Jill of all Trades...Master of None

 I just did a thing...I bought a small loom from my friend Mauri. She wanted a bigger one and I wanted to try weaving. I wrote about weaving in my book Just One Thing without ever having used a loom (I also wrote about pottery before my first pottery class). 

As I worked at putting my first warp on the loom I found myself thinking about all the crafts I've tried. It started with my Mom teaching me to cross-stitch and embroider, then crochet. Over the years, I learned to sew and quilt, I learned basketweaving, I learned pottery (and found my true love) and now I'm toying with weaving. I'm a Jill of all Trades and a Master of None. And that's ok.  

I talked about quilting also in Just One Thing and wrote a supposed Amish tradition (which may or may not be an Amish tradition), that they purposefully add a flaw in every quilt because nothing but God is perfect. I love that thought. 

I don't strive to be perfect. I do strive to be competent and to enjoy the process of each craft. 

I think there's a lesson in that. I know there's a lot of pressure in the world. But what if all the jobs we're striving to be perfect at, we instead allowed ourselves to make mistakes? What if when we're trying something and find we made a mistake, we think...well, that's my unintentional, intentional flaw? Maybe we'd be more apt to try something new. 

Now I suspect this world view wouldn't work so well with, well, let's say skydiving, but so many things we try won't be harmed by one small flaw. Some may be even more beautiful because of it. I think the other advantage to trying new things is...staying young. Learning, trying new things, expanding our horizons.  I'd love to hear from friends who've been expanding their horizons and trying something new.

Holly

Speaking of trying something new...
Check out some of my books!

Exclusively available for Kindle and KU.
 Around the Square
Book 1-6 are available now! Book 7 is 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

January '24 Newsletter

New Year...a New Read Happy New Year!   I finally landed on my Word of the Year...Peace. Most of the time, my words are for me to build a year around, but this year, I'm hoping the entire world embraces peace. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that the new year just brings you joy...and peace. The 5th Around the Square book, Royal in Hiding, is a Kindle and Kindle Unlimited exclusive...and it's out now! I hope you'll pick up a copy of the first book in my royal trilogy that's set inside the series. I've always said, Erie has everything...even royalty! Start Shopping And don't forget the second Harry's Pottery book, Slip and Fall, is out now! In Slip and Fall, Harry discovers why there's a dead body in her kiln. Now, she's got a dead slip & fall scammer murdered. She's on the case...again. Amazon  Kobo  Apple Books  Barnes and Noble  Books You May Have Missed Review: "I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an honest romance, a slice of life book, or a book which deals with families. I can't think of anyone to whom I would not recommend this book. If I could give it more than five stars, I would do so." Shop Now  As always, thank you so much for all your support! Tallulah, Mabel and I wish you a wonderful 2024! Holly

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Being a Woman

I watched Barbie this weekend and loved it. Loved the message and loved the memories. Oh, how I loved my Barbies. I had two Malibu Barbies that I dubbed the twins. I had a Ken who couldn't keep his head on his shoulders. I had a black haired Barbie...who was my first one. And...  Well there was a whole gang.  Oh the adventures they had. 

I'm going to confess, the movie got me thinking about my life and who I am. What sort of woman I am. I've spent most of my life working as a writer...working for myself. There was no man I answered to. I've worked some marvelous female editors (if you're one of them reading this...thank you!). I've been surrounded by a cadre of women writers who've supported me and over the years have become more than colleagues, but rather friends. 

But I'm more than a writer. That comes second to my other main job. I'm a mother of four—three  are daughters. Looking back, I know I wasn't a perfect mother. God knows, I wasn't perfect. But I did try to be perfect in my attempt. I apologized when I was wrong. I tried to be there for them. And I hoped they saw in me a strong woman who spent her life trying to do her best and loving them wholeheartedly.

Do you remember Caps for Sale? The peddler wore a stack of hats on his head and had to balance them carefully. That's what being a woman is. Balancing a stack of hats as you walk through life trying to avoid the monkeys. The things you expect of yourself. The things others expect of you. Every choice you make adds a hat to the pile you carry.

I raised four kids. I've cared for other kids. I was a kindergarten story lady (like Pip in Carry Her Heart). I was on the PTA (like my PTA Mom trilogy). I was on the school board. I volunteered in a Teen Parenting program. I planned the kids game for our school's Feather Party (like Once Upon a Thanksgiving). When I was young, I cared for three younger brothers after school. Then  I cared for my kids. Then my grandmother as she got older. My mother-in-law when she got sick (like Briar Hill Road). I cared for my neighbor, Marge, who had no one. We made her family. Now I care for the Minions and an aunt and...caring. That's been my life's major calling. 

Back to Caps for Sale...I've dropped hats. Over and over again, the monkeys have come along and I've lost all my hats. But after a moment,  I stopped, picked them up and kept going.

That's what being a woman is for me.  A series of dropping my hats and then picking them up and getting on with it.

I agree with Barbie...being a woman is hard.  But it's a joy. I might juggle a lot of hats and I might not be perfect, but truly it's been my glee. 

 

Holly

On Sale for $.99:
A Hometown Christmas
Amazon
Nook
Kobo
iBooks

Christmas in Cupid Falls is on sale at Amazon for $.99/

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!!

Exclusively available for Kindle and KU.
 Around the Square
Book 1, 2 , 3 & 4 are out now. 
Book 5 is available for preorder!

Hometown Hearts

Jeopardy!!!

Please imagine my excitement when friends in Nebraska let me know Harry's Pottery was a Jeopardy answer. Uh, if in your imagination I was shrieking, you are right! Here it is, in case you missed it! It was a goal I didn't even know I had!  Speaking of missing something, if you haven't checked it out yet, here are Harry's links! Kindle iBooks Kobo Barnes & Noble: And while you're shopping, take a look at July's Chances. It's available for pre-order. A foster-mom, a troubled teen and a man who doesn't know what hit him. Amazon  Barnes and Noble Kobo   Apple Books  I've fired may first couple kilns this summer. I made some lovely plates and of course more face jugs! Oh, and I made some tiles for my new bathroom (after years of an outhouse) at the cottage! There are pics up on FB and Instagram.  I know, you're thinking, now that Holly's made it to Jeopardy she's fancy and needs indoor plumbing. LOL I hope your spring is going wonderfully!! As always, thank you for all your support! Holly

Enough is as good as a feast.

 I've been working on my family tree again. For a long time, I thought just my maternal relatives came from PA. But it turns out a number of my paternal branches started their lives in the US in Pennsylvania. So many of their stories have been lost, but I do know they came to Pennsylvania for freedom—they were Mennonites and Quakers looking for a place to worship as they saw fit and William Penn's woods offered them a chance for that.

My cottage is deep in Amish and Mennonite country. I know a bit about their religion. But I didn't know much about Quakers...so of course I bought a book.  

I will confess, I love used books...they come with a history.  My favorites are those that are marked up with notes and highlights from those who read them before me.  So I found a book...How the Quakers Invented America (David Youst). It's a simple book about a simple people. "Enough is as good as a feast," is a line that caught my eye—and I was obviously not the first one to notice it.

So much of my life (and my posts online) are about simple things.  A beautiful sunrise.  A walk in the woods. A day in the studio. Tallulah and her antics. 

My life centers around my family and those simple things. They're what gives me glee.  And those simple things are everything.  I think that's my magic power...I know what matters. My family and those simple things. I have to wonder if some of those people from so far long ago left me with that knowledge buried deep in my mitochondrial DNA. Enough is as good as a feast.  Yes, it resonated with me.

That love of simple-things is there in my books. They're not big epic tomes, they're  small stories about regular people.  They're about people who know enough is as good as a feast. The greatest compliment anyone's ever given me about my books is, I wish she was my best friend.  

I think Harry in my new book, A View to a Kiln, is that kind of character. The book opens with her husband telling her he's not happy and leaving her. That moment is a turning point for Harry. She realizes she deserves to be happy as well and changes her life...for the better. That is until she finds a dead body in her kiln! 

I hope you check it out, and I hope you take a moment today to look at the little things in your life that give you glee!!

Holly

PS I'm posting this on TwosDAY...2-22-22. It's a simple thing that has had me smiling all day!!

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

February 8, 2022 Newsletter

Move over Quincy Mac... Meet Harriet Lawe! First there was Markie Malkowicz who tripped over a dead body on her way out the door one Monday. Then there was Quincy Mac, who accidentally cleaned a murder scene. Today, is the first release in my new cozy mystery series. Meet Harriet Lawe. She leaves a lucrative career as an attorney and starts her own pottery studio...Harry's Pottery. Everything's going fine until...she finds a dead body in her kiln. Now she's trying to find out whodunnit to save her new business! A View to a Kiln: A Harry's Pottery Mystery Kindle iBooks Kobo Nook I started taking pottery classes a few years ago at Mercyhurst University. (This is one of my Face Planters!) One day I asked the professor if I could cremate a body in a kiln. And thus Harry's Pottery was born. (After I took my last class he retired. I think I might have broken him!) Combining my love of pottery and books was such a thrill! I hope you enjoy Harry's first adventure. Her second book, Slip and Fall will be out in '23!) If you want to take a tour of my studio, check out my video! As always, thanks for everything! Holly Keep an eye out for my July release, Chances!    Find Out More

Check and see if you missed any of my Hometown Hearts series!

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