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

Caregiving

Something Blue's Hank was a very difficult character for me to write. He's got dementia. It's early in the process, but he is losing pieces of himself slowly. Dementia and Alzheimers are such awful, hard processes. They're the long goodbye. I was my grandmother's caregiver for years and watched her lose pieces of herself, bit by bit. I watched the vibrant, force of nature who was my grandmother disappear leaving just a shadow of herself.  I later cared for a neighbor with dementia as well.

I really work to write honest—albeit optimistic—stories and I tried to bring a sense of honesty to Hank's character and the people who love him. And I hope that people realize that as awful as the disease is, there are moments of  mercy. Even at her worst, my grandmother knew we were hers. She couldn't name us, but she recognized us. I could talk about things in her past and she'd respond. The same thing with my neighbor. My kids grew up taking care of my grandmother. My minions did the same with our neighbor. We visited frequently. For years she lived on the other side of town, but her last few years, she lived in a home within walking distance. Every week, the minions would suit up in one of their superhero outfits and ride their scooters (you can't ride a bike with a cape) to visit. They high-fived and chatted with a lot of residents. And when we got to our neighbor's room, she knew we were hers. When people asked about our May-December friendship, I had a simple explanation. I was like a fungus. She caught me and couldn't get rid of me. That friendship is also a part of Something Blue. Hank has a much younger friend who becomes close to him. Lily's his fungus. 

Caregiving is a gift. It's hard, but the rewards are plentiful. I think my kids grew up better for caring for my grandmother, and I think the minions' lives were enriched as well.

I love writing a variety of characters. No matter their age or other specifics, they become friends. This book in particular feels like...well, home. I hope you find that in the entire Hometown Hearts series—a sense of home.

Thanks everyone for the support!

Holly

Here are links to the whole Hometown Hearts series!

 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—Newsletter

 Something Blue is out today!

Happy almost spring!

 Tallulah and I have been busy at the studio whenever I take a few hours away from my writing! It's a juggling act...but since I enjoy both writing and potting, both are fun! Speaking of fun, I hope you enjoyed Something Borrowed and you've  been looking forward to Something Blue. What's happening as the wedding draws closer?

It Takes More Than Time To Heal...It Takes Love.

Former marine Sebastian Bennington is coming home for a friend's wedding. He tries to pretend everything’s the same, but he can’t ignore the fact he’s not the same man who left. He can’t ignore the fact that there’s something not right with his grandfather. And he doesn’t trust his grandfather's young business partner, Lily Paul.

No one can be as happy and as good as Lily seems. She seems to know everything about him, but Sebastian can't get her to open up about anything. He's determined to figure her out, as long as their crazy attraction for each other doesn't get in the way....

Yes, sparks are flying between these two. Their story is out today at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and Apple Books.

Something Perfect is available now for pre-order.

The big wedding is finally going to happen...or is it?

That's about it for right now. For those who've asked, yes I have an Etsy shop for my pottery, but I'm working on setting up something on my website.  More to follow. Wishing you all a gleeful spring!

Thank you as always for all your support!

Holly

PS. Here are links to the whole Hometown Hearts series!

 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

Something Blue Available 3/21

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple Books

Preorder: Something Perfect 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

Louisa

 I just watched PBS's American Masters about Louise May Alcott. It was a lovely reminder of a writer I admire. I grew up with her books. As the only girl surrounded by brothers, I found the thought of sisters and that sisterly bond fascinating. I loved the connection of the entire family. They were bound together through hardships and triumphs. My childhood extended family was more disjointed than LMA's and I found her fictional March family a  an inspiration. When Himself and I had our own family, I wanted that March sense of connection. And since my kids have grown up to be my best friends, I'm happy to think we've managed it.

I was so lucky that Himself and my kids  supported my writing. I will confess, like LMA I worked to help support the family. And I told stories that were commercial, but also from my heart. One of my first critiques came from a professor I was studying with. I'd just sold a story and he was dismayed it was a romance. Rather than congratulating the sale, he sniffed made a derogatory remark about romance books. I've heard other remarks in the years since. People who feel that writing about family and love is somehow a lesser form of writing. I've always felt that writing about family and love is one of the truest, most real forms writing. At least for me, family is the center of my life. And family is the center of my writing. 

Listening to LMA's story, I realized that there's a sense of the March family in my Hometown Hearts series.  The Hometown Hearts Wedding trilogy starts this month with Something Borrowed followed by Something Blue in March and Something Perfect in May. Three women come together because of the death of a friend. That death binds them and they become more than friends, they become sisters. In Something Borrowed, a restless spirit finds herself settling uneasily into surrogate motherhood.  Four women...sisters of the heart. They face life as it comes, overcome loss and find love. Doing all that with sisters at your side...well there's a connection to LMA and the March family in Hometown Hearts. I don't know that I realized it until I was watching American Masters this morning.  But then all fiction is based on life. It's based on the writer's experiences. And since I grew up with the March family, it makes sense that it inspired my writing. I talk about Heinlein and Tolkien a lot, but writers like Alcott and LM Montgomery, Grace Livingston Hill (I have my grandmother's well-loved collection of her books), Louise Dickenson Rich and Helen Hoover... They've all influenced not only my writing, but my life.

Those are connections I'm proud of. My stories are stories of the heart that I'm proud of. And writing romance is something I'm proud of. I can't think of anything more central to life than family and love.  At least not for me.

I hope you'll check out Hometown Hearts and any of my backlist books.

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

HollysWoodsStudio