What-Iffing

This week, Susan and I were asked what do we do if we get stuck on a manuscript. We have two magic words we both use. "What if?" They can lead us out of a dead zone. They create a path to the story.

But those two words are magic for more than writers. I think everyone needs to ask themselves, "What if?" on occasion.

For instance, I've always loved pottery. I've got a nice little collection. I asked myself, "What if I took a class?" (PS The answer to that question is, if I took a class I'd fall in love with making pottery.) Or what if I take the road less traveled? What if I try something new in the kitchen? What if read more about...(fill in any particular subject)? What if I volunteer my time? What if...

I've talked a lot about continuing to learn and try new things. What If? can lead to all of roads less traveled and roads never even considered.

So even if you're not a writer, try a bit of What If? soon! Or maybe you've already been What-Iffing? I'd love to hear about it!

Holly

PS Don't ever miss a Trippin' with Holly and Susan.  Follow me on YouTube.

PSS Here's my newest series. If you've already read Crib Notes, I'd really appreciate a review at your favorite online book site!

OUT NOW: Crib Notes

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Nook

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Preorder: A Special Kind of Different

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Preorder: Homecoming
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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!

My Novel Freshman Experience: Reboot

My Novel Freshman Experience Reboot

I've been going over some of my first year at school blogs for kicks and giggles. It was fun going back and remembering that first class. Finding time to take two years of classes has been a challenge. Time. Frankly, I don't have much time at all. One of those early posts I talked about making time stretch. I'm still stretching my time to its well-frayed limits on a daily basis. 

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

I've now had four freshman classes and I'm about to start my fifth. Yes, they've all be ceramics.

We're building a barn at our camp and I'll have my own ceramic studio before I finish my spring term ceramic class. That'll be six classes. And there's still so much to learn and experiment with.  I'm thrilled that I'll have the opportunity to keep studying ceramics in my own studio. But the question is, what will I study next at school?

Hmm. I have a year to decide. Yes, I'll have a fall and spring ceramic class, but then I'm done. I'm sure I'll be blogging about the decision! LOL

If you want to read more of my adventures, you can see more Novel Freshman posts here.

School starts in a few weeks...and I can't wait for this next adventure!

The barn starts to go up next week! Can't wait for that, too!

Yep, my life is beyond exciting!! Stay tuned for more My Novel Freshman Experience (Someday there might be some My Novel Sophomore Experience blogs LOL), more Days of Beauty, more Family Treeing and more...well just me chatting!

Holly

PS Check out my summer of Rom Com:

The Makeover

How to Catch a Groom

How to Hunt a Husband

Claying and Writing and New Books...oh my

We emptied the gas kiln last week. It was a very busy term for me. Today, I'm starting on a new batch of projects. My goal is to improve my wheel throwing skills and do some more underglaze painting. I tried a lot of different glazing techniques.
Never stop. Never be satisfied. Never give up looking for more things to learn. I use those rules for myself with my pottery..and with my writing!

That's my thought for today. I finished an entire kiln full of projects. Rather than resting on my laurels, I'm starting new projects. I'm going to try to improve on what I know and learn more.

Speaking of new projects, I'm just finishing up the second book in a new series. Oh, how I'm loving this series! It's cracking me up. I wish I could share more, but I promise as soon as I can, I will.
But in the meantime... Between the Words is available for preorder!!

I'm so excited!! Between the Words is a bit different. It's set in my Words of the Heart world. It started out as Alice's story (you met her in These Three Words) and ended up being the story of two women...Alice and Olivia. Yep. Two heroines. Two heroes. Two romances.

And if you missed them this summer, Polished Off (Another Maid in LA book) is out and my PTA Mom Collection as well (It's perfect for the holidays and includes Once Upon a Thanksgiving, Once Upon a Christmas, Once Upon a Valentine's and a bonus story!).

Lastly, the first two books in the

CARRY HER HEART

THESE THREE WORDS

Oh and if you haven't already, sign up for my newsletter. So many people have been following my pottery journey and I'm going to give away a piece to one of my subscribers around Christmas! If you're not signed up, click here.

That's it for now! Happy reading!!

Holly

PS Here are our latest Trippin' videos!

Setting Goals: My Novel Freshman Experience

 Setting Goals.

When I first started writing, I treated my attempts like work. I set a goal and did everything I could to meet it.  I treated my writing like a business before it was a business. And that commitment worked for me and my vocation.

So as I'm starting my pottery avocation, I'm doing the same thing.  My big goal for the term is to get better.  I want to throw better (and better than not good should be doable.  LOL) and I want to get better at the things I'm already happy with (my Santas and log mugs). And I want to learn more studio skills.  

But I wanted a bigger goal.  There's a group at school that does Empty Bowls Dinner in the spring...it raises money to fill empty stomachs. Guests have a simple meal of soup and bread...and you get to keep a handcrafted pottery bowl.  They need a lot of bowls.  So I said...I'll do fifty.  Since I am so new to throwing, this is a hefty goal.  But  I'm hoping it improves my throwing and glazin. I'm hoping to learn to throw a shape and size consistently. And I need to find a design I like. And I like the idea of all that learning ultimately feeding people in need.

I made three smaller, wider bowls (on the left). They weren't bad, but I tried a taller, deeper bowl. I think that's a better design.  I made three of those, then tried one a bit taller.  

So seven.  I'm seven bowls into my goal.

Now, along the way I threw a very small, bad bowl.  But rather than let it go to waste, I tried my underglazing on it again.  Another poppy. It'll make an acceptable change or key bowl.  

Goals.  They're a way of moving forward in a vocation or avocation.  They SHOW you what you can do.  Uh, yeah that was a lead-in to today's Trippin' with Holly and Susan. We're talking about Show Don't Tell.  Yes, it's kind of a writerly topic, but even as a reader, understanding how a book goes together can enhance your reading experience.  So check it out...

 

A viewer (how cool is that to say or write?) wanted us to talk about Show Don't Tell—so here it is. And we discover Susan gets "tangry" and Holly might be a bit of a smart a$$. LOL Hope it gives you Monday Glee!
Holly

PS There's a new episode of Able to Love Again out on Radish today.  What's Radish? An app for your phone so you never run out of books to read.  You can check out The Moments for free there as well!

PSS

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!

Experimenting: My Novel Freshman Experience and another Trippin' with Holly and Susan

 I'll confess, there's a certain freedom in experimenting. I've been doing a lot of that this summer with both clay and paint. Trying to see what works—what I like. Letting go of the need to be perfect and approach art (and life) with no real expectation other than answering the question what-if. (That's my favorite writing question, too!)

What-if. It's a powerful question. What if I tried...? What if I did...?
All that questioning and experimenting has taught me things. First thing is, I like asking questions. Second, I learn more from trying something myself than having someone tell me. Yes, I learn more even if the experiment fails. Something that all my arting and claying (yes, I've decided those are words) have taught me that I really like folk art. I've started to collect pieces by other artists. Knowing my art preferences will help as I try arting myself. I start back to school tomorrow (I'm so jazzed about going back) and have been thinking about what I want to learn this term in ceramics. I want to learn practical studio things, like loading, programming a kiln and mixing glazes, but in terms of my claying, I want to experiment more. I want to what I can do with clay. I'm sure you'll be seeing more My Novel Freshman Experience. I hope that you all ask yourself, what-if...and try something new this year. A class. A new podcast. Something. Life is short and there's so many wonderful things to try! Try something new today!

Holly PS A new Trippin' with Holly and Susan

What does a hero named Larry have to do with Taco Bell and Trippin" food? Listen to today's Trippin' video and find out!

 (BTW, since the senior editor didn't think Larry was a hero's name, I changed it to Mac—everyone called him that except the heroine, who spent most of the book calling him Larry...I'm so tricky!)

PPS 

Polished Off

PS. 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!

Back to School—My Novel Freshman Experience

School starts for me on the 23rd.  Yep, I'm going back to school!  I'm so excited.  I wanted to finish my summer's work before classes started, and the face jug in the video was my final project.  I know some of you have said they're ugly...and they are.  That's the point really.

Why do I like making something ugly?  Well, I think they're kind ugly-cute.  But more than that, for me their a way to connect to my history.  I've been working on-and-off on a family tree for a few years and I've found I have deep Appalachian roots.  And face jugs, though they've been discovered in Mesopotamia, have deep mountain roots.  I like that connection.  My son asked for one.  I made two, so he'll get his choice.

I am just taking once class again, and yes, it is a Ceramics Class again.  LOL  At this rate, I'll have finished my first freshman term by next summer.

So this might not be the fastest degree in history.  Frankly, I have no clue what degree I ultimately want.  But I'm having fun and that is a big part of why I'm back to school.  And I'm learning so much.  

What did my first term teach me?  I love ceramics as much as I thought I would.  If you've read, Just One Thing, you'll see a bit of my longing for a pottery class.  But more than that, I'm loving the freedom of clay.  I am not an expert, and I don't expect to be.  I'm experimenting.  I'm trying new things.  Those Santas were inspired by my father-in-law.  He carved his in wood.  I tried to replicate some of them.  And then I expanded and made my own.    Those small jugs with the weird mold looking splotches?  Those were an experiment.  I've done a lot of black and I'm trying more colors.


But more than all that, my first year back at school reminded me how much I love learning.  I mean love it.  I don't know a lot about much, but I know a little about a ton of things.  As a writer, that's important.  When I wrote that pottery scene in Just One Thing, I'd never wedged clay.  I researched it and tried to translate it.  Those bits of lots of things work their way into my stories.

So what are my goals this term?  To get better.  I started wheel throwing over the summer.  I am better than when I started, but I'm not good...I want to get better.  And I want to do more carving.  I've discovered I really like that aspect of claying.  I'd like to make at least one container with a lid.  And I really want to play with glazing and underglazing.  I started painting because of the claying.  I want to work more on how to translate one art to the other and back again.  That picture above of a small jug I made trying to replicate the Erie beach scene I'd painted.

Back to school!

I'm so happy!

I plan a lot of claying this fall!

And maybe that's my biggest lesson...the one I want to share with all of you.  I think I've found the true fountain of youth...never stop learning.  Maybe your thing isn't ceramics.  Maybe it's a real class.  Maybe it's painting.  Maybe it knitting.  Maybe it's a lecture on history.  Maybe...

Whatever it is it's individual, but I hope whatever your Maybe is you find it and love learning about it!

So keep an eye out for more of My Novel Freshman Experiences.  Just think, in a couple years, I might be writing about My Novel Sophomore Experience!  LOL

Holly

Polished Off

PS. 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!

On failure—My Novel Freshman Experience.

It's few weeks before school officially starts and you'll probably be seeing more of My Novel Freshman Experience posts then.  Yes, I'm still a freshman.  There's a good chance I won't be an official sophomore until next year.  Hey, I'm in no hurry. LOL

I've had some studio space this summer and I've still been arting.  I've been trying to throw on the wheel.  I am not great at it.  I am better than when I started.  I can consistently throw a 5 inch piece.  A few times I've hit 6 inches.  They're looking better.  But I still fizzle out.  The piece in the video started out as a cylinder...then it went south and became a bowl. Then I tore the edge...  SIGH.

Now, you'd think, that was an utter failure.

And it was.

But I thought the torn edge looked cool.  So I cut the rest of it, folded some back and turned it into a flower.  I've made a number of sunflowers this year, both painting and in bowls.  This one is different.  I used an underglaze.  We'll see how it looked. But even if it explodes, it was a fun piece to work on.  I tried some new techniques.  I broke one petal, then tried to repair it.  I learned from it.

That's what I wanted to say about failure, sometimes you learn more from a failure than a success.  Sometimes you don't.  But I try not to let the fear of failure keep me from trying something.  And when something fails, I like to look at it and see if there's something to be made from it or learned from it.

I'm so looking forward to getting back to official ceramics classes.  And I'm thinking about maybe taking two classes in the spring term.  Ceramics (I'm taking those until they kick me out) and an actual class.  Like with books. And reports.  And presentations.  After I got all giddy over doing the ceramics presentation, I suspect I'll enjoy the challenge.

So buckle up buttercup...we're heading back to school!!

Holly

Polished Off

PS. 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

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!