happen?” Instead, I ask, “How do these people make one another feel?”

That is the heart of every romance.

Diane, Blanche, Henry, Diane’s many love interests and the wonderful residents of Velvet Oaks have slowly become real friends to me. They surprise me constantly. Sometimes a conversation I never planned suddenly appears on the page, or a joke between Blanche and Henry grows into an entire chapter. The characters know themselves better than I ever could.

I also believe romance doesn’t have to be grand to be memorable.

A cup of coffee made exactly the way someone likes it.

A handwritten note left on a kitchen table.

A walk beside the lake at sunset.

A hand held for just a little longer than necessary.

Those are the moments that stay with us.

Every short story is rather like baking a favourite cake. You begin with familiar ingredients—friendship, kindness, laughter, hope and perhaps a few misunderstandings—before adding just enough emotion to make the ending feel deserved. By the final page, I want readers to close the book wearing a smile they didn’t realise had appeared.

Perhaps that’s why I love writing short stories so much.

Life itself is made up of small chapters, brief encounters and unexpected meetings that can change everything.

If Coffee Shop Chronicles reminds readers to slow down, notice the little moments, and believe that love might be waiting around the very next corner, then I feel I’ve done exactly what I set out to do.

After all, sometimes the greatest love stories begin with nothing more than a simple cup of coffee.

Big Kiss X