#omgHollyJacobs

For years, I've bribed friends (and strangers) into coming up to me at book signings and yell, OMG it's Holly Jacobs.  I know, I'm shameless!  So I went to #RWA14 to promote Just One Thing…and took it a step further! LOL 



I had some Tweeting about it with #omgHollyJacobs!  I kept saying, "I'm trending," though Twitter experts assured me 12 posts didn't make a trend! LOL



Really, I had such a good time!  Thanks to everyone who joined in my glee!



Holly

Conference Tips #2

My Most Important Tip:

Okay, over the last couple days I've posted a lot of tips for those going to RWA's Conference in San Antonio next week. I think a lot were tips that could apply to anyone in their every day life. This last one is the most important one. And it is definitely one that applies to everyday life as well! If you're going, have fun! I'll be at the signing, so stop over and say hi!

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On that same note (see previous post), I frequently try to lend a shoulder and moral support to writers with editor/agent appointments. 

More than once I've had someone who's worried about some ALWAYS/NEVER advice. For instance, once someone had prepared little notecards because she was so nervous about her appointment. She gone to a workshop where the speaker said, NEVER use notecards at an editor/agent appointment. An editor/agent will NEVER ask to see a manuscript from someone who used a notecard. ARGH.

Just in case you have an appointment, I've done an informal poll and the editors and agents who take appointments all said they don't care if you use notecards. What they really want is to hear something short and to the point about your story. To be honest, they all really WANT to love your story. That's why they're there, to find new talent. So take a deep breath and do your best. There's no ALWAYS or NEVER about how you do it.
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I've met so many newer writers who come out of one workshop or another feeling that however they've been working is 'wrong.' SIGH. Here's some very good conference advice…if you go to a workshop where the speaker uses the words, 'always' and 'never' a lot, take anything they say with a grain of salt.

Susan Gable and I have done a workshop together (and occasionally solo) called, "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Rules." A better title might be, "Your Rules Might Not Apply to Me and Vice Versa," but that's a bit long and cumbersome. Anyway, you get the idea. Own your own creative process. And realize that what works for you today might not work for you tomorrow.

Remember, what works for you might not work for the next person.

Uh, that's not really a Conference Tale. It's more of a lecture, but hey, I'm a mom. Sometimes lectures just happen!

(A funny aside, I was never a physical discipliner. I 'talked' or lectured the kids when there was an issue. On occasion, they begged me to become a spanker! LOL)

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I already mentioned that if you see someone at the conference sitting alone say hi…ask to join them, or invite them to join you. I've met more lovely people that way! 

One trip, I was in the window seat when a man came and sat in the center seat. I smiled and said, hi. We had a great conversation. I mentioned a husband straight away and he mentioned a wife…so we were both sure it was just a chat. LOL He worked for the airline and I asked about his job. I love collecting those random bits about different jobs. I've frequently used them in books. As the plane landed, he said thank you…he flew all the time but hadn't talked to another passenger in years. I asked why he talked to me. He said…because you smiled.

So smile at people at conference! You never know when the next stranger you meet will turn out to be a best friend! 

Conference Stories

Hanging with Nora Roberts this morning!

I've hung with her before…not that she'd remember, but I do!

My 1st Harlequin party (1st RWA Conference) she walked into the hotel at the same time as me. She said, "Do you know where the Harlequin party's at?" I squeaked out, "No," in awe that one of my icons had spoken to me. Then she said, "Well, follow me." She found it and I walked into my first party with…Nora Roberts!

Fast forward a few years. I'm on an escalator with my suitcase…a not-moving escalator. So I'm walking down that is in essence a staircase. My bad leg had been wonky for a few weeks and it buckled. Now, I'm used to it and I caught myself, but not before Nora Roberts saw the buckle and positioned herself at the bottom of the stairs, her arms out, ready to catch me if I fell. Uh, between me and the suitcase, we'd have smooshed her, but she didn't seem worried.

It's nice when the women you admire are just as nice as you'd want, ushering a newbie into a party and trying to save a wonky-legged woman from a fall. That's the great thing about going to #RWA14, I'll get to see friends I don't see near enough, and I'll get to see/meet the women who inspired me to try my hands at writing!

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I'm a big fan of Susan Elizabeth Phillips and at one conference, as I was sitting drinking coffee (I know, you're thinking…What, Holly drinking coffee?) she came over with her drink and asked if the seat next

to me was taken. I said no, please sit down.

(Note, even if one of my best friends had been sitting there and just got up for a moment, I was have asked SEP to sit down!)

I said, "Do you mind if I babble at you for just a minute?" She laughed and told me feel free. So I gushed about how much I loved her books…but I limited it to a minute or two gush. Of course, I spoke with the speed of an auctioneer to get it all in. When I finished my word-vomit praise, I said with very business like seriousness, "Now that the fan-gushing is over, I'll be Holly-your-fellow-writer and ask, How's your conference going?" She waited a pregnant pause and then burst out laughing. I of course joined her.

It's nice when your icons are not only nice, but have a great sense of humor and don't take their icon status (and themselves) too seriously!

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I am not above bribing people. As a new, very unknown author (as opposed to my current status of older, known-to-a-select-few author), I wasn't above using humor to my advantage. I occasionally asked friends and readers I knew, or had just gotten to know, to come to my book signings and shout, "Oh, my god, it's Holly Jacobs," as if I was someone everyone should know. This worked well until I was out to lunch with a bunch of much better published and well know authors. Two particular "fans" shouted, from the back of the restaurant (I was in the front) "Oh, my god, is that Holly Jacobs?" with the appropriate fan-girl shriek. I looked at the bestselling authors I was with and said, "I can't control my fans," with a deadpan expression.

Moral, Be careful what you ask for. Or maybe it should be, Be careful WHO you ask! Okay, the real moral is, every stranger is a potential friend…and fake fan-girl shrieker!

Holly

Holly's Granola

I keep getting requests for this recipe…well, any recipe from me is a rather broad description.  This one in particular can take all kinds of tweaking toward your own personal taste.  I'm including the version I make most often here and some of the easy substitutes.

Anyway, I'm putting it here so it's easy to find in the future!


Holly's Easy Granola

1/2 cup oil

1 cup brown sugar (or honey or maple syrup…real maple syrup)

1/2 cup water

2 tsp vanilla

6 cups oats (I've been using a Bob's Mill multi grain cereal for part of the oats lately & love their thicker cut oats)

1 cup of soy flour & whole wheat flour (I vary the amounts and have never found a problem)

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 TB or more cinnamon

1 cup or more nuts (walnuts, pecans and almonds are my favors…I've been doing more nuts of late)

Place in two greased 9x13 pans and bake about 2 hours at 250, stirring every twenty minutes or so.

I frequently do an hour or so, turn the oven off and leave the granola in it as it cools.  Later in the day I come back and do the other hour or so.

When I serve it for breakfast, I do a quarter cup or so with about the same amount of yogurt and then fresh fruit or raisins.