Still, after all this time, I am in love with the idea of tiny houses. But what can you do with something so small?

Well, me and six friends got together and created a novella collection to answer just that question! Here are seven stories about people chasing their dreams, making fresh starts, finding love, stumbling upon forgiveness, and embarking upon new adventures–all involving a tiny house.

Here’s the promo information about my novella, “Big Love”:

Homelessness expanded her world and constricted his. Now she needs his help, but he only remembers the pain. Can they find big love in a tiny house?

Best thing? The price for this giant collection is tiny! Add it to your Kindle library for just $1.99. But the price won’t last for long!

Michael Ehret loves to play with words and as the author of “Big Love,” a novella within Coming Home: A Tiny House Collection, he is enjoying his playground. Previous playgrounds include being the Managing Editor of the magazine ACFW Journal and the ezine Afictionado for seven years. He also plays with words as a freelance editor and has edited several nonfiction books, proofedited for Abingdon Press, worked in corporate communications, and reported for The Indianapolis Star.

My soon-to-be-published novella, “Big Love,” from the Coming Home: A Tiny House Collection from Penwrights Press, caught me a bit by surprise. In so many ways.

I wasn’t expecting to write a novella for a collection with six of my writing friends. Heck, I wasn’t expecting to write a novella!

But the idea was floated for a collection themed around the tiny house phenomenon and it seemed like fun. Then came deciding what my story would be about and how to incorporate the theme.

Not as easy as it may sound. I’m a Seat Of The Pants (SOTP) writer. I sit down at the computer, open a Word document, and start writing.

My wife, Deb, in a tiny house kitchen.

Probably our favorite overall from the Tiny Home Road Show.

Inside one of the swanky tiny houses.

Deb waiting in line for this tiny home. Very nice inside.

Looking down a row of tiny houses.

Bedroom of the swanky one, with an actual closet!

One of our simpler favorites.

We do love a good front porch.

However, when we decided we wanted to do this collection, my wife and I had just finished touring the Tiny House Road Show (photos above) when it stopped here in Indianapolis. On a subsequent weekend trip to Cincinnati, we brainstormed a couple of ideas about how it could be approached.

What if?

What if the man in the story was a writer for an architectural journal who thought himself too sophisticated to do a story on tiny houses? What if the woman was the president of a company building tiny houses with the idea to use the proceeds to battle homelessness? Then, what if both of these people had experienced homelessness in different forms and it had drastically affected their lives, but in different, opposite ways?

Found on the Northside of Indianapolis. The spark for my main character.

But I still couldn’t seem to get the story started. One day, I’m driving around the Northside of Indianapolis and I spot a street sign for Timberly Drive and the voice of my female character just pops into my mind and starts talking.

I’m just going to put it out there. My name’s Timberly. Yeah, Timberly. Get over it. I did long ago, okay? What can a girl say? My father, the dealmaker, cut what he called a “win-win” with my mother. Trouble is, there were three people in the deal and only two of them “won-won.”

From there the story began to unfold. A theme paragraph emerged: Homelessness expanded her world and constricted his. Now she needs his help, but he only remembers the pain. Can they find big love in a tiny house?

“Big Love” is one of seven novellas written around the theme of tiny houses. It is included in Coming Home: A Tiny House Collection coming soon from Penwrights Press. Available in e-book and print mid-May, 2017. Cover design by Ken Raney.

Visit my co-authors: Ane Mulligan, Linda Yezak, Pamela S. Meyers, Yvonne Anderson, Chandra Lynn Smith, and Kimberli S. McKay.

My friends at Novel Rocket are taking a poll on how much you’re willing to pay for an e-book. Would love to have you participate. Here’s their introduction to the poll:

As we wait to see how the law handles the charges that Apple and five publishers met to fix e-book prices, I’ve found myself surprised at the price point I’ve seen thrown around in the news. I mean, there’s only so much I’ll pay for “air” before I’d rather upgrade to a physical copy of the book. It’s left me wondering what’s the highest price people are willing to pay for an e-book. They say in real estate the house is worth whatever someone will pay–and the same is true for us.

Take the link below to participate in the poll!

Those of you with e-readers, what’s the highest you’ve paid to date for an e-book?

Michael Ehret, for Writing on the Fine Line

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net