#anneka

Anneka

My Christmas novella, "Hands of Tradition", is completed for 2024! Didn't go in directions I expected, but I like it all the same. I wrote a chapter every day (well - a chapter for each day, though I fell off the wagon at the very end) leading up to Christmas. Each chapter corresponds with that date. It's about Vaniah and Anneka's first Christmas with a child, and is largely fluffy and Christmassy. Links are below the read more; because of how many chapters it is, I decided not to write up a paragraph with links embedded like last year. It's a single cohesive story, but doesn't require any context to understand it (though it'll probably be enjoyed more with context).

Please let me know what you think of it, with all the feedback you'd like to give! Including criticism. I'm not super good at fluff, but I had fun here, especially given Hands Made For Gentleness is decidedly not a fluffy novel in and of itself. This is longer than I intended and also longer than last year's story "The Patience of Hope", which was only 12 chapters. (You can check that out on my website too.)

I can provide the complete text in another form, such as PDF (properly formatted) or Google Doc, on request. The total word count is 26,747 words, which very comfortably brings it to novella territory.

More stories, rambles or snippets about these characters are available both on my AO3 and on request.

"If you look at me like that for long," jested Vaniah, with an undercurrent of seriousness in his voice, "you're going to get kissed—unless you don't want to."