Sunday, May 12, 2019

Mother's Day


When I first started writing, I wrote a romcom with four kids at home. Someone said, "You can't put kids in romantic comedy." I laughed because I'd just sold a book with five kids. So many of my stories have mothers and their kids. All the how-to-write books say write what you know. I have four kids so...well, let's just say I've got kids in many, many of my books!

I've been lucky to have so many strong women in my life. My daughters, my mother, my mother-in-law, my grandmother, my friends and my readers. They've shared so much with me—from fortitude, to resilience, to unconditional love. They've allowed me to be a part of their stories, and shared their stories that came before me. Stories of their lives—some where happy, some not so much, but all of those stories taught me—are teaching me—who I want to be.  These amazing women were mothers, grandmothers, friends, Rosie Riveters, secretaries, teachers, nurses, pharmacists, cooks and comics...  

I know how lucky I am to have my live to have lived a life with so many amazing women populating it.  They're each why I love writing moms, grandmas and strong women!

If you're a mom, I wish you a wonderful day (if you're not a mom, I wish you a wonderful one, too)! And if you're looking for a new story (whether or not your a mother), I have a few Mom books for you!

Thanks, as always, for letting me a part of your stories!

Holly



Friday, May 10, 2019

Pets in Books


  1. Ella Fitzgerald
I don't post all my videos on my blog (you can find any you missed on YouTube), but this one was so much fun. You get to meet my dog, Ella Fitzgerald and we talk about her rise from cover model, to movie star. Okay, what Susan and I really talking about is pets in books, but that's not how Ella sees it! LOL

Speaking of Susan, we're filming more Trippin' videos tomorrow. If you have any questions for us, or topics you'd like us to discuss, please feel free to send them to me!

Holly




PS Check out my books!


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Saturday, May 04, 2019

Optimism

Sadly, our ash trees at the cottage are infected with the ash borer. The insects destroy the trees.  Most of the trees in our backyard out there were ash. Watching the trees die, one after another broke my heart. We have a few more that are too close to the cottage and will have to come down this summer. But nature is optimistic.  I was out working at the cottage yesterday and as I walked through the woods, I noticed a ton of new maples sprouting up.  Nature is optimistic.  The woods will adapt.

I like the lesson in that.  Crap happens.  We can moan, or we can pick ourselves up and optimistically begin looking for something new.

I didn't snap a picture, but our Gettysburg Oak (my FIL started it from a Gettysburg acorn) that was struck by lightening a few years back is coming back.  It's got to be about ten feet high now. I like that despite its injury, it believed in itself and came back. It found its inner-optimism.

I try to write characters who are optimistic. Even when they go through something awful and can't see it, they have some small kernel of optimism. It might be buried deeply, but it finds its way to the surface. Books like Just One Thing, or These Three Words (it's on sale for $.99 right now) I think portray that.

Optimism is there in my comedies, too. In The Makeover, the heroine remains upbeat and optimistic (okay, sometimes it's a bit buried) despite a town secret, a bad makeover, a lovelorn bull...and a grumpy visiting reporter. 

Optimism.  It's part of my daily glee.  I find that glee in small things which helps me  believe that good things will happen, even if they're just a small thing. A hot cup of coffee, baby maple trees in the woods, a book that touches my heart. I try to encourage my characters to believe that as well! Even when bad things happen and I can't quite feel optimistic, I fake it until it becomes reality. LOL

I feel optimistic we'll all have a good, gleeful day!

Holly

PS Check out our newest Trippin' with Holly and Susan.  You can catch up with all of them at YouTube.




PPS. Check out my books!
Briar Hill Road
Between the Words