The Naming of Things

I'm so excited that Hold Her Heart is coming out soon!  I loved writing the Words of the Heart series (there's one more book coming out next year...Between the Words).

In Carry Her Heart, you met Ned and Pip and read excerpts from Pip's journal in it.  You caught a glimpse of them in These Three Words and that book explored the words that matter the most.  In Hold Her Heart, each chapter starts with an excerpt from one of Pip's books.  This one is one of my favorites:

Words have power. They can cut, but they can also heal. 

They can hurt, but they can also uplift. 

But maybe even more than words themselves, names have power. 

If a rock weren’t called a rock, would it be as strong? 

If a cloud weren’t a cloud, what would it be? 

If I weren’t my mother’s daughter, would I still be me? 

—The Naming of Things, by Pip

I've explored the idea of words having power before in my romcom, Everything But... series.  I look at the news these days and see people using words as weapons.  They name things in a way designed to hurt cut.  They use words that are designed to divide people rather than bring them together.

I know my little stories won't change the world, but I hope that through them maybe a few readers stop and think about what words they use.

Words do have power.  They can shape the world around us.  So I plan to keep writing about love and talking about glee! I hope to use words that uplift and heal.  Words that remind people around me that there is love, beauty and glee around every corner...you just have to take a moment to look for it!

Holly