Birth of The Christmas Shoes (Guest Post by Donna VanLiere and Giveaway)

When I found out that Donna VanLiere was going to guest post on my blog, I knew that I had to ask her about her book The Christmas Shoes.  My question was how the song/book/movie came about.  The song never fails to bring tears to my eyes (as well as my teenage daughter's), and is one of my absolute favorite songs.  Just a day after requesting this topic for her guest post I was able to cry through the movie as well.  So read the post - and see if you were right as to which came first - the book or the song.

Song to Book to Movie and Back to Book and Song Again
Donna VanLiere
Latest book: The Christmas Journey
www.donnavanliere.com

Ten years ago I traveled to Knoxville, TN in the sweltering heat of July with my husband to visit our friends from NewSong, who were in concert. As we stood backstage in the arena, I could barely hear our friend Eddie because of the other band on stage. It was loud and dark and Eddie bent close to my ear. “I’m thinking of writing a Christmas song.” He gave me a short, two-sentence premise (basically: a little boy who wants to buy a pair of shoes for his mother who is dying but he can’t afford them so some man buys them for him) and then asked, “Do you think that would make a good song?” I said, “I think that would make a good book.”


I began to formulate an outline in my head at the concert and when I returned home I started to write. A few weeks later Eddie called and said they had the song produced and asked if my husband and I wanted to hear it. We listened on speakerphone and I cried when I heard The Christmas Shoes for the first time. The song became a favorite on radio and went to number one on the Billboard Chart, taking just three weeks to get there, faster than any song in history. I told Eddie years later that had he played the song for me in its entirety that I probably would have never been inspired because the story is all there in the song but because he gave me such little information I was able to see the entire book in my head.


The book was picked up by CBS and became a movie and when I was asked to write another Christmas book, The Christmas Blessing, CBS picked that one up, too and NewSong wrote a song of the same name for the movie. My publisher asked to write another book, The Christmas Hope and that one also became a movie with a song by NewSong. The Christmas Secret is set to be a movie for Lifetime in 2011 and I hope it will include a song by NewSong.


The journey continues with the new book, The Christmas Journey. It’s not a novel but rather a narrative filled with watercolor illustrations and still part of The Christmas Hope series of books. It’s a short read (it takes about fifteen minutes to read, which my husband says all books should be that short!) about the journey Mary and Joseph took. I hope this beautiful gift book will become a part of your Christmas Eve tradition or even a part of your celebration on Christmas Day!


Merry Christmas!
Donna

Giveaway Time!

Special thanks to Anne from Authors on the Web for providing a copy of Ms. VanLiere's latest book, The Christmas Journey, for a giveaway.

To enter the giveaway, please tell me your favorite Christmas song, book or movie.  Leave your email address so that I can get in touch with you if you are the lucky winner.

This giveaway is open to US/Canada only and will end on January 15.

Extra entries:

Follow my blog (google connect, Networked Blogs, email subscriber) - anyway you follow is fine.

Follow me on Twitter and Tweet - please leave link.

If you post about this contest anywhere else, it is good for an entry - just let me know where you left it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!