Now that Christmas is knocking on our door, most of us are going to be taking well-deserved time off from work to celebrate and relax after a long year. One of the main forms of family entertainment this time year is watching the Christmas movies played constantly on cable. However, there are some who enjoy falling in love with the books as well as watching the movies, and this list is for you.

Adapting books into films has been around as long as the film industry has existed, and chances are many of your favorite films have been adapted from a book, novella, short story, or other written work. As it turns out, Christmas films aren’t an exception from this rule. Many Christmas classics were first told in the written form, and below are some of the familiar Christmas works that first began on the pages of a book:

This film has become such a beloved classic that during a 2002 24-hour marathon of the film on TNT, a sixth of the country tuned in. The number has only grown since then after the film switched over to TBS, and the annual tradition of 24 hour marathons beginning on Christmas Eve continues today.

The 1983 classic began as a series of short stories that appeared in the book In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd. From these short stories, which were inspired by his childhood, came one of America’s favorite Christmas films. A Christmas Story has become such a part of American culture that all someone needs to say is “You’ll shoot your eye out!” or “Fra-JEE-lay, must be Italian” and we will all know exactly what they’re referencing.

November 22^nd 2013 will mark 50 years since the death of influential British novelist C S Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia series.  But the UK has seen its fair share of influential authors, from J K Rowling to Roald Dahl.  Here are just a few of the authors who have shaped the way we read in the UK.

Joanne Rowling’s Harry Potter books have to date generated more than £237 million in revenue, but this famous author began writing as an unemployed single mum in 1995, when she wrote the first Harry Potter book, ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.’  Telling the story of a young boy wizard and his magical escapades, the book was initially rejected by several publishers until it was snapped up by London publishing house Bloomsbury in 1996.  Original print copies of the book are now worth around £25,000, and the novel went on to win the British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year.  Rowling quickly followed this up with a sequel, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ in 1998, with a third novel in 1999. In 2000, the 4^th book, ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ broke sales records in the UK with around 373,000 copies being sold on its release day.  In total there are 7 Harry Potter books, which have been translated into 65 languages, and J K Rowling is often credited with sparking an interest in reading for children who may otherwise have turned to TV or computer games. Today, J K Rowling is working on her next piece of children’s fiction and also recently released ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’ under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

Many individuals would like to own a business but don’t know what they would do or how to do it. One of the great benefits of owning a franchise is that much of that leg work has already been done for you. The franchisor has already put a lot of effort into figuring out a great business plan, streamlining business practices, and designing a franchise training program.

At the same time, when you buy a franchise, it is still your business. The success or failure of the business will be due, in large part, to your business skills. Following are five tips for succeeding as a franchise owner:

Find the right business for you.

Know your industry.

Remember that it is your business.

Put effort into your own marketing. Stick with the franchise method of business

Choose the Right Business

Does anyone else remember this song? Back in 1998, the Barenaked Ladies released it as the follow up to their wildly popular hit One Week. Sometimes, when I’m trying to think up an original idea for a plot or a character or even a little bit of description, this song starts running through my head. And when I think about coming up with new ways to depict haunting and horror in my novels, this song seems even more apropos. Has it really all been done? Truly, coming up with creepy new things for my ghosts and spirits to do is a serious struggle. I’m sure the rest of you horror-type writers will agree.

One of the things my editor charged me with during edits on EVER NEAR was creating some unique things for my ghosts to do. She wanted me to push myself to make my ghost characters one-of-a-kind and horrid in their own very special ghostly ways. After all, ghosts are one of those things that may in fact have all been done before.

So what was a ghost writer like me to do? (ha, did you catch that play on words) Well, I took to my e-reader and downloaded a boatload of books—ones with ghosts that were currently chilling the hearts of readers everywhere. Of course, this wasn’t so I could copy them; I was looking for original ideas after all. No, this was to get my own creative juices flowing, and I am happy to say it worked. I was able to imagine some gloriously new effects for the ghosts in my novel.