Creating

So, I've been slowed down now for a month and a half. First on crutches and now limping along without crutches but with daily step limits.

So I've binge watched some tv and read almost 3,000 pages of Brian Sanderson's Stormlight Archives.

ANNNNND, I've been creating. I'm back at working on a new book. And I have a new release, Crib Notes! (If you haven't checked it out yet, I hope you will!) Plus, I've done a bunch of painting. And now that I'm getting back in the studio, I'm doing some tile work for the new studio...which now has a name. Holly'sWoods Studio! LOL (I have way too much fun with my life.) To be honest, I can't imagine a life without creating. It gives me glee.

Ray Bradbury said, "In my later years, I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back. Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I've worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior."

Yes. I get what you're saying, Ray. Ultimately every book I write or piece of ceramics I create is for my own glee. But beyond that, especially with my books, there's an element of creating for you, too. Basically, I create for my own enjoyment, then I let it go and give it to you, the reader (well, hopefully you are a reader! LOL). As I read Sanderson's books, I feel as if I'm getting to know a bit about him and his world-view. But I might be totally wrong. What he intended as a writer and what I take away as a reader are two entirely different things. And that's the way it is with creations. We give up all rights to interpreting our creations when we set them free. It's up to each reader or viewer what they take from it.

But I hope as you read my books you find pieces of me in each. Sometimes they're blatant things. For instance, I worked with teen moms for years, which my heroine in Crib Notes does. (I talk about it here.) But sometimes the pieces of myself are less concrete. I hope that tucked up in each creation you can find pieces of my glee, of my wonder, or my optimism.  

Creating.

It's really kept me sane since I've been laid up. 

I hope you have your own creative outlets. Like Ray Bradbury said, I think it leads to a happier life!

Holly

PS Here's some of my creation specials out this month:

OUT NOW: Crib Notes

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: A Special Kind of Different

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: Homecoming
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!

ON SALE THIS WEEK at Amazon:

Just One Thing
First Everything But trilogy

Stoning, Wolfing and Learning...oh my.

I spend a lot of My Novel Freshman Experience posts talking about going back to school and learning new things (so far just about ceramics, but maybe someday soon I'll take another type of class LOL).  But here's the big thing I hope to share...learning something new doesn't require going back to school.  This weekend Himself and I started stoning behind the woodstove at The Cottage.  That is something very new.  We've laid tile before, but this is a different process altogether.  We're hoping to finish it over the course of a few visits.

It's not just people who learn new skills.  Since we lost Ethel Merman, Ella Fitzgerald has had to learn to be an only dog.  She's been more than a little lost.  But she's getting better.  We've been trying to convince her she's a camp dog.  She's pretty sure she's not, but we're still trying.  After we finished our stoning this weekend, we headed out to the truck. I didn't bother to put Ella on her lead...she's always happy to leave camp and head back to the house.  But this time...she took off.  She found her inner-wolf and led us on a merry chase.  Well, merry on her part.  She is very fast for a small sausage dog.  

But in the end, we lured her back to the truck with a treat.  She learned that camp can be fun.  We learned that she is a dog who will continued using her lead...even if it's just a short walk to the truck.  (This picture was taken after her wild wolf run...she doesn't looked the least bit sorry, does she?)





I'm still loving ceramics, but it's led me to painting as well.  I'm enjoying that as well.  That's the thing with learning...one thing leads to another.  I'm hoping Ella's done learning about her inner-wolf, but I know I'm not done learning about pottery and painting and stoning and...  Well, I'm not done with any of it.

I hope you have your Monday Glee today and that you find something new to learn about and maybe love!

Here's a couple more Trippin' with Holly and Susan videos.  We're still touring Erie with this round.  So come to Erie (at least in the videos, but we'd love if you came in real life, too!) and talk about books with us.  If you have any questions or topics you'd like us to discuss, please let me know!

Holly

Today Susan and I are talking about writing assistants. And we're continuing our tour of Erie, PA. We're at the courthouse in this episode...on the outside, not the inside! LOL  

Reader Expectations...they're something writers try to meet. Find out why in our newest video. When you pick up a Holly Jacobs' book, what do you expect?

I talked about the three types of books I write...comedy, drama and cozy mystery. Check out all three and tell me if you can find what they have in common. Comedy...PTA Moms: The Collection Drama...Briar Hill Road Cozy Mystery...Polished Off

PS

Polished Off

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!!

Able to Love Again...There's a new episode out today!

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:

Amazon

Kobo

Radish Fiction

iBooks

B&N

Google Play

BAM

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

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!

Ouroboros...One thing leads to another and then back again.

 This truly fits into My Novel Freshman Experience territory. I worked last night on a few more slates.  They're not quite done, but I'm happy with the start of them. I'm doing a four season series. Summer and Autumn are here...winter and spring to go. 
I started trying my hand at acrylic paints on boxes, then canvas, now some slate.  I started because I wanted to figure out how to underglaze my pottery in a folk arty way.

And now, all that painting has led me back to my pottery.  I've done a few trees on some and now I'm going to do some bowls with flowers.  I'm still working at pulling a six inch wall...I can consistently get five inches.  So close...sigh.  A friend said I was doing good.  Not quite.  But even the pieces I'm making that are less than good are better than when I started. And they're giving me an opportunity to experiment without worrying about messing up a great piece. So I go round and round...literally on the wheel. Trying to get better and figure out new things.


This is how learning goes...at least for me.  I learn one thing, which makes me curious about something else, so I learn something about that and then...I'm like an ouroboros, the snake that at its own tail. My learning and interests go round and round. Eventually I end up back where I started.

That curiosity definitely impacts my writing.  I finished that first book in a new series and I'm starting the second book. (Keep your fingers crossed...I can't wait to tell you more about them!!)  I needed to figure out something new to make the story work and made a few calls and...  I'm sure the new information will lead me down unforeseen avenues, but odds are they'll probably just lead me back to the beginning again.

It's a little more than a month until the new term starts. I'm sure you'll be seeing more Novel Freshman Experience posts then. 

I hope you find something that captivates you as much as all this does for me.

Holly

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

PS.

Polished Off

Speaking of going around in circles, Quincy's back and in some ways she's right back where she started.  So 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.

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!