Trippin' with Holly and Susan—5

Deadlines and Procrastination....

Susan and Holly talk about how to get it done!

We talk again about how there's no right way to

write and work.
Climb in the backseat and enjoy the ride!!

write and work.

Holly

Have you picked up Quincy Mac's (our Maid in LA) newest adventure, Polished Off? 
Join in the fun at:
Amazon
B&N

PS 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

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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!

June Newsletter

Quincy is Back in Polished Off!!! The fifth (and final?) installment in the MAID IN LA mystery series —It's a climactic end for Quincy Mac, LA's favorite maid!  Quincy Mac came to LA as an aspiring actress, but when she inadvertently cleans a murder scene while working as a maid, she finds love, laughter and a bit of mystery! Quincy Mac’s life has changed in the last ten years. Changed for the better. She’s happily married to Cal and their family is growing. She’s finishing up a television show, Cereal Killers, and working on new ideas with Dick. Life is perfect. Until one morning, when she heads for some coffee in the writers’ room and trips over…a zombie. A dead zombie. She thought the only murders she had to solve were television murders, but when there’s a dead zombie on your mystery set and your name is Quincy Mac, you get down to work.  at Amazon!

On Sale for $.99 Don't forget to take a trip down Briar Hill Road this summer!

Hey, everyone!! I hope all my newsletter subscribers enjoyed the free novella, The Moments, last month.  It was my way of saying thank you for all your support.  Make sure you pick up the book that inspired The Moments, Briar Hill Road. It really is one of the most autobiographical stories I've ever written. My relationship with my mother-in-law inspired Haden and Kathleen's relationship in the book. Thank you everyone who's told me how excited they were for a new Quincy story. I've loved watching her life change throughout the years.  That's truly one of my favorite parts of this series...watching her grow.  I hope you enjoy reading this new book as much as I enjoyed writing it.  Please stop in and leave a review when you're done reading it! Wishing you all a marvelous summer! Holly PS. Check out my series of Trippin' with Holly and Susan videos. We're just two writers talking about books, writing and whatever else comes to mind!     Miss any of the 1st four Maid in LA books? Buy the Bundle!

A Short History

When I started writing, I wrote some romance short stories.  I loved them and was so excited when they started selling...and kept selling.  They were where I learned so much about writing, and about the romance genre.  A short story is by it's very name...short.  I can't tell a whole story.  Just a snippet.  A vignette.  I loved jumping into a couple's life, then jumping right back out.

Eventually, I wanted to tell bigger stories, and started trying romance novels.  And those sold.  But every now and then, I enjoy going back and playing with those short, blink-of-an-eye stories.  I like to think of them as a country video.  I'm telling you a story...just not all the story.

Nothing But Luck

Nothing But Love

Nothing But Heart

When Avalon was sold to Montlake Romance, and all my older stories for them were slated to come back out, I did three short stories that I felt tied together my Everything But... series (they're all on sale this month for $1.99 each) and my earliest series, WLVH Radio.  It was a blast introducing new readers to both series through the short stories.

Labor Day

There He Was 

The new shorts I'm writing this year aren't really tied to anything.  Oh, in Labor Day, I mentioned Quincy Mac, from my Maid in LA mystery series.  But these are simply stand-alone vignettes.  Labor Day, has been out for a few weeks.  Right after Labor Day came out there was a story on the news about a police officer in Ohio who bought a woman carseats. (Definitely go read his new story...what a nice guy!)  If you read my story you know why I felt I was a bit psychic after that!  I mean, I wrote mine first.

In mid-September, There He Was is out.  This one was inspired by an old Myth Busters episode where they show that a water tank can truly take off like a rocket. Mine doesn't launch exactly like that, but I watched the episode while I was mulling over that 'bang' moment when you simply know to your core that you love someone.

I hope you all enjoy these short stories.  As a writer, sometimes stretching your craft means going backwards and coming back to where you started!

Holly

PS. For newer writers, I think short stories can be a very useful educational tool.  They teach you how to focus completely on your characters.  You also need to be able to pick when to start your story and when to end it.  That sounds simple, but you have to figure out how to do it in a way that it makes sense to readers.  You have to give them enough to engage them with your opening, and end it so that they're satisfied.

What's Your Word for 2014?

People who’ve known me for a while know that I gave up New Year’s Resolutions years ago. 

Oh, I tried setting realistic goals…like the year I realized I’d never tried a shot, so my resolution was to try a shot of tequila.  A friend’s dad gave me pointers and I did it, but it wasn’t maybe the best resolution ever.

So a few years back, I opted to give up resolutions and instead choose a word of the year.  One word that would give my year focus.  Words like Stop, Moment, Awareness, Optimism and Change.  So this last week, I started to think about my word for 2014.

My husband gave me a FitBit Flex.  I didn’t even know they existed until I opened the box.  If you didn’t either, it’s a little gum bracelet that tracks your steps (it also will let you track your meals and your sleep).  And when you reach 10,000 steps it gives you a lovely little buzz on your wrist.  Maybe it’s Pavlovian, but I find I’m enjoying the little reward!  I've decided that this year will be my year of 10,000 steps…which led to my word of 2014.

I was thinking about a new word for 2014 yesterday as I walked, step by step, getting closer and closer to that goal.  I realized that my husband hadn’t just given me a geek toy he thought would give me glee and help me meet my exercise goals, but he’d given me my work for the coming year.  Step.

I’ll confess, it’s a good word for me.  I love setting goals and reaching them (which is why my husband's gift was perfect for me!).  When I write, I tend to have a page goal per day and a page goal per week.   If I can’t make my daily pages, I try to make them up over the rest of the week so that I ultimately make my weekly pages.  That way, a messed up a day can be fixed for the week.  One step—or page—at a time.

This year is going to be a year of change for me.  The steps I'm taking started last year.  Last June I took a giant step and introduced a new series that wasn’t a romance.  Thankfully, readers have embraced my Maid in LA Mysteries and its heroine, Quincy Mac. I'll be releasing her fourth book, Swept Up, in the new year.

In 2014, I’m taking another work related step. It’s a big one. I started to work with Montlake Romance when they bought Avalon Book’s backlist.  They were such a joy to work with as they released my older books as eBooks and introduced Everything But series’s Nana Vancy to a whole group of new readers.  I took another step last year when I sent a proposal for something new.  And it was a big scary step…I sent them a book-of-my-heart.  It was a book I’d written on weekends just for me (so I guess ultimately that was the first step…the writing).  I didn’t write with a publisher in mind…I wrote it just for the joy of writing it.  And Montlake saw that joy and Just One Thing will hit the shelves in June!  It’s a new step for me.  It is a romance, but it’s also so much more.  It’s the most mainstream fiction I’ve ever done. And it’s also the most lyrical writing I’ve ever attempted.  It’s a giant step.  Now you might argue, that I took the step in 2013 when I sent it in, or even before that when I wrote the book.  You wouldn't be wrong.  But that's the thing about steps…one leads to the next.  There's no way to point to one specific step and say…this is it.  This is where it all started.  Because really, I can go back to when I first read The Hobbit in grade school and was transported.  But now, even that first book that really captured my heart wasn't the first step…the first step was learning to read.  No, no, it was…  Let's not argue steps…one leads to the next and every one sets you on a new course.

And the wonderful thing is, each new step can change the course.  It can point you somewhere new, it can retrace your old steps.  Each step comes with a whole world of future steps ahead of you.  All those earlier steps will lead to each of this year's steps.

My year of steps doesn’t just involve work.  Every year my family changes and grows.  The kids get older…my husband and I do as well.  New jobs, new family members, new homes…the entire family takes steps into the unknown, but there’s a reassurance that when we take those steps, the rest of the family is there, supporting us…stepping with us!  It's amazing to see my kids grow…to see my steps, my husband's steps influence their steps.  

Step.

One leads to the next, and the one after that, and...

As 2014 begins and unfolds, I hope to use the word Step as a reminder…as a focal point.  Sometimes I can get so focused on my goals that I don’t take time to enjoy the steps that take me there.

I want to relish my 10,000 steps each day.  Whether they’re steps for pleasure or steps with a purpose.  I plan to celebrate for a moment every day when my bracelet buzzes, letting me know I've reached that goal.

But I have other goals as well.

I’ve got new book ideas that need developed, step by step.  I want to really pay attention to the journey from idea to book to bookshelf.  If you think about it, it’s a rather miraculous thing…taking the kernel of an idea and nurturing it along until it’s a book.

I want to really enjoy and focus on the steps my family and friends takes.  New members, new jobs, new homes.  Getting older.  Each of those steps are made easier knowing we all are there supporting each other.  Caring about each other.  Loving each other.

So 2014 is my year of the Step!  You don't have to see the finish line to get to the end…you just have to start, you have to take a step.  That's my plan.  I'll finish new books…one step at a time.  I'll watch my family and friends change and grow…one step at a time.  It's going to be an exciting year!

As 2013 comes to a close, I hope you take a moment to reflect, to count your blessings and that the new year brings you new challenges, new steps…new glee!  And I hope some of you find your own word for the year and when you do, I hope you embrace it and take your own first step!

Holly

Spruced Up: A Maid in LA Holiday Novella

Thanks to everyone who's picked up the first two books in my Maid in LA series, Steamed and Dusted!  Quincy Mac is a character who I dreamed up years ago.  I loved the idea of a normal woman thrown into extraordinary circumstances.  In Steamed she accidentally cleans (and steams) a murder scene, and in Dusted, her business is at risk because an employee (Theresa, the worst employee ever!) has dusted an expensive work of art and broke it.

But neither of those mysteries has prepared Quincy for her Christmas mystery, Spruced Up…she's going home to Erie, PA for Christmas!  

Spruced Up is on sale at Amazon this week!  

Now, this is not a huge mystery…maybe that's not the best thing for a writer to admit, especially a mystery writer! LOL But it does move Quincy's character forward, and I think it's a heartwarming holiday story.  I wanted to be sure that Quincy doesn't become one of those amateur sleuths who falls into giant mystery after giant mystery.  I also didn't want her tripping over dead bodies in every book—I think that if you're finding a dead body around every corner, your party invitations might fall off quickly!  With Quincy, I wanted to portray a real woman.  She's got teen sons, so there's rarely any food in her refrigerator.  She comes from a family of physicians and has always felt as if she was a slight disappointment to them. She frets and worries and is a mom, a friend and a daughter. She worries about her 'baby-pooch' and about her romance.  She frets about her friends and her family.  She excited about going home for Christmas and seeing family and old friends!

I hope you enjoy Quincy's homecoming and holiday!  

Holly

PS A Valley Ridge Christmas is out this month, too!  I guess I'm in a Christmas state of mind!

An Interview with Holly Jacobs

Quincy Mac, A Maid in LA, budding writer and amateur sleuth interviews her author, Holly Jacobs

QM: Hi, Holly.  You know that having a fictional character interview you is... Well, it's a little nuts.  And take it from me, I know nuts.  I've been watching my business partner, Tiny, go a bit more insane every day as she gets ready for her wedding.

HJ: I have four kids…they assure me on a regular basis that I’m a bit…uh, unique in my thought processes.  Anyway, thanks for taking time away from your busy writing and cleaning schedule to help me out with this rather unique interview, Quincy.

QM: Us writers have to stick together, though I feel a bit full-of-myself referring to myself as a writer.

HJ: So do I most days. Sometimes I pinch myself. It’s such a dream to spend my days telling stories I love, and creating characters I love—you’re one of those.

QM: Well, thank you! I guess my first question would have to be, after writing so many romances, why try your hand at mysteries?

HJ: Well, you do have a bit of romance in your books.

QM: (Blushing slightly) Yes, I do…thanks for that.

HJ: You’re welcome.  And I started out writing comedic romances for Harlequin Duets.  Even now that I tell far more emotional books, I think my humor comes through.  So telling a funny story about a maid who accidentally cleans a murder scene wasn’t much of a stretch.

 

QM: Speaking of stretching…did you have to give me three boys and the stretch-marks to show for it?  Not to mention the baby-pooch.

HJ: Hey, I just write it as I see it.  And I prefer writing real women—

QM: Real fictional women?  That does seem like a bit of an oxymoron, doesn’t it?

 

HJ: Hey, I’m a rebel.  But seriously, when I hear from a reader who tells me that a character felt so real they felt like she was an old friend…Well, that’s a big compliment.  Probably the biggest compliment a reader can give me.  Look at it this way, you’re like the Velveteen Rabbit.  More real because of your baby-pooch and stretch-marks.

QM: Let’s just say we can agree to disagree on the baby-pooch.  And onto my next question…Why a maid?

HJ: I really enjoy having characters who work at real jobs.  A barista.  A farmer.  A librarian.  I’ve written cops, nurses, store owners and stay-at-home-moms.  Again, it has a lot to do with that realness we were just talking about.  I know a lot of nurses and cops…but very few billionaires. 

QM: Most of your books are set in your hometown, Erie, PA.  Why set my story in LA?

HJ: Well, you are from Erie, and you’re going home in your Christmas novella, Spruced Up, so I do have that local connection I love to do.  But given the circumstances of Mr. Banning’s death, you sort of had to be based in LA.  I mean, I think Erie has just about everything, but I don’t think we have any Mortie winning writers here.  And in Dusted, having those Lifestyles-of-the-Rich-and-Famous clients using your cleaning services…well, that worked well in LA, too.

QM: This isn’t really part of the interview, but just something I’ve wanted to say, thanks for writing me as a strong female character who doesn’t wait to be saved, but rather saves herself.

HJ: I know you have three sons, Quince, but I have one son and three daughters.  I like to write strong female characters for my girls. Capable women who can kick butt and save themselves if they need to, but can also open themselves up to someone else.  I think the best relationships have partners who take turns being the saver and the savee.

QM: So in Steamed, I solved a murder.  In Dusted, I figured out who stole a bunch of artwork and replaced it with forgeries.  In those two books, I’ve made friends, dealt with family and helped Tiny get through a wedding.  What’s next?

HJ: Well, as I mentioned, in November’s novella, Spruced Up, you’re heading home to Erie for Christmas.  And your mom and dad’s medical practice has a bunch of supplies that have gone missing.  You’re going to figure out who’s taking them and why.  And there might be a special holiday moment.

QM: No murders or whack-a-doodles with guns in this one?

HJ: None.  That doesn’t mean you’re not going to have your work cut out for you.

QM: Well, anytime I go home, it’s work.  It’s hard to be the family black sheep.  I mean, everyone’s a doctor.  Everyone. Except me.

HJ: And your uncle.

QM: Yeah. Although things have been a bit better with my mom since her last visit to LA.  Maybe this trip will be different. 

HJ: Maybe. But I’m not saying.

QM: If it’s not, I’ll know who to blame.

HJ: Hey, I just write it as I see it. 

QM: Well, thanks for letting me do the interview.  I still think people are going to think you’re nuts.

HJ: Hey, I’m the one that delivers them Monday Glee on a regular basis.  I like Mondays.  If that wasn’t their first clue that I might be a bit different, then maybe…

QM: Maybe they need to read a few more mysteries so they can pick up on the clues better!

HJ: That was blatant, Quincy.

QM: My author didn’t write me as subtle.

HJ: Okay, I guess it’s my turn to say, I hope you’ll check out Quincy’s first two books:

Steamed:A Maid in LA Mystery

Dusted: AMaid in LA Mystery

And that you’ll watch for Spruced Up, her Christmas novella.  It should be out in November.

Thanks everyone!

Holly (and Quincy)