HollysWoods Pottery Studio Tour

I can't believe it's been less than a year since I set up my own pottery studio in the woods—appropriately named HollysWoods Studio. Yeah, I know it sounds like I make wooden products, but hey, a lot of my pieces look like wood, so I'm good with it.

I talked today about finding new passions...that sense of discovery and purpose can keep you young. At least, I'm pretty sure it keeps me young. (Young being a relative term. LOL)

Susan and I have touched on the topic in our Trippin' with Holly and Susan videos. You can find them all posted here.

I took this pandemic year off from school but I'm planning to take a few more classes next year. I've exhausted all the ceramics classes, so I'm pondering my next class. That first class, I wondered how the kids would feel about having a fellow student who was of an age (potentially older) than the professor, but they were great. I loved every minute. The idea of trying something else new is so exciting, so I'm anxious to get back to school. Who knows what new passions I'll find. Of course, between family, writing and potting, there aren't many hours left in my day...but I find Time is like a good pair of leggings...it stretches as needed. LOL

Check out the video and tour. Tallulah would not be ignored.  I still have a few things up on Etsy, but to be honest, I think I'm transitioning away from it. I've sold most of my pieces to people one-on-one. I may set up just a page on my website with pieces that are available. I'm going to do more research. 

Holly

 Hometown Hearts:

Crib Notes: Hometown Hearts #1

Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBook

A Special Kind of Different: Hometown Hearts #2

Kindle, iBook, Kobo, Nook

Homecoming: Hometown Hearts #3

Kindle, Kobo, IBooks, Nook

 

Suddenly a Father: Hometown Hearts #4

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

Preorder: Something Borrowed: Hometown Hearts #5

Available 1/5/21

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

PREORDER: Something Blue Available 3/21

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple Books

HollysWoodsStudio

Something Borrowed Newsletter

 

Something Borrowed

Happy New Year!  I stopped New Year's Resolutions a long time back and instead, opt for a word of the year. 2019's words was Patience. I think I was a bit prophetic with that one. This year I opted for...Thankful. You can read why in my blog. I hope you all find a lot to be thankful for in 2021!   And congrats to my last giveaway winners! I've got a few planned for 2021 so keep an eye out! _____________________________ Now...my New Year's News. Something Borrowed is out today!   She’s borrowed a family. He wants them back. They’re both playing for keeps…and maybe for love. This Hometown Wedding is For Better…or Maybe Worse. Mattie Keith inherited her best friend’s children. Now she’s being sued for custody by their uncle, Dr. Finn Wallace—Mattie's first and last crush. He can offer them everything money can buy. She can offer them…her heart and a real home in their hometown. To make matters more complicated, Mattie and Finn are both wedding attendants in the wedding of the season, Sophie and Colton’s. Is Finn standing in the way of Mattie’s happiness, or could he be her happiness in disguise? It's available at:  Amazon, Nook, Kobo and Apple Books. There are two more wedding books coming out this year, Something Blue and Something Perfect! Then there's a Christmas story out next fall! Yes, it's going to be a busy year. I hope you'll come home and spend some time with me! There's a new cast of characters and cameos by old favorites. I'm wishing all of you a healthy new year filled with family, friends, and a lot of good books! Holly

Louisa

 I just watched PBS's American Masters about Louise May Alcott. It was a lovely reminder of a writer I admire. I grew up with her books. As the only girl surrounded by brothers, I found the thought of sisters and that sisterly bond fascinating. I loved the connection of the entire family. They were bound together through hardships and triumphs. My childhood extended family was more disjointed than LMA's and I found her fictional March family a  an inspiration. When Himself and I had our own family, I wanted that March sense of connection. And since my kids have grown up to be my best friends, I'm happy to think we've managed it.

I was so lucky that Himself and my kids  supported my writing. I will confess, like LMA I worked to help support the family. And I told stories that were commercial, but also from my heart. One of my first critiques came from a professor I was studying with. I'd just sold a story and he was dismayed it was a romance. Rather than congratulating the sale, he sniffed made a derogatory remark about romance books. I've heard other remarks in the years since. People who feel that writing about family and love is somehow a lesser form of writing. I've always felt that writing about family and love is one of the truest, most real forms writing. At least for me, family is the center of my life. And family is the center of my writing. 

Listening to LMA's story, I realized that there's a sense of the March family in my Hometown Hearts series.  The Hometown Hearts Wedding trilogy starts this month with Something Borrowed followed by Something Blue in March and Something Perfect in May. Three women come together because of the death of a friend. That death binds them and they become more than friends, they become sisters. In Something Borrowed, a restless spirit finds herself settling uneasily into surrogate motherhood.  Four women...sisters of the heart. They face life as it comes, overcome loss and find love. Doing all that with sisters at your side...well there's a connection to LMA and the March family in Hometown Hearts. I don't know that I realized it until I was watching American Masters this morning.  But then all fiction is based on life. It's based on the writer's experiences. And since I grew up with the March family, it makes sense that it inspired my writing. I talk about Heinlein and Tolkien a lot, but writers like Alcott and LM Montgomery, Grace Livingston Hill (I have my grandmother's well-loved collection of her books), Louise Dickenson Rich and Helen Hoover... They've all influenced not only my writing, but my life.

Those are connections I'm proud of. My stories are stories of the heart that I'm proud of. And writing romance is something I'm proud of. I can't think of anything more central to life than family and love.  At least not for me.

I hope you'll check out Hometown Hearts and any of my backlist books.

Holly

 Hometown Hearts:

Crib Notes: Hometown Hearts #1

Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBook

A Special Kind of Different: Hometown Hearts #2

Kindle, iBook, Kobo, Nook

Homecoming: Hometown Hearts #3
Kindle, Kobo, IBooks, Nook

 

Suddenly a Father: Hometown Hearts #4

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

Preorder: Something Borrowed: Hometown Hearts #5
Available 1/5/21
Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

PREORDER: Something Blue Available 3/21
Kindle, Kobo, Nook

HollysWoodsStudio