Throwback Thursday: Just One Thing

  This isn't a huge throwback, just back a couple years back.  I had an idea for a book and it was quirky.  Most of it took place in a bar on Mondays (an Easter Egg for all of you).

So rather than pitching it to my editor, I wrote it for me. I wrote without regards to the 'rules' or guidelines. I wrote with the same kind of abandon I had when I first started writing (and had more enthusiasm than know-how).   I was so lucky that an editor at Montlake loved the book, despite the fact it was quirky. 

In the last eight months, Just One Thing's won a Reviewers' Choice Award, had passages highlighted often enough to make Amazon's most highlighted list, and had so many readers embrace it, quirkiness and all!  

So, here's my point today...don't be afraid to take a chance and try something new!  Maybe it won't work, but maybe, just maybe it will.  And to be honest if you don't try, it absolutely can't work out!!  So if you try, you're that much ahead!  Maybe we should all try Just One (New) Thing this year!  (I know, I know that was bad! LOL) I will always be happy that I took a chance on this story that I couldn't shake!

Holly

#ThrowbackThursday: Everything But...

Writing has brought me many gifts. The gift of dreaming. The gift of being self-motivated (when I tell people my boss is an ogre...I mean me, and I am!). The gift of rejection...

Wait, you don't think that last one's a gift?

It is. I went through rejections as I tried to break into Harlequin.  I finally sold them I Waxed My Legs for This? in March of 2000.  But that doesn't mean every idea I had was embraced.  For instance, I had the idea for a funny Hungarian grandma who accidentally cursed her own family to bad weddings. Harlequin didn't bite.

Fast forward a few years and I met this lovely editor at a conference and she asked if I had any unpublished manuscripts hidden under my bed. I mentioned Nana Vancy and she asked me to send it to her. I did...and it went on to be a bestselling book for Avalon. Years later, Avalon was sold to Montlake and the books were released as eBooks and the series continues to reach new readers. And that Hungarian grandmother, Nana Vancy, continues to get her own fan letters.

Rejection is never fun, but learning to hear someone say no, and keep trying anyway (after Harlequin said no to the idea, I sent them other ideas that they said yes to) is a gift.  And maybe another part of the lesson is when someone says no, it doesn't always mean no forever.  Maybe it means not right now, but sometime later, the answer might be yes. :)


 Everything But... series at Amazon

Teaser Tuesday: Just One Thing

Thanks everyone for the congrats about Just One Thing's new Reviewers' Choice Award and for it having one of the top highlight quotes on Kindle! I thought I'd use it for  #TeaserTuesday. This short scene seems just about right given the weather!  Okay, so most of us are no longer anticipating snow...we're buried in it!  LOL

Just One Thing 

I walked home that night and it felt like it could snow at any moment. There’s a certain crispness that hits right before the snow. The ground felt crunchier under my feet and there wasn’t a cloud overhead, just a black, black night sky filled with stars and a half-moon. 
I could see my breath in the moonlight and I was thankful I’d worn my heavy wool socks. I’d have to pull out my boots soon, not just because of the potential snow, but simply for the warmth.
        I watched my breath come out in vivid puffs and felt a sense of anticipation. 

PS Just One Thing was released in German this month!

Erie, PA...a city of romance!!

Carry Her Heart, April 2015

Amazon revealed its list of the 20 most romance buying cities in the US this week and Erie was on it!!  Now, I don't want to claim all the credit...but I write romance and most of my books have been set in Erie.  Coincidence???

I've written romances (the full list is here) from comedy to drama, with mystery and a women's fiction element set here in Erie. More than 2.6 million copies of those books have sold worldwide. 

So why do I set so many in or around Erie?  What makes Erie so special?  

I put together some of my favorite reasons:

1. I guess the first answer that comes to mind is Lake Erie.  We have Presque Isle peninsula and some of the best sunsets in the world right here!  And at the mouth of the peninsula, there's TREC!

Holly, Ethel and Ella

2. There's also the fact that we're a city with a small town attitude.  I love that I can walk in my neighborhood and have people who call out hellos or wave.  There's a certain house on our walk where the couple is known to run out with dog bones for Ethel and Ella.  Needless to say they walk very slowly past it every day.  They are optimistic dogs!

Bayfront

3. The arts! Warner Theater, Erie Broadway Series, the Erie Playhouse, the Erie Art Museum, Lake Erie Ballet, the Erie Philharmonic...

4. Sports! Now, I am not known as a sports nut, but I happen to live with a bunch of nuts (some even love sports)!  So I know we have Erie Otters, Seawolves, Explosion and Bayhawks.  And in Erie, there's a huge following for college and high school sports.

Under the sports heading, I want to give a shout-out to Erie Otter player, Darren Raddysh.  We have a young fan in our family and Darren has gone out of his way to kind to him.  He might not have been born in Erie, but he is an example of the kind of people who call Erie home...people who as far as I'm concerned are why Erie is so special. 

Niagara

5.  How about our growing bay front?? It now houses our Convention Center, our Blasco Library (I'll be talking there with Susan Gable on Valentine's Day at 11 am) and the Brig Niagara and the Maritime Museum! 

6. Waldemeer.  For years my kids, along with generations of school children, have had school picnics there.  Area businesses hold company picnic there. It's a park that you can walk through without paying for a ticket.  But you can buy ride-a-ramas or individual ride tickets.  And seriously, the view of the peninsula and lake from the top of the ferris wheel are some of the best in town!

7. Peach Street...shopping, Millcreek Mall, indoor water parks, lots of hotels and restaurants.

8. Wineries...lots of local wineries!  Lake Erie Wineries.  

9. Recently a lot of breweries, too!  They've just started a Lake Erie Ale Trail!


10. And while not Erie proper, I need to mention the cities and towns around Erie.  When I say I set a book in Erie, sometimes it's actually in a neighboring town or a fictional town just over Erie's border.  We have so much history and beautiful farmland her in Western PA.  There's a growing 'local' movement that I'm so happy to support!  Places like Smith Farms just outside town are a great place to buy eggs, meat and produce.  

Just One Thing's German translation

There are more...so many more reasons I love Erie.  I've set books here for more than a decade now.  And I'm thrilled that copies have gone to more than twenty five countries now, including my newest German release of Just One Thing (which is set just outside Erie between Waterford and Union City) that just came out February 3rd!

We Love Erie on twitter  suggested using the hashtag #LoveInErie.  I think that just about says it all!  There's a lot of love in Erie, and a lot to love about Erie. 

Holly

Throwback Thursday, PTA Trilogy

Once Upon a Thanksgiving

This week's Throwback Thursday happens to be a trilogy.  The eBooks are all on sale at Amazon.com​.

Once Upon a Christmas

Once Upon a Valentine's

I originally called these my PTA Mom trilogy.  TPTB felt Dads were a better sell, so it became my American Dad trilogy.  But for me, it was all about the moms.  I identified with the three mothers who balanced jobs, kids and a budding romance.  Okay, so my romance is well established and not a bud, but I still empathized with their balancing act.  All three moms missed the first PTA meeting of the year and got stuck on the crap committee.  The first one got stuck planning the Thanksgiving event, the second the Christmas event, and the last a Valentine's dance.

Since Valentine's is just a week away, I thought I'd talk about her...Carly.  She's a great mom, an accidental arsonist and...  What, you want that explained?  Yeah, selling an arsonist (accidental or otherwise) wasn't as easy as you'd think.  You see, Carly caught her husband doing...uh the down-and-dirty on a couch she'd spent weeks shopping for.  So in the divorce, she asked for it.  And what do you do with a couch like that?  Why you have a bonfire...that accidentally spreads to a neighbor's.  So she's doing community service with a hunky Erie cop and...  Well, let's just say sparks ensue!  LOL

I loved this series.  And for me, it's always going to be the PTA Mom trilogy!!

Confessions of a Series Killer… the shifting romance market

February 7, 2015                             Warren-Trumbull County Public Library

February 14, 2015                          Erie County Library (speaking w/ Susan Gable)

 Handout

Confessions of a Series Killer…
The shifting romance market

Holly Jacobs

I've written for a bunch of Harlequin lines that have died, so I moved on to new ones.  From Duets, to Silhouette Romance, to Flipside, to Signature, to Everlasting Love, to SuperRomance.  And I’ve written for a number of publishers—Montlake Romance, Harlequin Romance, Avalon Romance and Precious Gems…plus I’ve done some indie published books.  Let’s just say, I get around (in the nicest possible way)!

I've taught workshops on comedies and love talking about how closely comedy and drama are when it comes to writing.  Take one premise and skew it half a step to the right it's comedy, half a step to the left and it's emotionally angsting drama.  But no matter what type of story I’m telling, there’s a universality about all my books…my voice. 

What is a writer’s voice?  Part of it has to do with a writer’s world view…it’s seeing the world through their eyes and then filtering it through a character’s view as well.  And the biggest part of it is in the actual storytelling.  How they share those views with the reader.  My ‘voice’ is actually my writing fingerprint.

What readers are reading…
Vampires/paranormal

Sex/Shades of Gray

Bonnet romances

Comedy/drama

Westerns, historical, regencies, RS, fantasy, paranormal, drama, sweet, small town, erotic, inspirational, YA, women’s fiction.

How readers are reading…

eBooks…expanding the market.

audio

Borrowing/buying

Amazon/stand alone

Libraries/technology

How readers are shopping…
Shifting buying/borrowing habits.

Stats: Most of my stats for the talk are
courtesy of Romance Writers of America.

Bio:

Holly Jacobs leads a life full of romance and adventure. From skydiving to jet-setting around Europe, from snorkeling in coral reefs to writing while wearing beautiful silk peignoir sets and popping chocolate bonbons, Holly Jacobs leads a life that is the epitome of romance... Well, actually her fictional life sounds more interesting, but not better than Holly Jacobs' real life! Really, she's the happily married mother of four. She cooks a lot, gardens and weaves baskets! 
www.HollyJacobs.com

Carry Her Heart, preorder now

I visited with my friend Sia the other day and we talked about my evolution as a writer. 

#Teaser Tuesday...Carry Her Heart

Given the weather that's gripping most of the US, I thought this was an appropriate #TuesdayTeaser!

Carry Her Heart 
release date 4-28-15

I’d always thought that autumn smelled of cinnamon. I breathed deeply and decided winter smelled of peppermint. Not peppermint candy, but the real herb I had growing in the backyard. Sharp, cold, with a bit of a bite. Clean. Not that it was officially winter yet, but the season arrives early on the shore of Lake Erie.

As if on cue, it started to snow.

“And thus it begins,” Ned intoned.

I laughed. “Another Erie winter.”

“Snow shovels and snowblowers,” he said.

I added, “Snow brushes.”

Ned took it as a challenge, thought a moment and said, “Snow pants.”

“Come on, that’s a bit of a cheat.