This week on the blog, we're kicking off the holiday season with Laura Bailo and the release of her holiday short, A Special Delivery!

I have to admit that when I read the blurb all I could think of was the song Baby It's Cold Outside, but as a duet between Michael Buble and Josh Groban. What inspired you to write this story?

Honestly? I was indulging myself. The cold had set in last year, Christmas decorations were starting to appear and I really wanted some Christmas fluff, so I decided to write some myself. It all started with the idea of the misdelivered package, and the story was born from there.

This is your second short this year for Nine Star Press, the first being The Holy Company in the fantasy anthology Into The Mystic. Do you have any novel length projects in development, or do you primarily write short stories?

That’s a hard one. I’ve also written a novella that was published by Dreamspinner Press, and another short story that’s on submission right now. When I started writing, I mostly wrote short stories, but I’ve always wanted to write longer things. I’m working on a contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast, an MF romance where Belle is a trans woman, and I’m hoping that one will be my first novel. I love the project, I love the characters, and I’m super excited to write it. But I’m really bad at calculating length for my works in progress, so I can’t really promise it will actually end up a novel – although I’m giving it the best chance I can!

From your biography, I see you live in Pamplona, Spain. Do you write stories in any other languages?

I do, or I used to, anyway. Until last year, I’d never written creatively in English, not unless you count the little flash fictions you sometimes have to write for exams. I’ve got quite a few short stories written in Spanish, and I tried translating one of them to English once, but it was almost harder than writing a new story. So if I have any Spanish readers, I can always point them in the direction of those stories, which are all free to read in my old blog. I just don’t really advertise them anymore because I’m writing primarily in English now.

What was your favorite book when you were growing up?

My answer for this question is always the same – The Neverending Story. It was one of my favorite books, and sometimes I pick it up from my shelf just to look at the cover and remember all the time I spent lost in its pages when I was younger. I also reread it a few years ago and found I still loved it as much as the first time I read it.

Do you have any advice for yet- unpublished authors?

Give it your best shot, and don’t give up. But most importantly, surround yourselves with friends that will encourage you, always while being honest with you. Good friends won’t drag you down, not even when what they have to say isn’t always positive. Trust your instincts when it comes to people.

Congratulations on the release of A Special Delivery, Laura! Where can readers interact with you on the web?

Answer: I’m everywhere! You can interact with me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/LauraBailo), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/laura.bailo), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/lnefer/) or through my website (https://laurabailo.wordpress.com/). The only site I don’t visit much is Goodreads, but I’m always happy to see my works getting reviews there!