Hollyworld

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

Then go back to school with three PTA Moms. There's a bonus short story included! Check out the PTA Mom Collection!!

PTA Moms: the Collection

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:

In Erie, you can find my books on the shelf at Werner Books!

Monday, August 27, 2018

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

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!

Find my books at:

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

Friday, August 17, 2018

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

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!

Find my books at:

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

Sunday, August 05, 2018

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

Find my books at:

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

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Muscle Memory: My Novel Freshman Experience

I have some summer studio space, so while I'm not technically in class, I'm still working at ceramics. And by that, I mean, I'm trying to throw on the wheel. Uh, pardon my graphic language here... but I really suck at it.

I mean, really.

I feel that even as a novice I've done some really lovely hand-built pieces. I do not feel I've done anything approaching lovely when I use the wheel. I've done a couple eh pieces. And I'm actually quite proud of their mediocrity because moving from suck to mediocre is progress.

You see, there's some real knowledge that's required when using a wheel, but there's some muscle memory, too. Some measure of understanding the feel of what you're doing. And while I've read what to do, and I've watched a few potters at the wheel show me what to do, that academic knowledge doesn't do me any good without understanding the feel of it...without having some sort of muscle memory.

So I'm working at developing muscle memory. And when I have some less than great pieces, I still have been using them to experiment with other aspects of pottery. A few pieces have died as I've tried to cut in the foot (the bottom of the piece). I use the survivors to play with handles, underglazing, and more mocha diffusion pots. None of my time and effort has really gone to waste.

What I'm learning in the ceramic studio is feeding into other aspects of my life. I was thinking about muscle memory and realized it's definitely present in writing. If you read one of my early books, I hope you see my glee in the process. I hope you hear the beginning of my voice. I hope you see I worked hard at my attempt. I hope you find a nice story. But I also hope that in my later books, you see there's a greater ability. They're more polished. I'm able to paint the story with more grace. (If you don't see any growth from early books to new ones, I'm doing something wrong. LOL) I think some of that growth has to do with muscle memory. I understand how a book is constructed. Even when I try something new (like moving from third person in all my early to works to sometimes writing in first person in my more recent ones) I still come to each book with a certain skill set. One I hope grows with each book I write.

We all have muscle memory. Certain dishes in the kitchen we can make without really thinking about it. How to cope with kids...seriously, muscle memories helps with this, but even at that, each situation is vastly different. Taking care of kids can feel like herding cats. LOL And maybe that's where muscle memory can be a disadvantage. If you treat each situation as you have in the past, maybe you're missing out on a new angle...a better way. If a kid has a temper tantrum and you just send them to their room, maybe you're missing out on a new approach. Forgetting that kids don't have the ability to tell us what's wrong all the time. Maybe asking, Would you like an apple? might shock them out of the tantrum, as well as alleviate the cause if it's hunger. Maybe working to find out what started the tantrum will help you figure out how to stop it.

I think there's a lot to be said for muscle memory. I'm really hoping to gain a bit of it at the wheel. But I also want to be sure I'm never so locked into how things HAVE been done, that I miss out on ways they CAN be done.

School really does make me look at my world in new ways...and I for one think that's always a good thing.

Holly

PS Have you picked up my new release, Polished Off: A Maid in LA Mystery?

Join in the fun at:
Amazon
B&N

Find my books at: