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

Heartwarming Holiday Wishes

I've been talking about my PTA Mom Holiday Series the last week or so, but I'm not the only one with the holidays on my mind!  Some friends have a new holiday bundle coming out and Liz is stopping in for a visit to tell you about it.  I know I for one can't wait!! 

Thanks for having us here, Holly!

I so love that magic is part of this year’s Christmas Town theme. This seems weird to me because I do not embrace things paranormal. I am so pragmatic that I look askance at the color turquoise (one of my favorites) because, you know, it’s not a primary color and it takes several other colors to make it and sometimes it’s not how you imagine it, but then…oh, gosh, it’s beautiful.

          As is the magic that is Christmas.

          When I was a kid, I was sooo envious of the Christmases enjoyed by my more moneyed friends. They got dolls every year and it was always the ones that were most in demand. Their forays through the pages of Sears’ Wish Book weren’t necessarily trips in futility—they might actually get some of the things whose descriptions they circled carefully.

         I wanted to have money when I grew up—surely that’s where the magic was.

          When my husband Duane and I had our kids, we tried to make sure their Christmases were enviable. Not so they would be envied, but because we were such big kids ourselves. I’m almost positive we bought some of their presents because we wanted to spend Christmas Eve night after they went to bed playing with the toys before we wrapped them and put them under the tree. We found the magic again and again.

          It was there when my husband sat up with me while I finished sewing our daughter’s Holly Hobby dress.

          It was there when I drove past a grocery store where a Salvation Army officer stood out front in the freezing cold and played “Silent Night” on a trumpet.

          It’s there when we ring bells and watch people put money in the red bucket and say “Merry Christmas” over and over again.

          It’s there when we pay for bags of groceries for people less fortunate than ourselves and take angels off trees to fulfill the wishes of children we don’t know and send checks to organizations who make things possible in impossible situations.

          It was there the year my son-in-law and daughter bought ping pong ball pop guns for every person in our family and we spent the most hilarious half hour ever shooting each other and traumatizing the cat (who forgave us all—probably because we never shot her.) We still tell the story of my granddaughter, probably all of seven, saying, “I’ve got balls and I’m not afraid to use them.”

          The magic was on our country road the Christmas Eve we drove home through softly falling snow and had to come to an abrupt stop to allow a handful of deer—I’m convinced there were eight plus one with a red nose—to cross the road in front of us. Our kids sat spellbound in the back seat. We were pretty spellbound up front, too.

          The magic is in Christmas Eve church services, in story-time at the library, and in Hallmark movies. It’s there on the bridge with Jimmy Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life. In the eyes of every child and adult who believes in it.

          But it’s never, not even once, been in the money.

          We hope you find the magic in Heartwarming Holiday Wishes. We loved writing our stories and planting our magic stockings.

***

This holiday season, warm your heart with 10 connected sweet, clean & wholesome holiday romances set in Christmas Town from 10 Harlequin Heartwarming authors who are USA Today bestselling authors.

This collection of PG-rated holiday romances are all set in Christmas Town, Maine, a location introduced in the 2014 Harlequin Heartwarming release Christmas, Actually. A Heartwarming Holiday will bring you laughter, tears, and happily-ever-afters (no cliffhangers), for more than 1000 pages.

Santa's Secret Heart by Anna Adams
Merry Christmas Carol by Melinda Curtis
Miracle on Joyful Street by Liz Flaherty
Finding His Fiancée by Christmas by Cheryl Harper
The Christmas Window by Tara Randel
Mistletoe and Holly by Leigh Riker
Gingerbread Girl by Carol Ross

The Christmas List by Anna J Stewart

A Case for Christmas Magic by Amy Vastine

Jingle Bell Love by Cari Lynn Webb

Amazon

B&N

Google

iBooks: Coming soon!

Harlequin Heartwarming author Liz Flaherty believes in all that Christmas magic she writes about—and really, in magic even when there aren’t any holidays involved! Her next Heartwarming, The Happiness Pact, will be out in December. You can find her at https://www.facebook.com/lizkflaherty (and she hopes you do!) or reach her at lizkflaherty@gmail.com .

My Novel Freshman Experience, Part Thirteen...Stretching

My boot is dried and in the kiln room, ready to get bisque fired so I can glaze it.  We've been talking about our next assignment in class and I'll confess, I worked ahead (you're shocked, right??).  I worry I'm giving poor Professor H. a migraine, but he's very nice about it.

So, our next assignment is a house.  He wanted something with detail.  I thought about making the cottage, but there's no color variations and it's all rough cut hemlock, so it wasn't a big stretch material wise.  Our house here is just a cape cod, again, nothing overly interesting.  (Just so my house and cottage don't feel bad, I love them both...I'm a simple girl at heart and they suit me.) So I thought about doing a ruin of a castle from a hundred year old book I have here...I've always loved the look of it.  I still think that might be fun someday but I never lived there or had a connection to it.  Of all the houses I've lived in, I'll confess, I've always felt most at home in books.  I read The Hobbit for the first time in third grade...and part of me has lived there ever since.  (Fingers crossed the kids aren't reading this...they'd be rolling their eyes.)  Soooooo, that's what I'm thinking about.
I took Professor H. This sketch...

And when he said he thought it could work and made some suggestions, I took up this model...

If you can't tell from the model or sketch (and there's a very good chance you can't LOL), that's a Hobbit Hole (with a traditional house addition) that's setting on an open book.  

Now, here's the thing, I'm very new to ceramics and I'm not sure I have the technical proficiency to pull this off.  Frankly, it might end up looking more like Dorothy's house after it lands in Oz.  But I love the idea and lack of proficiency doesn't mean I won't try it—whether it works, or not.  I could go for something simpler.  Something that might turn out more  like what I envision, but I wouldn't bring any passion to the project and if I'm sure I can do it, then odds are I won't be stretching and growing in my work.  I'd be phoning it in.  And this book, The Hobbit raised me.  Tolkien and so many other authors through their books raised me.  This project would have meaning for me...even if I flop.

I'm hoping, when I'm done, to paint this on the page...

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”

This project really does relate to writing, but to the rest of life as well.  There are always easy paths to take.  They're smooth and others have taken them ahead of you so you can follow in their footsteps.  You can pretty much coast down those paths and enjoy the billboards that dot the landscape as you go along.  

But sometimes, if you take a turn onto a more unexpected path—a less traveled path—you might find something that takes your breath away.  You might find you learn something totally unexpected.  That's what I'm hoping this project will be...something unexpected.  It might indeed be an unexpected journey.  And even if it's flawed and my inexperience shows, I hope my love of this book shows as well.
Speaking of books (oh, yeah that was subtle LOL), my entire Words of the Heart series is on sale this month for Kindle.  The idea of what makes a home plays to some extent in all three books, but there's a quote in Hold Her Heart that really says what I'm saying about my home being in books...

Carry Her Heart

These Three Words

Hold Her Heart

“You can only have one home,” I said without looking up.


Dad’s laughter made me...look at him as he said, “Honey, that’s like saying you can only love one person. You can have many homes. Wherever someone you love is, that’s home.”
It's like that with books.  When you find one you truly love, you've found a new home!

Thank you everyone who's started following my blog and my "novel" freshman experience!

Holly

PS. Did you notice this Hobbity post was my thirteenth post in this series?  And if you remember that first dinner, you'll realize why that gave me untold geeky glee!
PPS. In case you've missed them, here's Part Twelve, Part Eleven, Part Ten, Part Nine, Part Eight, Part Seven, Part Six, Part Five, Part Four, Part Three, Part Two, Part One