Stories About Stories...Briar Hill Road by Holly Jacobs

Another Stories about Stories...this time in video form.
Please note, I do not play an actress on TV...and obviously stumbled over the title, Briar Hill Road. LOL
If you look to the left of the screen, you can see my newest weaving project. And the bookshelf behind me to the left is filled with my books. Both the US and international copies. It's a shelf that always makes me smile!
Check out Briar Hill Road if you haven't read it before! And if you want a bit more of the story, check out The Moments, a short story sequel!

Check out some of my other books!

Deck the Halls

Exclusively available for Kindle and KU.
 Around the Square
Book 1-6 are available now! Book 7 & 8 are available for preorder and the final book will be out this fall!

Slip and Fall: A Harry's Pottery Mystery #2 Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, Nook A View to a Kiln: A Harry's Pottery Mystery #1 Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, Nook
A View to a Kiln on Jeopardy!!

Hometown Hearts

Fast Nacht Kuchen

 

I'm getting ready for Shrove Tuesday on Tuesday. When I first became part of Himself's family, his mother taught me to make faz naught kigglies, the family name for Fast Nacht Kuchen. She was an Irish girl who married a German boy. My father-in-law's mother taught her to make this German dish that was made on Shrove Tuesday. I'd never had one before I met Himself...and those years without seems like wasted time. 

It turns out there's some debate about the shape of the donuts. For me there's no question...triangles. My MIL made them that way, so for me, that's the proper way. But because I try to be an accepting human being who welcomes other opinions, I am open to trying other shapes. I mean, it would be a trial, but hey, I'll manage. So if you make circles or squares and want a taste tester, let me know.

There's also a debate on what to call them. For me, they'll always be faz naught kigglies because of my husbands family. I don't think anyone will mind what you call them as long as you call them when they're ready. 

I'm going to post this on Monday in case you've never made fast nacht kuchen and want to try them. Pretty much any not too sweet dough will work.

My MIL never gave me a specific bread recipe. But I bought this really cute Pennsylvania Dutch recipe book in Cook Forest and have used this recipe for decades. (Our family always called it Cooks Forest, but since I've started my State Park hiking, I know it's Cook Forest.)

So here's my version of this recipe. I used to double it when the kids were young and they took in trays for their classes, but these days I half it. That's ample for Minions.

1 TB honey
3 1/4 C milk
8 C flour

1 TB dry yeast

1/2  C butter

2 eggs

I make the dough Monday evening and let it rise overnight. 

In the morning, I punch it down and roll out sections, cutting them in to triangles. I use pretty much every cookie sheet and cutting board I have to let them rise a second time for at least an hour.

I heat up a couple inches of oil in my big cast iron frying pan (it doesn't have to be very deep...these are thin) and when it's sizzley (I have no temperature for you...I just drop a piece of dough in to check that it bubbles). I do a half dozen fast nachts at a time. (Don't crowd the pan...it will lower the temp of the oil and make them sort of greasy.) When they're lightly browned on both sides, I drop them into a bag of cinnamon sugar and shake them so they're coated. REPEAT until all the dough's been fried.
These are best served immediately or quickly. They're not super sweet, which means it's easy to eat a lot of them. I mean, I do have to test them...I wouldn't want to serve an inferior fast nacht. And because I'm up early working on these, I need a lot of coffee and these are perfect with coffee.

I've found a lot of Mennonite branches in my family tree. Most came from Lancaster. So there's a really good chance, my family made these and my mother-in-law reintroduced me to a part of my personal history without either of us knowing it. I like thinking of that. My mother-in-law was an amazing woman. We lost her twenty years ago (I wrote a fictionalized version of her in Briar Hill Road) and I still can't believe she's been gone that long. We bought her house and, though over the years, things have changed, there's so much of her and my father-in-law in it. I'll be thinking of both of them on Tuesday when I get up in the wee hours and make some fast nacht kigglies for the Minions and I'll know that before I even joined the family, she would have been up early in the kitchen making them as well. I love the continuity of that. When my kids were little, I'd send down their classes a tray of fast nachts each Shrove Tuesday. I won't make quite that many this year, but I will make enough for Minions and Himself's colleagues. 

Traditions. 

There's something about carrying on family traditions and passing them on to the next generation. Do you have any Shrove Tuesday traditions?

Holly

Check out my newest releases:

Exclusively available for Kindle and KU.
 Around the Square
Book 1, 2 , 3, 4  and 5 are available now! Three more are on their way this year.

Slip and Fall: A Harry's Pottery Mystery #2 Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, Nook A View to a Kiln: A Harry's Pottery Mystery #1 Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, Nook
A View to a Kiln on Jeopardy!!

Hometown Hearts

On Grief

 

I started my writing career writing comedies (I Waxed My Legs for This? anyone?). When I began writing more emotional books, some readers were surprised...and I'm so thankful they stuck with me. There was so much to explore in these stories about being human. One I've come back to again and again is grief.

Loss. 

We all carry some grief over a loss with us. As a writer, I have the luxury of writing my way through my grief. One of my most autobiographical books is Briar Hill Road. I had a very close relationship with my mother-in-law. She was one of my best friends. (We used to joke that if my husband divorced me, I was getting her in the settlement. Thankfully, we never had to test that one!)  Losing her...well, it left a hole in all our lives. I wrote Briar Hill Road as my way to work through that loss. The story is fictional, but there are so many layers of my truth in it.

I wrote Just One Thing as another side of exploring loss and grief. It was a book I knew was different. I mean, most of the book took place on Mondays. (Yep, it was my homage to my Monday Glee.) And it was a story told in reverse, through flashbacks. I had someone close to me who dealt with depression. That feeling of helplessness in the face of their pain...this was my way of dealing with it. And though I suspected it would be a hard sell, I still felt driven to write it. My agent kept getting..."We love it but..." rejections. But eventually it found its home and went on to be my bestselling book to date. And I've received so many touching notes from readers who found some comfort in the story. I can't tell you how much that meant and means to me.

I understand that when I'm writing a book, I own it. It's my journey from Once Upon a Time to The End. But the minute I type the end, that story lives a life of its own. It might change under editorial revisions, but I still own those revisions. And then it goes to the readers. Sort of like a train. (I'm using train because a certain family member is crazy for them.) My book is a train and the reader is the passenger. They bring all their own baggage with them when the board and they pick their seat...each seat might have a slightly different view. They own the story at that point. Whenever their view moves them to send me a note...well, I treasure that. And when I hear that a book helped them deal with their grief...it means even more.

Homecoming is a different type of book on loss. Learning to let go and open yourself to something new.  It was part of my Hometown Hearts series. Each of the books dealt with some kind of loss. From giving a child up for adoption, to dementia, to losing a friend... The series dealt with community and how they can help us heal. Having someone else believe in you when you're at your lowest point makes a difference.

I like to think that though my books are fiction, they represent real life. From laughter to love to loss. The whole of it. And each one of those come into play to different degrees in each of my books.

My July release, Chances, deals with yet another kind of grief and loss. One tragic accident changes my heroine's life. Despite her grief, she finds a new path that gives her...well, another chance. It's available for preorder now. And I hope you'll check out these...and my newest release, A View to a Kiln: A Harry's Pottery Mystery. 

Holly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A View to a Kiln: A Harry's Pottery Mystery
Kindle
iBooks
Kobo
Nook

Have you missed any of my Hometown Hearts series? Here's the list:

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

Something Borrowed: Hometown Hearts #5

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

Something Blue: Hometown Hearts #6 

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple Books

Something Perfect: Hometown Hearts #7 

Apple Books, Nook, Kobo, Kindle

Something Unexpected: A Hometown Hearts short story 
Amazon

A Hometown Christmas: Hometown Hearts #8
Kindle 
Nook
AppleBooks
Kobo

Trippin' with Holly and Susan—14 and Book Series Part #4

Susan and I are talking about manners today as we roadtrip home to Erie. I know it's not really a writing topic, but it's timely! Actually it is sort of writing related...and definitely life related!

And I'm picking back up with some of my book series!



Today, let's talk about Briar Hill Road and The Moments.

I wrote Briar Hill Road for a very short lived Harlequin line, Everlasting Love.  The idea was telling more than just how a couple meets and falls in love, but the width and breadth of their relationship.  Briar Hill Road starts when the hero/heroine are kids and follows them as they get older.  It was a unique concept.  At the time, I was still recovering from the loss of my mother-in-law.  She was truly one of my best friends and years later, I still miss her.  That friendship between a two women, along with that sense of loss are very much present in the story.  I've said for a long time that it's one of the most autobiographical stories I've ever told, even though it's completely fiction.

The second story in the series is written in that lifetime-of-love style, though it's just a short novella, or long short story.  It's the couple's daughter's romance.  Right now it's up for free at Radish.  What's Radish?  A site for people who read on their phones.  I'm new there.  I've got a few more books I'll be putting up there.  So if you loved Briar Hill—which I hope you did/do—if you download the app, you can read the sequel for free.

Check them out:
Briar Hill Road Amazon & BN
The Moments Radish

~~~

Let's talk about Cupid Falls.

I've got a sense of pride about the Legend that begins the book.  Someone who lives in the area outside of Erie read that part and emailed me to ask if it was real, and if so, how did she miss it.  Here it is if you missed it:

Prologue

The Legend of Cupid Falls, Pennsylvania

To the south of Erie, Pennsylvania—south of the Great Lake that shares a name with the city—is Falls Creek. It is bigger than most creeks, but not quite large enough to be considered a river. It runs through field and forest to a ridge, carved millennia ago by a glacier. There, it plunges over the edge, falling to a hollowed-out swimming hole before becoming a creek again and meandering on its way.

Local legend has it that when George Washington visited the nearby town of Waterford in 1753, one of his retinue was touring the area. The locals took him to the falls, and there he met a farmer’s daughter. He married her later that same year and they settled near the creek. Years later, their daughter went to the falls with a group of friends and noticed that one of the boys in the group might be more than a friend. They married later that same year. And so it went, year after year, decade after decade, couple after couple, until the small waterfall, which in actuality was little more than a creek tumbling over a small cliff, became known as Cupid’s Falls.

When a town grew up a few miles away, the residents named it Cupid Falls as an homage to their waterfall.

And to this day, it is said, that when two people meet at the falls and declare their love, they are destined for a long, happy romance . . .

Even if that’s not what they went to the falls looking for.

If you follow my camp posts, you're familiar with the area I set my fictional town, Cupid Falls.  The second book, A Simple Heart, deals with an almost Amish couple.  Yes.  Almost.  LOL  We have a lot of Amish neighbors.  If you've seen pictures of The Cottage, most of the wood comes from neighbor's mills.  Locally source, locally milled.  I love that. 
Christmas in Cupid Falls Amazon
A Simple Heart Amazon

~~~

Finally, one of my very earliest series, Dear Fairy Godmother.

I grew up reading science fiction and fantasy.  Heinlein, Tolkien, Lewis, Bradley...  When I started writing, I thought maybe that's what I'd write, but I fell in love...with romance.  But early on, I tried blending the two.  Here's the premise, a romance writer writes a bestselling series featuring three inept fairy godmothers who realize their writer isn't very happy—certainly not happily ever after happy—so they come to life to help her out.  They stick around and help out two other couples.  And I thought I was done.

But readers loved those fairies and asked for more.  And so I did one more grand finale story, Fairly Human.  And I'll confess, if you read that one, I adore Blossom's bosom lament.  LOL

Here's the order:
Mad About Max Amazon, BN, Kobo, Google Play
Magic for Joy Amazon, BN, Kobo, Google Play
Miracles for Nick Amazon, BN, Kobo, Google Play
Fairly Human Amazon, BN, Kobo, Google Play


I hope you've enjoyed these posts and finding out a bit about the why's and how's a story is written.  

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 Carry Her Heart is on sale, along with the 2nd book in the series, These Three Words. Plus, if you love Quincy Mac, my other stand-alone cozy mystery, Can't Find NoBODY is on sale too!

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!

Radish...and I'm not talking about the veg.

Now, I think we've established I like vegetables. (We just got our garden put in...it's been a wet, cool spring here in Erie. I'll be doing more Views of my Garden soon!)  But when I mention Radish here, I'm not talking about the small red vegetable that grows in that garden. I'm talking about a newish app (well, new to me for sure).

I just loaded my first story on Radish Fiction.  I'm anxious to see how it works. 

Basically, you read a book in "episodes." Each episode is a couple thousand words. According to the app, they take under ten minutes to read. My second episode goes up today.

I'm finding the concept intriguing. Between family, writing and going back to school, my reading time is becoming more and more limited. But ten minutes? I can find ten minutes sitting in the car waiting to pick someone up. I can find that much time while stirring dinner on the stove.  I can find that much time...well, you get the picture, I can find that much time.  

I started with The Moments, a novella that's tied to Briar Hill Road.  And I'll be loading two full-length books, How to Hunt a Husband and The Makeover soon.  As an author, I'll see how it goes from there. As a reader, I think it's a cool concept and I'm enjoying it so far.

I've had books serialized in Japan before, and I know that my kids read on their phones.  So it's not a new concept, but I think it's a timely one. I know I'm not the only one out there too busy to breathe some days.

You can check Radish out wherever you buy your apps.  Search Radish Fiction.  And I've added that pink R to my list of places to buy my books at the end of each blog post. You can get there from that logo.

I hope you'll check out the app, and check out my stories there.  Please hit subscribe...that way you'll know when new stories come out.

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: Briar Hill Road & The Moments

The Moments

Briar Hill Road

Every book has some element of autobiography in it.  My love of family...my love of glee are in each book.  By now you all know my love of Mondays...I set Just One Thing almost completely on Mondays as a bit of a shout out to the most unloved day of the week.  Readers who follow me on social media love looking for those bits in stories.

But of all my books, Briar Hill Road is probably the most autobiographical.  Oh, the story is fiction, but the heart of it is based in my reality.  We lost my mother-in-law to breast cancer and that loss still ripples through our family.  I based the mother figure in Briar Hill on her.  Kathleen has her open, loving heart.  

This book was written for the wonderful, but short-lived Harlequin line, Everlasting Love.  Writing for that line really helped push my writing in a new, more emotional direction.  It won a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award.  And Cindy Carlson even wrote a song based on it.  Everlasting Love was meant to explore more than just a hero and heroine meeting, falling in love, overcoming obstacles and getting a happily-ever-after.

So it made sense to explore that lifetime of love even further by asking what happened to Brian and Hayden's daughter, Livie.  I wrote a novella for her and...well, for you.  She's following in her mom and grandmother's footsteps...but she's still forging her own path. 

If you're subscribed to my newsletter, I'm releasing the story a chapter at a time in my newsletter every...Monday of course.  Free.  Yep.  That's right...free. It's my way of saying thank you to all my subscribers.

If you're not a subscriber, it's not to late.  Sign Up For Holly's Newsletter Here.  (I know I'll be sending out a newsletter once a week for the next eight weeks, but normally I only send out newsletters when I have...well, news.)

But if for some reason you don't want to sign up, don't worry.  The Moments will go up for sale in July.

I hope you read Briar Hill Road and you're looking forward to Live's story!!  And if you haven't read Briar Hill Road yet...it's time to pick it up!

Holly