Getting Outside Leads to Looking Inside

 When I had those two surgeries on my leg a few years back, my biggest question was, "When can I get out walking again?" The doctor quickly came to realize how much I enjoy walking (the day of the second surgery I scolded him because he was early and I hadn't finished my 10,000 steps yet LOL). When I finally got the go ahead to ditch the crutches and start walking, he put things in my terms. "Five hundred steps a day, Holly. You can added five hundred more steps every day." I was free!

Since then, I've tried to put those steps to good use. One of my daughters and I are trying to visit all 123 State Parks. Some are literally just a visit. There's no real hiking involved. Pennsylvania has a lot of little parks...it's a great way to preserve land and forests. But some are huge tracts of land with amazing trails and sights to behold. 

We went to the northern, middle park of the state this weekend and, despite the rainy weather, we went on some lovely hikes! One was down to the bottom of the PA Grand Canyon. It was challenging, but so worth it!

I walked with the group a lot of the weekend, but Sunday morning I got up early, went out in the rain, and hiked up a mountain on my own. I took in the lovely views and found I was thankful the leaves hadn't fully popped because they wouldn't have hidden the broad vista. And as I thought of hidden things, I thought about the book I'm working on. I wanted to capture this quiet moment in the woods in it. I wanted to find a way to write the magic of a misty, spring morning. I weighed and measured words that might paint an accurate picture. I breathed deeply, listened to the springtime bird calls and let my thoughts chase after one another. They moved from one thing to another with no interruptions and no attempts on my part to reign them in.

 I'll confess, I love walking with friends and family. We get to catch up and enjoy the world together. But  on Sunday morning and here at home, my mornings are for me. I think about my family. I think about the world. I think about books I'm working on. I mull as I take in the sights. Walking has let me learn where I fit into the world. I read the seasons as if they're a book. And while it might seem to be a quiet, solitary walk, it is anything but. Stories ping pong, in amongst the thoughts and memories.

Yes, walking outside leads me to a lot of inner action. Some of those thoughts might enrich a book, some (I hope) will enrich me.

Wishing you some lovely walks this spring!

Holly

PS Sweet Success is Available today for Kindle and KU!

Secret Babies: Second Chances Anthology is. $.99 
Something Perfect is one of the stories!

 Around the Square
Book 1, 2 & 3 are out now. 
Book 4 is available for preorder

Chances
Amazon 
Barnes and Noble
Kobo  
Apple Books 

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

Questions

I love asking questions. Even more than that, I love finding answers. The Minions and I play a game in the morning...ask a question. Sometimes it's, "What's the biggest snake in the world?" (The reticulated python is the longest...we went with that.) Sometimes we go on long questiony journeys, one question leading to another. Sasquatch, the Wright Brothers, the Gold Rush... 

I've found two distinct branches in my family tree that makes me wonder if my love of questions is genetic.  One line is Mennonite. They came here from Switzerland and I can find their names in church lists for a couple centuries.

The other line is Quaker. I'm still tracing them back, but so far, I've found a few into the 1700's. 

I love that they all questioned the hierarchy and forged their own paths.

Then they stopped. Both lines by the mid-eighteen hundreds were no longer practicing their breakout faiths. Did each generation keep asking questions until they finally answered them? Or did they keep asking questions and never found answers and simply turned away, looking for answers in another direction? It's been fascinating research.

So many things about my family tree makes me ask questions. Trying to understand the paths that brought my people here. The Swiss/German branch seemed to come for religious liberty. I can imagine their stories. One relative was an Irish doctor who married a titled English lady and they both moved here. I can imagine their story as well. But some of them are big...well, questions. Following their paper trail will never give me all the answers to my questions, so I'm left with imagining my own.

Questions sometimes lead to concrete answers. Sometimes they lead to guesses and stories. If questioning is genetic, maybe I owe my writing career to good genes. I am a shirttail relative to Emily Dickenson. I like to think the few genetic strands we share help inspire me to find the beauty of words.

Questions. I think having a bunch of things I'm asking is a great way to start a year. I'm just a small branch on my giant family tree.  I wrote a blog not long ago about mtDNA, where I imagined the long line of women I come from. I doubt I'll find all the answers this year, but I'm hoping I find some! And I suspect anything I discover will lead to more questions.

Wishing you a new year filled with questions...and answers.

Holly

PS Looking for something to read this new year?

Looking for something to read in 2023? Check out:

Just One Thing is for sale this month on Amazon!
If you've followed my renovating, addition at the cottage, this book is set there in my mind!

Surprises in All Sizes anthology.
One of my Hometown Hearts stories is included!

Signs of the Times
Available for Kindle and Kindle Unlimited
Book #2 comes out in February! 
By Design takes a the marriage of convenience trope and...well, has a bit of fun with it.

Chances
Amazon 
Barnes and Noble
Kobo  
Apple Books 

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

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

Connections

Thankful.

That was my 2021 Word of the Year. It was a good word because there's so much in my life I'm thankful for. Himself and my family always starts my list. I have the most amazing kids who've brought new family members into our lives...people who didn't grow up in my house but who are every bit as much a part of my family and my thankful list as the kids I gave birth to. I'm pretty sure they were always part of our family...we just didn't know it. 

My connections start with my family but grow from them to friends and neighbors. I'm thankful for all of them as well. 

I'm thankful for home...both for the house we live, the house my in-laws built and lived in, as well as the cottage and barn out in the woods. I'm connected to that as well...we discovered that my family homesteaded the land at the end of the road. I love that connection.

I just watched Tick, Tick, Boom. I love Rent and it was a lovely way to look at Larson's life. He left a mark. He impacted my life with his music and story. And I realized how thankful I am for my writing and even my super imperfect attempts at pottery. In my writing I'm able to talk about things that are important to me. Family. Friends. I got another note not long ago from someone who read Just One Thing at just the right time. They said it helped them deal with their grief. For me, as a writer, that's it. That's why I do what I do. At their heart, all romance stories are about connections. I really believe that's what everyone craves...connections. Not just craves...it sounds like something you could pass on. Like chocolate cake. You might want it, but you don't need it. But people need connections. 

So here it is, a few days after Thanksgiving and I'm still thinking about being thankful. I'm thankful for all the connections in my life. Family. Friends. Readers who I've never met but found something to connect to in my writing.  My home.

In A Hometown Christmas the heroine has a saying that, to be honest, I sort of loaned to her. "I can't change the world, but I can try." She feels all alone, but when she looks around she realizes she's not just connected to her town, she's totally entangled in it. 

So on this Thanksgiving week, I hope you find a lot to be thankful for. And I hope when you look at your connections you find that you are entangled in them...in love.

Holly

Here's the list of the entire Hometown Hearts series!

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

PPS. Here's my latest kiln opening!!

Where I'm From...

 I've talked about finding an unexpected branch of my family before. I've got deep Appalachian roots. For this Northern, WPA girl, it was a surprise. But it's led to a bit of a research palooza over the last few years. Not just genealogy. Reading. (I know you're shocked.) One of my first finds was a bit of an intersection between my love of cookbooks and my interest in Appalachia. I picked up Victuals, Ronnie Lundy. I loved reading about the food of the region that was also a bit of a tour. And I felt sort of smug last week when we were watching Clarise and there were strings of beans drying in a house. I said, "Leather Britches." Himself looked at me like I was crazy (that's nothing new LOL)  I'm hoping to try drying my own this year. 

Anyway, I found a blog, Blind Pig and Acorn, that spends a lot of time talking about all manner of Appalachian things. This week, they had a great post about Appalachian books.  I've gone on a bit of a shopping spree since reading it. 

But I think one of the biggest influences this unexpected family history has had on me is my pottery. I did a report in school about Burlon Craig, which led to a read-a-thon about southern pottery, which led to discovering face jugs and their long southern history, which led to...well, a bit of a face jug addiction.

I've played with ash glazes and face jug variations ever since. I love that each one has its own personality. 

One of my complete joys was discovering my family came from near the Catawba Valley, which is the home of a lot of the potters I love.

I'll be spending a lot of time deep diving into my new collection of books about Appalachia. And someday, we're going to do a West Virginia/Virginia trip. I'm planning to visit places my family came from, as well as visit pottery studios in the region. I can't wait!

Family. Learning about where I come from has truly influenced where I am.  It's influenced my writing. It's been a fascinating journey so far and I think there will be a lot of fun twists and turns to come.

I love writing about families as well. My Hometown Hearts series is all about family. Family that's born. Family that's made. Friends who are family. Family that's unexpected. I hope you'll check them out.

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

Something Borrowed: Hometown Hearts #5

Available 1/5/21

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

Something Blue: Hometown Hearts #6 

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple Books

Preorder: Something Perfect: Hometown Hearts #7 available 5/21

Apple Books, Nook, Kobo, Kindle

HollysWoodsStudio

Something Blue

 

Family.

I've built a life and my writing career around family.

This Hometown Hearts Wedding trilogy deals with families. Friends who become families. Families who are made through adoption. Families who are born...Family. Watching people come together, fall apart, adapt... It's a fascinating process. Every story comes at it from a new direction.

We've talked before about how my real life impacts my writing. In March's book,  Something Blue, I deal with dementia in an older loved one. It's a reality I know about. My grandmother slowly lost her battle with dementia over years. Then we adopted a neighbor who also battled that kind of loss. It's an awful process. And you might be thinking, Holly, that's too grim to read about.  But that's not all there is. My grandmother always knew me and my kids. We visited every day. Even after she couldn't remember our names, she knew she was ours and we were hers. The connection was still there. She knew she was loved and she wasn't alone.

We saw the same thing with our neighbor. The Minions owned her entire nursing home. We walked over regularly. The two littles would dress up in their superhero capes and ride their scooters (you can't ride a bike in a cape). Not only did she know we were hers and she was ours, the entire nursing home knew the Minions. They high-fived their way through the halls. Some days they were Batman and Robin, sometimes they were Superman and the Green Lantern... What I loved the most is how gentle they were with everyone. They didn't worry if our neighbor didn't know their names. They filled her in on their day and chatted away and she loved it. 

We missed those visits last year.

Someone once questioned why we visited if a patient didn't know us. I think that even when memories have gone, when someone is lost in their own mind, they recognize love. They feel it. It's a bright light in a dark place. So we visited. My kids and the Minions learned lessons on patience, empathy and love. And our loved ones learned no matter what they were never alone.

Those are the things I tried to put in Something Blue. Connection. Empathy. Love. I know I write romances and writing about love is obviously a part of that, but I really try to write about broader loves. About family. About all the ways they come together and all the ways they stand together.

I've built a life around family and I've built a career around it.

I am so lucky in both!

I hope you'll check out the entire Hometown Hearts series and Something Blue!

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

Preorder Something Perfect Available 5/21

Kindle
Kobo
iBooks
Nook

HollysWoodsStudio