What-Iffing

This week, Susan and I were asked what do we do if we get stuck on a manuscript. We have two magic words we both use. "What if?" They can lead us out of a dead zone. They create a path to the story.

But those two words are magic for more than writers. I think everyone needs to ask themselves, "What if?" on occasion.

For instance, I've always loved pottery. I've got a nice little collection. I asked myself, "What if I took a class?" (PS The answer to that question is, if I took a class I'd fall in love with making pottery.) Or what if I take the road less traveled? What if I try something new in the kitchen? What if read more about...(fill in any particular subject)? What if I volunteer my time? What if...

I've talked a lot about continuing to learn and try new things. What If? can lead to all of roads less traveled and roads never even considered.

So even if you're not a writer, try a bit of What If? soon! Or maybe you've already been What-Iffing? I'd love to hear about it!

Holly

PS Don't ever miss a Trippin' with Holly and Susan.  Follow me on YouTube.

PSS Here's my newest series. If you've already read Crib Notes, I'd really appreciate a review at your favorite online book site!

OUT NOW: Crib Notes

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Nook

Kobo

Preorder: A Special Kind of Different

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Preorder: Homecoming
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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!

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

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Find my books at:

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In Erie, you can find my books on the shelf at Werner Books! Stop in, check them out and tell them I said hi!

On Writing: Series

On Writing: Series

I'm not teaching a workshop on writing series next weekend at Valley Forge RWA (I keep typing Valley Ridge...that was one of my series which actually does fit into this blog post LOL), but I have in the past.  It turns out that I've written a lot of series.  And most of them weren't intentional.

Yes, I'm an accidental series writer.

It all started with the first book I sold to Silhouette Romance.  Do You Hear What I Hear? was the story of a mother with a hearing impaired daughter.  I set it on Perry Square...a real area in Erie.  Only I added my own businesses to it (the real ones are lovely).  When I finished, I wondered what happened to everyone else on the Square and...well, I started thinking about a designer who needed legal help and a lawyer who needed a fiancé fast...and discovered A Day Late and a Bride Short.  Then...  Well, my Perry Square series ended up with eight books in it.  Erie even got their own royalty in that series. (I think my town has everything...except maybe royalty, so I gave us that! LOL)

That need to know what happens next...it's a writer's curse.  But it's a reader thing, too.  I can't tell you how many times a reader has asked for another book in a series.  More than that, specific character's stories.  It's one of the biggest compliments a writer can get.

I wrote Pip's story, Carry Her Heart, then I wrote another book, These Three Words, set in that same "world."  And then, in the middle of the book, I found Pip's daughter come into the chapel and cry and I realized that after I left Pip and Ned in their happily-ever-after, something happened.  I needed to know what...so I wrote Hold Her Heart.

I work to make every book can stand alone, but readers can frequently tell that there's another book in the series.  I love when someone discovers there are more books and feel glee. 

So about writing....One of the biggest writing tools an author has is the question, What If?  Those two words have become every book I've written.  But in addition to that question, another questions that fuels my writing is What Next? That's the question that fuels my series.

Back to Pip...here's the thing, every book I write has held the promise of the happily-ever-after.  Even when something hard happens in their life.  I like to think in that way, my fiction represents real life.  Bad things happen...but we can find our way back to happy.

I think that's why I can move from Romantic Comedy to my more emotional Romance + stories, to Cozy Mysteries.  All of them answer that What If question and many answer What Next.  And every single one of them has a happily-ever-after.

Holly

PS I have a handy-dandy list of series in order on my website here Holly's Series.

PS It's a sales palooza week.  (Publishers just send me notices...I have no control most of the time and just like to pass them on.)

Hold Her Heart
Just One Thing
Everything But...series
Fairly Human