Word of the Year—2018

Years ago, I gave up on New Year's Resolutions.  Instead, I pick one word to build my year around.  I love that other people have joined me in the tradition.  I've used words like Stop, Moment, Awareness, Step, Optimism, Change, Stretch, Time, Hope...

I've been mulling 2018's word and finally landed on Chapter.  With that word I'm acknowledging that things changed last year and will continue to change next year. 

In 2017 I lost my mother in July and losing her has left a hole in my life.  I went back to school in August and discovered so much glee in Ceramics and My Novel Freshman Experience.  My family is another year older and they're lives are changing and evolving, and I'll confess, I feel such a sense of pride when I look at what amazing people they are. 

So 2018 will begin with me in a new place...a new chapter if you will.  By choosing that as my word of the year, I'm reminding myself that even when change is hard, I should more than accept those changes, I should embrace them!  I should try and make this chapter the best one yet.

How about you?  Do you have a word of the year?

Happy New Year, my friends.  Thank you to everyone who's followed my pottery adventures and a huge thanks to everyone who's picked up a book, left a review and shared a bit glee with me!

Holly

PS My new release, Once Upon a Valentine's is out on Tuesday! I hope you'll check out my PTA Mom series!

The Dance

I'm getting ready for my Ceramic Artist presentation this week in class.  My ceramic assignments are all done.  I'm just waiting for the last two to come out of the kiln.  So this presentation will be my final grade.  And yes, we've discussed that I'm hoping to get an A (I tried not to care too much about grades, but it turns out I do! LOL), but there is something I hope I leave the kids with this presentation.  This is the quote that made me decide that Rob Barnard would be "my" artist...
“In an effort to explain to me what separated pedantic and indifferent ceramic art from the kind of ceramic art that makes us reflect on the very nature of our existence, Yagi held up his index finger and pointed it straight up. This represented, he said, the predictably beautiful; then he turned his finger 90°, parallel to the floor, saying that this position represented what we all commonly think of as ugly. The two positions have a tendency to be fixed in culture, but—and he moved his finger to a position 45° between those two points—it is here, he said, where real Art takes place, vibrating between the beautiful and the ugly.”  (Between Points in Clay, by Rob Barnard, Ceramic Monthly June 1995)    
I loved that description of art.  But there's more.  When I write a book, or an artist creates their art, it belongs to us.  We bring our intent and vision to the book/piece.  And then we're done.  At that point we turn it over to our readers/observers.  They own it at that point.  They bring their own vision to it.  They like it, they don't.  They hate it, they love it.  They see something totally different in it than the writer/artist intended.


Even if the readers/viewer feel they're completely alone in experiencing the book/art, they're not.  The person who created it is a part of their experience.  Even if what they are taking from it is totally different than intended.

That interaction between the creator and the observer is a dance and it takes place somewhere between Yagi's beauty and ugliness in art.

That's what I'm hoping to leave the kids with at the end of my talk.

Literature and art are important.  They have a function.  They make us all look for ourselves in someone else's vision.  And when we find that piece of ourselves in someone else's work, maybe we realize that we are not alone.  That we're all connected.  We are all part of that dance.

Thanks to all my new followers here at Hollyworld, and as always a special thanks to all of you who've supported me and hung out with me all these years!

Happy Holidays!

Holly

Pushing my Limits...My Novel Freshman Experience, Part 20

   Wow, twenty posts on going back to school.  I'll do one more wrap up blog on it this term.  (I'm taking Ceramics 2 next term, so there will be more!  The Hobbit Hole is still in the kiln so I'll showcase that one on the last post.)             


We're glazing now.  And my pieces are coming out of the kiln. 

I'll confess, it's like Christmas.  I know how I wanted them to look, but I've never done it before so it's a surprise!  The uncertainty of glazing is pushing my comfort zone.  You see, I like to know what's coming up.  I like having a plan.  I can plan all I want with glazing, but it's still a crap shoot.  I can look at chips of how a glaze reacts to our clay body, but there are variables and even experienced potters can be surprised by a glazing result.   

I'm doing my report on Rob Barnard, I've talked about him before.  (You can read the post here.)  His career is built around controlled chaos.  He can plan and bring to a project his years of experience, but things still just happen.   “A key dimension of Barnard's aesthetic has been a tolerance for the slight irregularities and imperfections engendered by the wood-firing, and this new work goes a step further. The shows inclusion of a number of cracked and dented works indicates a Zen-like acceptance of all of nature's workings, not merely those that suit the preset needs of man. The results are highly poetic." (Rob Barnard by Alice Thorson, City Paper, Washington, April 26, 1991)   


So, I glazed my cups trying to be free and not worry.  I experimented.  And even though my Kiln Goddess's arms fell off, I'm confident I can glue them back in place.  And maybe I love her just a little more because she's damaged.   
           

        I tried for a bit more control with my teapot and Hobbit Hole, realizing that glazing effects can surprise even the most experienced potter, like Barnard and Professor H.  I'm hoping for the best. The  professor was very patient answering my repeated questions.    

And my teapot (the quote on the back is from Carry Her Heart...the heroine's garden was the inspiration) I really wanted the matte, rough tree look for the body, but the glossy, color for the flowers, butterfly and leaf on the lid.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out.  


So here's what I'm walking out of class with...a renewed effort to push my own limitations; to push my personal status quo; to experiment.  To find glee in even my failures.  So this class not only gave me an entry into earth art, but it also pushed me to try to relax my expectations.  I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! And thanks for being so sweet and following me on this new journey! I'm already so excited about next term!  

Holly   

PS If you missed any of my Novel Freshman Experience posts, here are links:
Part 19, Part 18,  Part 17, Part 16,  Part 15, Part 14, Part 13, Part 12, Part 11, Part 10, Part 9, Part 8, Part 7 Part Six, Part 5, Part 4, Part 3, Part 2, Part 1

Holly Jacobs' HOLLYday Books

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?

Me either.

It's HOLLYday time!

Visit my website for more information!

Reinvent Yourself...My Novel Freshman Experience, Part 19

I did my last speech of the year yesterday...Finding Your Sequel.  It was a talk about finding what comes next in your life.  It seemed apropos since Once Upon a Christmas was released yesterday...it's the sequel of Once Upon a Thanksgiving (the third book Once Upon a Valentine's is out in January!).

More than just Once Upon a Christmas, the entire PTA Mom trilogy is about sequels...about three single mothers finding out what comes next in their lives.

So that ideas of sequels has been on my mind. I realize that my life has been a series of sequels...I think everyone's is really.
I was a daughter and sister, then wife and mother, then a writer...those are the biggest things, but more than that, I've been a reader, a cook, a cleaner, a waitress, a lactation consultant, a basket weaver...  So many more.  This year, I've added student back to my list.  

Some of you have been following My Novel Freshman Experience (and thank you for that!) as I talk about going back to school and my glee with my ceramics class.  And even there, I'm focusing on sequels.  Our last project was a narrative piece or teapot.  I chose to use my book, Carry Her Heart as my inspiration.  The quote is all about reinventing yourself.  And I made both a narrative piece AND a teapot.  

LOL I'm an overachiever.  

I love the quote I used.  I think we all reinvent ourselves over and over. And again, that really fits into my recent talks/thoughts on sequels.

Holly

PS So many of my books, over time, turned into series because I keep thinking about characters and want to know what came next. (There will be a 5th Maid in LA book next year!).  People keep asking about the order of my books...I've put a list of series in order for all of you.

PSS If you missed any of my Novel Freshman Experience posts, here are links:
Part 18,  Part 17, Part 16,  Part 15, Part 14, Part 13, Part 12, Part 11, Part 10, Part 9, Part 8, Part 7 Part Six, Part 5, Part 4, Part 3, Part 2, Part 1

You Might be a PTA Mom....

In celebration of my new PTA Mom trilogy, let's play a Jeff Foxworthy-esque game:

You Might Be A PTA Mom if...

Here are a few to get you started.  Add your own as a reply and I'll add them to the list.  And to make things more interesting, I'm drawing names from the participants for  some lovely Weary Creek Gift Boxes!

10. ...when you appear in the teacher's workroom all the teachers rush over to see what you brought them to eat. ~Ellen Too

9. ...you know the location of every public washroom in town—field trips help that along. ~Kaelee

8. ...you've dressed up in a grass skirt, aloha shirt, and carried around a pink, plastic, blowup dolphin as volunteer reader for the annual Scholastic book fair . . . in a snowstorm. ~Shelley

7. ... your kids' friends call you "Mom." ~Patti

6. You might be a PTA mom if you can sing "Found a Peanut" in your sleep. ~Jody

5. ...you take every school fundraiser to work and then end up having to carry in 100 tubs of frozen cookie dough ~Tammy

4. ...you've popped so much popcorn to sell on Fridays that when you go to the grocery store later that day, you notice people around you sniffing the air and saying, "Do you smell popcorn?" ~JV

3. ...the students wave in the hall and say, "HI Laminating Lady!" rather than "Mrs. ____" ~Donna

2. ...you're so busy with PTA stuff that your husband has to dress out of the dryer in the mornings. ~JV

1. ... if you've ever forged another mom's name on a volunteer sheet. ~Ellen 

So add your own You Might Be a PTA Mom if, or share a story about your time as a PTA Mom!  I'll draw names from the entries in December for the awesome Weary Creek Gifts!

And Check Out the PTA Mom Trilogy...they're available for Kindle and as a paperback!

Holly

New Perspective...A Novel Freshman Experience, Part 18

I will confess, I love that I love that my ceramics class is making me look at the world with new eyes.  I've been looking at regular objects and noticing distinct shapes and textures.  I wonder if I could duplicate them.

Trees and leaves have been of particular interest.  My tree stump teapot gave me a chance to play with those textures.

But the big news of the day is...the Hobbit Hole/Hobbit Book came out of its bisque firing.  It all stayed together.  No explosions!!  Phew.

I had a dream two nights ago that I was leaning into a kiln (which in my dream was rather like my washing machine) and pulling out my hobbit hole in pieces.  I was so upset in my dream.  So today when Professor H. handed it to me...  

Well, I try to contain my glee in class and not annoy the kids.  I mean, someone being a Holly-level of glee at 8 am...even I might be annoyed with me!  LOL  But today, I will confess, I spewed glee all over the class.  And no one threw spitballs at me!  

Have I mentioned that the kids I go to class with are very sweet?  They are.

To the extent when I walk into school in the morning, more often than not, someone holds a door for me.  

My teapot lid came out nice, but Professor H. suggested it needed turned the other way so it read more like a handle.  A leaf handle.  So I did a fourth lid.  LOL  I'm pleased with it!  I forgot to take a pic of it, but I'll get one soon.

With that lid being finished, all my clay-work is done.  I'll need to start glazing soon.  Yes, you'll all probably hear a lot about it.  But now that it's all the clay-work is done, I'm thinking of next semester...I'm taking Ceramics II.  I said at the beginning of this blog I've been seeing the world through different eyes...looking at form and texture.  I really want to experiment more with both.  I have an idea for a quilt...a clay quilt.  I experimented today with that block.  Professor H. said they needed to be thicker, but I think I can get them to read as material.    

I have until January to come up with more ideas.  Uh, January seems like a long way off.  I'm going to miss being in the studio in December.

I'm teaching a workshop in November about Finding Your Sequel...trying something new and learning to see the world in a new way.  That's exactly what this class has been.  It's teaching me a new way to see the world, and I think anytime we can learn to look at things from a new perspective, we've grown!

Holly

PS Speaking of new perspectives and new beginnings, my second PTA Mom story, Once Upon a Christmas is out November 1st.  I hope you'll pick the series up!

PPS If you missed any My Novel Freshman Experiences, you can find them at: Part Seventeen, Part Sixteen,  Part Fifteen, Part Fourteen, Part Thirteen, Part Twelve, Part Eleven, Part Ten, Part Nine, Part Eight, Part Seven, Part Six, Part Five, Part Four, Part Three, Part Two, Part One

Becoming Something New...My Novel Freshman Experience, Part17

Emerging as something new.

It's something I've touched on in my books and something I've experienced myself.  

We have so many ways to describe ourselves...so many hats we wear.  I've got a long list...daughter, wife, mother, writer, friend, sister, student, lactation consultant, basket weaver, cook, gardener, furniture refinisher...  LOL  It's always growing.

So many of you have been following my back-to-school adventures...I'm having so much fun adding potter to the list!  Thanks for joining me as I play with clay!  We had to do a narrative piece or a teapot for our final assignment.  I did both.  I thought about using a poem from Tolkien, but ended up using a quote from one of my own books.

Pip in Carry Her Heart talked about reinventing ourselves so beautifully, "Maybe we all repeatedly curl up in a chrysalis and emerge as something else."  She also said, "Maybe we live our lives constantly becoming and rebecoming. Maybe we’re always in the process of metamorphosing into something new."

That idea of becoming something new really resonates with me.  I'm in class with a bunch of young people.  I sometimes want to tell them that they're going to have an amazing adventure.  They'll learn so many marvelous things and become something new over and over again!  I don't.  I try to tone down my glee in the class (though when I said that, one of the kids assured me I leak glee and don't hide it well at all! LOL), but I hope they all discover something new about themselves over and over.  I know that I always keep growing.

I hope you all take a moment, curl up in a chrysalis and emerge as something new as well!  Thanks for joining me here in Hollyworld.  And if you haven't read Carry Her Heart and the Words of the Heart series, they're all on sale now!

Holly

PS If you missed any My Novel Freshman Experiences, you can find them at: Part Sixteen,  Part Fifteen, Part Fourteen, Part Thirteen, Part Twelve, Part Eleven, Part Ten, Part Nine, Part Eight, Part Seven, Part Six, Part Five, Part Four, Part Three, Part Two, Part One

Taking Chances...My Novel Freshman Experience, Part 16

I got  the last bit of my Hobbit Hole textured. The rocky cliff face, the fallen tree, and that bit of green is on lone tree clinging to the side of the cliff. I underglazed it.

All right, I'm asking everyone to keep my little Hobbit Hole/Book in their thoughts.  I'm so hoping nothing pops off when it's fired.  

As I finished this part of the project, I realized I made a ton of extra work for myself.  I could have picked a plain house.  One that was a few straight walls and maybe a tower.  But I chose this one.  There were a lot of joints, a lot of textures. I have a lot of hours in it.  And because of the technical aspects of it, I've got a higher than just-a-house chance of something going wrong when it's fired.  Maybe I didn't get all the air bubbles out and something's going to pop.  Maybe I didn't slip and score it well enough and a joints going to come undone.  I'm anxious.

I wondered if I should have gone for something simpler. 

And I almost immediately answered myself, no.  No I shouldn't have gone with the easy road.  Because even if my Hobbit Hole does pop something or crack, I learned a lot.  I've learned what NOT to do next time.  

Plus, it tells the story I was aching to tell.  It tells of a girl who grew up in books...who grew up in Middle Earth.  Even if my abilities and technical knowledge didn't quite keep up with my imagination, my dwelling tells that story.  

It's like that with my writing.  I've pushed myself in books and tried things. Sometimes they work out better than I'd hoped, sometimes I toss out an idea.  But all of them have forced my writing to grow.  I hope if you pick up an early book you read it and smile and think, this is nice.  But on the heels of that, you pick up something more recent, you think, wow...or at least, this is better!  LOL  When I started writing, I read some of one of my favorite author's early work...she had definitely grown.  I've held on to that!

I guess I'd rather stretch my wings and try for the heights, than plod along the safe route.

And yet another thing ceramics has taught—well, no, I already knew that from writing, so maybe reminded me?—that it's better to try and fail than to take avoid the risk of failure and stick to the beaten path.

Holly

PS If you missed any of my Novel Freshman Experience videos, here they are...Part Fifteen, Part Fourteen, Part Thirteen, Part Twelve, Part Eleven, Part Ten, Part Nine, Part Eight, Part Seven, Part Six, Part Five, Part Four, Part Three, Part Two, Part One

PPS Check out my PTA Moms video, then check out the series at Amazon!

A Day Late and a Bride Short

When I sent A Day Late and a Bride Short to my editor, she thought it was a marriage-of-convenience story.  It wasn't, but I said, "It will be."  I'd never thought about writing a book with that theme, but sometimes the things we don't expect are things we really enjoy and/or learn a lot from!

It's on sale now at Amazon!

Holly

It's all about the story...My Novel Freshman Experience, Part 15

My Hobbit Hole is coming along.  I'm hoping all the pieces hold together when it's fired, but even if it explodes, I've learned so much doing this one.  I've played with a bunch of textures.  Stone, thatch, grass, bushes, trees, bricks, stucco...  I'm particularly pleased with the fallen tree in the back.  

I didn't plan on the tree, but I had that rocky outcrop at the back.  I was thinking about Bilbo and crew going through the mountains.  The paths were treacherous, there were obstacles at every turn.  That's the story I was telling with the fallen tree.  And for me, it's all about the story.

Maybe that's why I'm loving this class so much...because every piece I make is a story.  You might not see my story when you look at a piece, and that's okay.  You can bring your own story to it.  Because for me, it's all about the story...whether it's yours or mine.

I keep blogging about how art (even if what I'm doing might not quite qualify as art yet! LOL) and writing are connected.  This "dwelling" project really emphasizes that for me.  The last project is a narrative piece.  Stay tuned for more about that.  

By the way, thank you so much to all my new followers!  And thanks to everyone who's picked up one of my books, taken the time to write a review, or dropped me a note!

Holly

PS If you missed any of my Novel Freshman Experience videos, here they are...Part Fourteen, Part Thirteen, Part Twelve, Part Eleven, Part Ten, Part Nine, Part Eight, Part Seven, Part Six, Part Five, Part Four, Part Three, Part Two, Part One

PSS. Here's the new Once Upon a Time Video!!

Back to School with the PTA Moms

Once Upon a Thanksgiving

I've been talking a lot about going back to school.  Thanks to everyone's who's been following my Freshman Novel Experience Blogs! 

My going back to school is timely, since my new series is out!  My PTA Mom trilogy introduces three single...uh, PTA moms.  Samantha, Michelle and Carly missed the first meeting of the year end up on the worst PTA committee and discover sometimes something really good can surprise you!

Single mom Samantha in Once Upon a Thanksgiving has kids...a lot of kids.  She has a demanding job.  She's working hard to regain her sense of optimism.  She's determined to find a new way to be happy.  She doesn't have time to plan the  PTA Thanksgiving Pageant...and she certainly doesn't have time for Harry, the kids new principal.  Of course, he's just an interim principal.  He'll be leaving soon.  Maybe he is just the kind of man she needs to date...a man with an expiration date.  But Samantha and Harry find out that love doesn't have a timetable. 

Reviews:

"If you're looking for a comfort book as the season gets busier and busier, you can't go wrong with Once Upon a Thanksgiving.... And, for those of us who are fans of Jacobs, it's wonderful to discover this is the first in her new holiday series." ~Lesa Holstine in USA Today

"Beyond delivering a compelling read, or the first in an inventive series about parenting, Holly Jacobs earns her kudos by seriously dealing with the difficulties of divorce on children and parents." ~ RT Bookclub

I hope you enjoy Samantha's story and that you watch for Michelle's story, Once Upon a Christmas in November and Carly's story, Once Upon a Valentine's in January!

Holly

Once Upon a Valentine's

Once Upon a Christmas

Come Back to School with me!

It's fall break so the campus is empty!  I went up to school last night and started cutting out pieces for my next project...a house.  But while I was all alone in the studio, I made you all a video.  Come back to school with me!!

When you're done, go back to school with my three PTA Moms,
Samantha in Once Upon a Thanksgiving,

Michelle in Once Upon a Christmas, 

and Carly in Once Upon a Valentine's!

Holly

My Novel Freshman Experience, Part 14...Leave Room

Our second test today!!  I'm pretty sure I passed. Phew.

I keep talking about the similarities between art and writing.  My ceramics class just keeps hammering that home for me.  Our last project is going to be a narrative sculpture or teapot.  I thought mine was going to be a simple vace based on a line from Carry Her Heart...
"Maybe we all repeatedly curl up in a chrysalis and emerge as something else entirely."  I love that quote (which is cheeky to say since I wrote it LOL).  But more than that, I loved Pip's garden in both Carry Her Heart and in the third book in the series, Hold Her Heart.  It truly became a character for me. 

But here's the thing, I already know I'll go off script.  Heck, I've already gone off script.  I'll keep adding changes I didn't plan on, or skip features I thought I'd do.  That vase has turned into something else entirely.  Professor H. said he liked the concept, but the simple vase was too...well, simple.  So I thought I'd turn the vase into a tree...

But our other option for the project was a teapot and I realized my tree trunk had teapot qualities and now it's a...teapot. 

It's like that when I write a synopsis.  A friend asked me the other day I worked from a synopsis or flew by the seat of my pants.  My answer was...yes.  LOL  Yes, I do both.  Some books I stick to that initial script, but some take a left turn and lead me to uncharted and unplanned territory.  That's the fun of writing, finding an unexpected moment or path.  And for me, that's the fun of ceramics as well.  I have an idea, but I leave room for inspiration.  I leave room for the ceramic piece, like a book, to speak to me. 

I leave room.

I'm starting on the Hobbit Hole/Book Ceramic project this week...I'll post about it next week.  I thinking about the order of how I'm going to put it all together.  I know my skill level won't match my imagination, but I live in hope! LOL  
Holly

Carry Her Heart

Hold Her Heart

These Three Words

PS. All three Words of the Heart books are on sale, so you can read about Pip's garden for yourself.  Then let me know if the teapot fits the story.

PPS. If you missed any school posts, you can find them here...Part Thirteen, Part Twelve, Part Eleven, Part Ten, Part Nine, Part Eight, Part Seven, Part Six, Part Five, Part Four, Part Three, Part Two, Part One