Book Sale!! Crib Notes

How are things going? I hope you're staying in and staying safe! We've been busy with training Tallulah. She's growing so fast! She's doubled her weight since we brought her home in March!  And we're busy working on my studio! I'll post pictures of the finished area sometime soon!

Other than that, I've been working on a new series (more about that soon!) and wrote a Covid-19 short story, Quarantine...that features a puppy named Tallulah. Yep, truth in fiction!

But the big news is, Crib Notes is on sale now!

Thanks, as always, for all your support! If you have a moment, please share the sale on your social media, or leave a review at your favorite site! The Hometown Hearts series is about family. I think it's a very timely subject in our current situation.

Holly

On Sale: Crib Notes, HH #1

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Amazon
Australia
Brasil
Canada
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
Singapore
Spain
UAE
UK

Out Now: A Special Kind of Different, HH #2

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: Homecoming, HH #3
Amazon
iBooks
Nook
Kobo

The rest of the Hometown Hearts series will be coming soon.
Suddenly a Father will be out in September of 2020 and
Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Something Perfect in 2021!

Inspiration

Inspiration is everywhere.

I saw a cute little cup in Pottery Making Illustrated. I liked it so I tried out a version of it. You can see where the inspiration came from, but this one has a certain Holly-spin to it. I made it my own.

That's how inspiration works for me. I see something and then twist it in a way that pleases me. I twist it in a way that speaks to me. We have a lot of lichen on the trees at our cottage. And that inspired this vase...

Inspiration. I think there's a certain joy in watching for those moments that can change our perspective and move us in a new direction. I find that kind of inspiration in everything. I apply it to my art and to my writing, and I make it my own. 

I hope you find something that inspires you today!

Holly

PS Same Time Next Summer is on sale today for $.99.

Memories...the Music Connection

This coming February, Lucy Arnaz and Richard Klein will be reprising their roles in They're Playing Our Song for one night in a concert in NYC...and guess who has tickets?  Yep, me!!  I'm so excited. I grew up with this musical. You see, my mom went to New York and saw the original show.  She bought the album (now known as vinyl by my kids) and brought it home. I fell in love with the songs on their own merit, but also because my mom loved it so much.

When I was writing These Three Words, the hero is a man of few words.  One song from the show played over and over again in my head as wrote his scenes.  Fill in the Words. It was his theme song. So when I go to that show (!!!!) I'll be thinking of my mother and about the hero of These Three Words. Of all the books I wrote, this one was her favorite. I think it was the music connection. I hope it reminded her of her first trip to NYC.

Smells. Foods. Music. They all can take us back into the past. They can take us tumbling into our memories.  I mentioned last week that Pillsbury's Cranberry Bread will always make me remember my grandmother...she made it every holiday.  The smell of hyacinths always make me think of my surrogate grandfather. But for me, music is my strongest trigger. Lawrence Welk makes me remember weekends at my grandmother. They're Playing Our Song and Steve and Eydie's That Holiday Feeling will always say Christmas to me and remind me of my mom.

Memories. Our past influences our present and that influences our future. That truly was the theme of These Three Words. Two people who lost each other until their memories pull them back together. My tagline for the book is Sometimes the Greatest Love isn't Discovered it's Rediscovered.  Memories. They can change our present and our future. And for me, they can help me write a story that I hope resonates with readers.

Holly

PS. Books on Sale this Month: These Three Words Carry Her Heart Christmas in Cupid Falls And check out this year's releases: Polished Off PTA Moms: the Collection Between the Words Briar Hill Road Find my books at: Amazon Kobo Radish Fiction iBooks B&N Google Play BAM In Erie, you can find my books on the shelf at Werner Books! PPS. Have you missed our most recent Trippin' with Holly and Susan? You can catch up with them all on YouTube.

Where Stories Come From

When I started writing, I was unsure what I would write.  I grew up on science fiction and fantasy. That wasn't it.  I sold a poem early on and made $4. I decided that wasn't it.  And then I found romance. I loved how it honed in on two characters, their obstacles and how they found a way beyond them in order to find each other.  Comedy.  Drama. The basic component stays the same. People meet. Things get in the way. They overcome them. They find each other.

And early on, I discovered you could add all kinds of elements to that "formula." And in my Fairy Godmother series, I added...fairies. And comedy.  I was so lucky to find a small press who loved the fairies as much as I did.  And I added my love of Heinlein to the fairy myth.  You see, he felt that characters who are truly loved exist somewhere.  His characters visit Oz.  In my series, the fairies are loved enough that they come to life.  That's where this story began with, what if Heinlein was right.

What-if.  That's where all stories begin.

Over the years I've asked that question about fairy godmothers, wedding cursing grandmas, people recovering from loss, or dealing with pain... I keep asking the question.  All my stories come from that one question. 

The fairy godmother series got new covers a few years back and I love them.  Since then the fairies have found a new group of readers.  The first book, Mad About Max is on sale for $.99.

Talking fairies seems like a nice segue to my latest Trippin' with Holly and Susan where we talk about superheroes.  Yes. I know you're thinking fairies aren't superheroes, but I would argue that fairies and other magical creatures could easily hold their own against superheroes.  Although, if my Fern, Myrtle and Blossom were the fairies in question, there would be mishaps.  Guaranteed.  LOL

Every story begins with someone asking themselves, what if. What if fairies came to life?  What if a kid got bit by a spider?  It's always the same question.

Holly

PS Check out the newest Trippin'. If you missed any, you can find them on YouTube.



PPS 

Polished Off

Don't forget my new release Polished Off: A Maid in LA Mystery is out! Check out Quincy's newest adventure!

And there's a salespalooza this month. Check out:
Just One Thing
Hold Her Heart
Everything But...series

Don't want to miss any new releases in the future? Subscribe to my Newsletter!! I'll keep you up-to-date and I frequently have something special for subscribers!

As always, you can find my ebooks, paperbacks, hardbacks, audiobooks and available through Kindle Unlimited.  They're also available in a lot of other languages. I hope there's something for all of you!

Find my books at:

Amazon

Kobo

Radish Fiction

iBooks

B&N

Google Play

BAM

Audible

In Erie, you can find my books on the shelf at Werner Books! Stop in, check them out and tell them I said hi!

Book Stories: I Waxed My Legs for This?

 I've got to confess, I love coming up with titles. I've kept most of mine, which is rare.  Yes, publishers get the final say on titles, covers and back cover blurbs.

But of all my titles, I Waxed My Legs for This? is probably my favorite. This was the first book that sold to Harlequin. I laughed my way through writing it.  I have a friend who was talking about writing comedy and said, "I can never tell if something's funny until someone else tells me." I snorted and said, "I laugh my butt off whenever I write."  She whispered, "So do I, but it felt impolite to say so."  LOL Did I mention she'd a very sweet, Southern lady?

So please understand how much I laughed as my heroine put wax all over her legs...and called her best friend, the potential hero, to rip it off.  Yes, in my mind a true hero will rip hair from your legs.  

My grandmother however was aghast.  She never shaved her legs a day in her life and didn't have any hair on them.  So, shaving (and waxing) must make hairy legs.  LOL

And that's one of my I Waxed My Legs for This? stories.  And it's on sale today and tomorrow for 99¢.  I hope you'll check it out!  Maybe you'll agree that love can be a sticky situation...especially when you're in love with your best friend!

Holly 

PS.
My books are available as ebooks, paperbacks, hardbacks, audiobooks and available through Kindle Unlimited.  They're also available in a lot of other languages. I hope there's something for all of you!

Find my books at:

Amazon

Kobo

Radish Fiction

iBooks

B&N

Google Play

Audible

BAM

In Erie, you can find my books on the shelf at Werner Books! Stop in, check them out and tell them I said hi!

Book Stories: Fairly Human

I grew up in Tolkien's Middle Earth and riding on Heinlein's spaceship Dora with Lazarus Long.  I rode Anne McCaffrey's dragons and picked up a sword in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover stories.  I found out I had powers with Zenna Henderson's The People.

Maybe that's why I thought I'd write fantasy when I started writing.

I tried my hand at a lot of types of writing.  From literary fiction to poetry.  I made $4 on a poem and decided maybe my calling was something else.

Then I discovered the romance genre.  Two people, overcoming odds and finding a happily-ever-after.  This, my heart whispered.  This was what I wanted to write.

And I did.  I discovered I adored writing these relationship focused stories.  And then I realized that I could still write fantasy.

Mad About Max

 Heinlein had a theory that well loved universes exist in some dimension.  What if a bestselling fairy godmother romance author wasn't having any luck at romance?  What if her fictional fairies became real?

Magic for Joy

These were early stories, written with more glee than know-how.  But they struck a note with readers.  I have a collection of fairies they sent me over the years.  I wrote the first three books about the fairies and the Aaronson family and thought I was done with fairies.

Miracles for Nick

But readers kept asking for more.  So I wrote three novellas in which all the fairies get their own happily-ever-after.  The publisher asked me to turn them into a book...and so I blended those three shorter stories into one book.

Fairly Human

One of the things I loved about fairies was in my own way it was an homage to Heinlein.  But one of the other things that gave me glee was the opening scene in Fairly Human when the three old lady fairies find themselves sentenced to losing their magic.  And without their magic, they reverted to their true forms...beautiful young women.  Yes, since fairies are immortal, why were they old ladies?  Because all the heroes kept falling in love with them.  So they started wearing old lady bodies.  They did it for so long, that's how they saw themselves.

But looks can be deceiving and love can be tricky...with or without magic.

I was thrilled when a while back the publisher told me the fairies were getting new covers and being rereleased!  I adored the new artwork and I love that readers are re-meeting Fern, Myrtle and Blossom!  The fourth book, Fairly Human, is on sale for $.99 this week.   I hope you'll check the fairies out!  They might be older books, but they hold a special place in my heart!

Holly

Works In Progress

 There's a term that writers use...work in progress.  It's a book you're currently working on.  I like to think my life is a work in progress.  I keep working on it and I'll confess, I'm pretty pleased with where I am and the direction I'm heading!  I start Ceramics II next week.  I spent the winter break working on projects, experimenting and hope to continue that this term. 

I have a recipe that's a work in progress as well.  I'm looking for the perfect oatmeal bread.  I'm getting closer.  I sometimes use left over steel cut oatmeal.  I think I'm going back to that.  It's a heavier loaf, but it's very moist.  I didn't have leftover cooked oatmeal yesterday and so I adapted and tried this variation.  It was very good!  I had a piece with wild blueberry jam for dessert last night...and toasted some for breakfast.  It's still a bit delicate if you're slicing it thin, but it really is very tasty.  My friend Brenda asked for the recipe, I'm posting it here for her and anyone else who wants to try it.

Oatmeal Bread (a recipe in progress)

1 1/2 cups oatmeal (I use a thick cut oat)
2 Cups of hot milk

Put them in your mixing bowl and let them soak a half hour...a lot of the milk will be absorbed and it will cool to a yeast acceptable temperature.

Add 1-2 Tb yeast
1/2 Cup brown sugar
2 tsp salt
3 Cups bread flour
another 2-3 cups whole wheat.
(This half and half has enough whole grains to make me happy, but with the bread flour it's lighter than a pure whole grain)

I added a bit of warm water as I mixed because I thought the dough looked a bit too dry.
Knead.

Let rise until double.

Punch down.  Divide in two and put in pans.  Let it rise again.

Bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes.

I'm definitely getting closer to my perfect recipe!

Keep an eye on my blog over the next few weeks...there will definitely be more school projects posted.  

And if you're looking for something to read, Hold Her Heart is on sale today for $.99!!  If you haven't read it, I hope you'll check it out and don't forget, my entire PTA Mom Trilogy is finally all out! If you've read these, or any other books, and have a moment, I'd really appreciate a review!

Oh, and last but not least, keep an eye out.  I was working on ceramic spoons at the studio and had an idea for a short story.  I'll be including it in my next newsletter for subscribers to read for free.  Not a subscriber?  You can join here.  I try to do special things for subscribers and it's a good place to keep up with new releases!

I'm heading out to the kitchen make a sandwich on my bread!

Holly

Happy Valentine's!!

February Release View this email in your browser Today is Shrove Tuesday.  Here in Northwestern PA, we celebrate with Fast Naught Kuchen.  I was up early making ours, then went delivering!  Hope you're doing something fun today! And I hope you have something special and fun planned for Valentine's Day!!  I think we're going to an RV show.  Yeah, I know, you're not surprised that a romance author would do something so over-the-top romantic for the big day!  Speaking of fun:

Just in time for Valentine's!!  I have a new release—an anthology of previously published short stories—and two of my bestselling, award winning books are on sale!   My new release is a collection of my previously published short stories and a novella.  I know everyone's busy and sometimes you don't have time for a full novel.  I'm hoping on a day like that, you'll reach for :  Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read.  And on Sale: My Award-Winning book, Carry Her Heart, is on sale for 99¢.  Also on sale...my WLVH Radio series!  These were some of my earliest books.  But they were a good time!  Oh, and a bit of an Easter Egg, the dog in Night Calls was inspired by our Old English Mastiff at the time! Pickup Lines Lovehandles Night Calls Laugh Lines And I didn't forget my friends on the other side of the pond! In the UK NEW RELEASE:  Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read  ON SALE:  Just One Thing on sale for 99¢. Wish you all a very Happy Valentine's!  Thank you everyone who's picked up a copy of These Three Words! I've so appreciated all the lovely comments and reviews! And keep and eye out in March, one of my early, classic romances is finally coming out as an eBook! Watch for A Day Late and a Bride Short! (It's available for pre-order now.)  It's a modern day MOC (marriage-of-convenience). Holly