Holly Jacobs' October 2014 Newsletter

Christmas in Cupid Falls A new town. A new legend. A new Christmas romance Happy Fall!  This is my favorite season! Everything smells of apples and cinnamon, and the weather is cooler, so I’m back in my jeans and sweaters!  And while fall might mean things are slowing down, things are moving in high gear for me! If you’re not on any of my social media, you might have missed my first movie about my trip to the Romance Writers’ Conference in San Antonio this year. You can check it on YouTube.  I know, you can hear me say the word ‘three’ a couple times.  I’ve said it before…Spielberg isn’t nervous!  I’ll try to get better! Okay, onto book news!! Last year's, A Valley Ridge Christmas won a Holt Medallion Award and I found out on Monday that it won a Golden Leaf Award! This month, the first book in a new series hits the stands.  Here are a few things to know…there really is a statue of George Washington in Waterford, PA.  Wait, I make movies now.  I can show you! YouTube Yes, I can hear you agreeing, Spielberg isn’t nervous. I'm so excited to introduce you to Cupid Falls…but let me give it a shot: Christmas in Cupid Falls by Holly Jacobs October 21 (TODAY!!) A new town. A new legend. A new Christmas romance. Kennedy Anderson loves Cupid Falls, Pennsylvania. Ever since moving there as an orphaned teenager, she’s worked hard to carve out a place for herself in the tight-knit community. Now she’s mayor and owner of the town’s flower shop. But she also has a big secret…and months to figure out how to break the news to the father. Lawyer Malcolm Carter has always been the golden boy of Cupid Falls—until he discovers the one night he spent with the girl-next-door turned out to have a lifetime of consequences. Now, the mother of his child wants nothing to do with him, and he’s gone from someone who is admired to persona non grata as the town rallies behind its mayor. Malcolm has always known what he wants. But now as Christmas approaches, he’ll have to discover a way to show Kennedy that she could find the only thing she’s ever really wanted—a true home—with him. Convincing her will take the help of Cupid Falls’ quirky residents…and a bit of holiday magic. My other big news  all four Maid in LA Mysteries are now available in one boxed set for 50% of what they’d all cost individually!  The bundle includes: 1. Steamed  2. Dusted  3. Spruced Up: Novella 4. Swept Up  Harlequin has reissued Unexpected Gifts this Christmas in a new volume called The Baby Gift.  If you never read this first book in my Whedon, PA series, you've got another chance! The story was inspired by all the years I volunteered with our local Teen Parenting program!

Your text caption goes here Finally, I want to thank everyone for the amazing support for Just One Thing.I know that a few book clubs are featuring it…locally I’m a guest speaker for a couple!  Thank you everyone who bought, read it and reviewed it.  Thank you everyone who passed it on to friends and relatives.  Thank you…well, just thanks!  I’m so lucky to have so many people who’ve followed my books from comedy, to sweet romance, to comedic mysteries, to books like Just One Thing which is women’s fiction-romance (I’m using the term WOMANCE.  Yep, you heard it here first).  I am so very lucky! Holly Would you like my newsletter?  Subscribe to the mailing list * indicates required Email Address * First Name Last Name Email Format html text

Teaser Tuesday…Christmas in Cupid Falls

Christmas in Cupid Falls

‪#‎TeaserTuesday‬ Christmas in Cupid Falls (There's an Easter Egg in this scene…something that really happened to me.)

“The legend? I know you’ve heard the stories,” she said. “Everyone in town has.” She remembered when she first came to live with her aunt. There’d been an article in the paper talking about the legend. She’d been enchanted by it. She remembered cutting out the piece and was sure she still had it somewhere in her desk.

Malcolm nodded. “Yes, of course I’ve heard the legend.”

“I know that Waterford is understandably proud our first president spent time there. And I like to think that Washington indirectly had a hand in bringing our young hero here, which means Washington helped found Cupid Falls.”

Malcolm laughed. “So that old story is now a legend. The word legend does seem to give it more authority. Did you know that Pap fell in love with my grandmother at the falls?”

“No.” She’d heard a lot of family stories from Pap and Val, but not that one.

Malcolm nodded. “They were seniors in high school and had a senior skip day. Pap assured me that although it wasn’t an official day off for the seniors, all the teachers and parents knew about it and didn’t try to stop it. I think he was afraid I’d skip school and use that as justification.”

“What, you?” she asked with mock shock. “Malcolm Carter the Fourth would never do something like skip school. I don’t think you ever got in trouble in school.”

“And you did?” he countered with a grin.

“Yes. I got a detention our senior year.”

She could see her answer surprised him, then his eyes narrowed with suspicion. “For what?”

She dropped her voice to a stage whisper. “I’ve tried to keep it quiet because I don’t want it to impact my political career, but I’ll trust you with my secret . . . I took my shoes off in gym class. It was the first warm day of spring and we had gym class outside. Everything was so green. I think anyone who didn’t go barefoot should have had detention.”

She paused as a group of people came over to talk to her. They assured her that everything was beautiful and thanked her, and they all shot obligatory dirty looks at Malcolm.

He didn’t seem to notice. When they left, he took her arm again and she didn’t complain. She probably should have, but she didn’t.

“You are a wild, wild, barefoot woman,” he said.

“It was my wildest high school moment.” She laughed at the memory. “So finish the story about how Pap met your grandmother.”

“He’d been dating another girl for a while, and my grandmother had a steady beau from middle school on. But they’d both broken up with their significant others around the same time. They met by the falls for the senior skip day. He swears he looked at her as if he’d never seen her before. She said the same. And they both used to say that that was the day they really met, and after that day, they knew.”

“That’s lovely.” Since the moment that she’d heard that story of George Washington’s man, she’d loved the idea that the falls had some magical power. She liked it even more now, thinking of Pap and his wife meeting there.

“Yes, lovely.” Malcolm was looking at her as he said the word.

The look he gave her was penetrating, as if he’d seen something about her he’d never seen before. It made Kennedy feel vulnerable, and she didn’t like the sensation. So she tried to steer the conversation away from the falls. “Pap said he’s bringing his new lady to the dance,” she blurted out. “Will it bother you?”

She’d just thrown Pap under the bus, but Malcolm stopped staring at her. He looked surprised for a moment, as if weighing what she’d said, then he slowly shook his head. “No, I don’t think it will bother me. He loved my grandmother and he’s mourned her a long time. And he’s lost my mom as well. He deserves to find whatever happiness he can.”

With that, her arm still tucked under his, they walked up Main Street side by side.

Kindle Love Stories, First Blush

The #MondayGlee continues!  Christmas in Cupid Falls was a First Blush pick this week!!

Holly's New Newsletter

I had some issues with people not seeing images with my old newsletter system, so I'm moving it.  To celebrate, I'm running a new ‪#‎Contest…if you're already signed up to my newsletter, you're entered. 

If you're not, sign up for my newsletter in October and you're entered.

Prize: A Collection of Holly Jacobs' Holiday Romances.

"With a name like Holly, I do Christmas…a lot."

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Kindle Love Stories Weekly Deals

My dogs, Ethel Merman and Ella Fitzgerald, are thrilled that they are once again in the PUParazzi's sites since the book they cover modeled for, Everything But a Dog, and the first book in the Everything But series, Everything But a Groom, are Kindle Love Stories Weekly Deals! 

They're only $1.99

PS Nana Vancy makes a cameo in October's new release, Christmas in Cupid Falls!!

Teaser Tuesday, Christmas in Cupid Falls

‪#‎TeaserTuesday‬: In Christmas in Cupid Falls, the heroine has a collection of books on the shelves that were her comfort reads growing up. 

"She dusted and couldn’t help but run her fingers along old favorites. They were all old hardbacks. Grace Livingston Hill was Aunt Betty’s favorite. The copies were old and the slipcovers were yellow, but she remembered reading The Spicebox and Miranda. L. M. Montgomery’s Green Gables books. Louisa May Alcott. Gene Stratton-Porter. She pulled out A Girl of the Limberlost. Oh, how she’d loved that book."

Do you have a comfort read? I know you're shocked, but a lot of her comfort reads are mine!

Holly

Christmas in Cupid Falls, by Holly Jacobs

Welcome to Cupid Falls, Pennsylvania…well, actually, this is Waterford, PA.  But it's where my October release, Christmas in Cupid Falls opens.  In Waterford.

Excerpt:

The Legend of Cupid Falls, Pennsylvania

To the south of Erie, Pennsylvania—south of the Great Lake that shares a name with the city—is Falls Creek. It is bigger than most creeks, but not quite large enough to be considered a river. It runs through field and forest to a ridge, carved millennia ago by a glacier. There, it plunges over the edge, falling to a hollowed-out swimming hole before becoming a creek again and meandering on its way.

Local legend has it that when George Washington visited the nearby town of Waterford in 1753, one of his retinue was touring the area. The locals took him to the falls, and there he met a farmer’s daughter. He married her later that same year and they settled near the creek. Years later, their daughter went to the falls with a group of friends and noticed that one of the boys in the group might be more than a friend. They married later that same year. And so it went, year after year, decade after decade, couple after couple, until the small waterfall, which in actuality was little more than a creek tumbling over a small cliff, became known as Cupid’s Falls.

When a town grew up a few miles away, the residents named it Cupid Falls as an homage to their waterfall.

And to this day, it is said that when two people meet at the falls and declare their love, they are destined for a long, happy romance . . .

Even if that’s not what they went to the falls looking for.

As for the movie…well, I'm sure Spielberg isn't worried! LOL But I hope it gives you a taste of what small town Pennsylvania is like!

Holly

Lake Erie, PA

My dh took me out to a couple North East Wineries, then to dinner at Freeport Restaurant. Of course, we had to go down to the lake.



I'm still playing with videos (and I'm working on one for Christmas in Cupid Falls' release!).  So, here's a short clip.  It doesn't matter what season it is, or what time of day…Lake Erie is beautiful!

Christmas in Cupid Falls, Holly Jacobs

‪#‎TeaserTuesday‬ Christmas in Cupid Falls, Holly Jacobs, 10/14

“Arf, arf,” Clarence Harding barked as he entered Kennedy Anderson’s shop minutes after she’d opened for the day. He pulled off his thick knit cap and exposed an ice-grey head of hair. “Mornin’, Mayor.”

“Good morning, Clarence. And it’s Cupid’s Bowquet. Bo—long O. Bow, like bow and arrow—Cupid’s bow and arrow. It’s not bow, short O, like powwow.”

For more than three decades, Kennedy’s aunt had owned the flower shop and it had been Betty’s Flowers. But Aunt Betty had been gone three years. This was Kennedy’s shop now, and she thought it was a great marketing strategy to play off the town’s name. Last year she’d realized that when you lived in Cupid Falls, Pennsylvania, Cupid’s Bowquet was a perfect name for a flower shop.

“It’s a dumb name, Mayor, if you don’t mind me saying.”

Kennedy did mind, but she was enough of a businesswoman not to say so. “What brings you in today, Clarence?”

“Seems I’ll be needing to send the old ball and chain some flowers. I got in late and ran over her new frog.”

Joan Harding collected frogs. Lots of frogs. They were everywhere inside and outside of her house. She even had some plastic bullfrogs she’d nailed into her giant maple tree and proudly told everyone they were tree frogs.

Clarence pulled off his gloves and stuffed them in his heavy winter coat’s pocket. “Course, I don’t know how she could tell I ran one over. I hid the pieces and there must be about a million frogs around now. Plus we’ve got all this snow . . .” He shrugged, as if figuring out the mystery of his wife was too much for him.

Clarence was a regular. It seemed he was always doing one thing or another to annoy Joan, but crushing a frog called for more than just some flowers. “It just so happens I might have something to get you out of the doghouse.”

“Froghouse is how I put it,” he grumbled. “And I seem to be in it more than any man should be.”

Despite his less-than-endearing endearment ball and chain, Kennedy had seen Clarence and Joan together. She knew they fit. They worked. Clarence might get in trouble for running over frogs, but the Hardings were one of those couples that no one could imagine not being together.
She liked to think her small flower shop helped to keep them that way . . . together.

“One of the vendors I order from had these, and I thought of you when I ordered it.” Kennedy reached under the counter and pulled out a small box and slid it across the counter toward the elderly gentleman.
Clarence opened the lid and pulled out a frog planter. “Now, this is just the ticket. The perfect thing to get me out of trouble. You’ll stick some plant or something in it for her?”

“Definitely,” Kennedy assured him. Clarence was the kind of customer she liked to think of as job security. “Do you have anything in mind?”

He handed her the planter. “Whatever you want, Mayor. Bill me, okay?”

“Sure thing, Clarence. I’ll deliver it this afternoon.”

“Maybe I’ll be out of the froghouse before dinner then. See ya later,
Mayor.”

Christmas in Cupid Falls, coming in October!

Contest to celebrate its release at:

https://www.facebook.com/HollyJacobsAuthorOfficial/posts/844582078894158

Book club Questions for Just One Thing, by Holly Jacobs

Book club questions for 

Just One Thing, 
by Holly Jacobs:

I’ll confess, I’ve never developed bookclub questions before, but since a couple people have already asked, I thought I’d give it a shot.  One friend pointed out that as the author I had a unique take on what I hoped readers took away from the book. 

I hated to disappoint her, but I don’t have any particular point I want anyone to take away from the story.  When I write the story, I create and control it.  It’s my universe and I’m the only one playing in it. 

But when I send the book to a publisher, I lose some control…my editor joins in my vision and helps me refine it.  Then when a book is published, I lose all control.  As a reader, you bring your unique vision…your worldview to the story.  That view colors the book for you.  And as the author, I am totally okay with that. 

I used to argue with my English teacher (who spent a great deal of time talking about what any particular author was trying to say in their book), that sometimes a story is just a story.  That sometimes a writer was just telling that story with no particular ‘message’ in mind. 

As a writer, I would add that even if a writer does have a message in mind, what the reader takes from the book is up to them.  It’s unique.  And if a reader picks up Just One Thing a decade from now, what they take away might bear no resemblance to what they take away the first time round.

 

So as the author, I hope you enjoyed Lexie and Sam’s journey in Just One Thing.  And if you found some meaning in it, well, that’s good, too!

I'm parking these questions here because it will be easy to reference.  And if you are reading Just One Thing with your book club…thank you!! 

~Holly 

 

Book club Questions:   

1.     What did you think when you first saw the title, Just One Thing?  Did your thoughts about the title change after you’d finished the book?

2.      One could argue that Lexie and Sam’s friendship begins, gradually, in an unlikely place: a casual tavern. What relationship have you had that started out in an “unlikely place”? What and where was that place?

3.      For Lexie, The Corner Bar becomes a kind of home, a surprising second home. In your life, what places have, perhaps to your surprise, become a second home?

4.      At what moment/event/catalyst in the book do you think Sam truly transitioned from being Lexie’s “Monday-night friend” to more than a friend?

5.      Lexie talks about the potent smell of Gracie’s room. In your life, what smells do you associate with a particular person or life event or time period?

6.      In Sam’s life, it’s his friend Grid who reminds him how tough Sam is and urges Sam to do the work it takes to walk again. For you, what person has really urged you to pick up the pieces in a particular situation? As Lexie so beautifully put it, who has made you feel brave?

7.      In Just One Thing, there are so many threads of how we become estranged from one another and how we reconnect. What family or friends have you reconnected with? In your life, what’s your favorite feel-good reconnection story?

8.      What is the significance of Lexie’s tapestry to her?  What did it mean to you, the reader?

9.      What is your take-away from Just One Thing?

(Hopefully) Fun FAQs For Bookclubs and other readers:

~A lot of movies have ‘Easter Eggs’ in them…small inside jokes.  Well, so do most of my books.  Just little tidbits friends and family might recognize.  The fact the book was primarily set on Mondays was something I did for my Facebook/Twitter/Google+ friends.  You see, I like Mondays.  (I work out of the house and after a chaotic weekend Monday morning comes round and the family goes to school or work and the house is mine.)  On Mondays I tend to post something about my Monday Glee.  So the fact the story took place mainly on Mondays was my shout-out to my online friends! 

~The setting for Just One Thing is a fictional town in Western PA.  They say writers write what they know. Well, we have an eighteen acre camp outside Erie.  It’s wooded and has a spring and creek.  It’s surrounded by a thriving Amish community.  And yes, I could walk to a small town that has a church, post office and bar…and not much else.

~I have four kids and garage roofs were a particular fascination for them…and after all those years of yelling at them to get down off the roof before they broke something, I suppose I should thank them for the inspiration!

~The town Lapp Mill is mentioned in the first book in my new series, Christmas in Cupid Falls (out in October).  Both Lapp Mill and Cupid Falls are fictional and in my head they’re both somewhere between Waterford and Union City, PA.  If you’re from the area, yes, it’s a tight squeeze.

#omgHollyJacobs

For years, I've bribed friends (and strangers) into coming up to me at book signings and yell, OMG it's Holly Jacobs.  I know, I'm shameless!  So I went to #RWA14 to promote Just One Thing…and took it a step further! LOL 



I had some Tweeting about it with #omgHollyJacobs!  I kept saying, "I'm trending," though Twitter experts assured me 12 posts didn't make a trend! LOL



Really, I had such a good time!  Thanks to everyone who joined in my glee!



Holly

Conference Tips #2

My Most Important Tip:

Okay, over the last couple days I've posted a lot of tips for those going to RWA's Conference in San Antonio next week. I think a lot were tips that could apply to anyone in their every day life. This last one is the most important one. And it is definitely one that applies to everyday life as well! If you're going, have fun! I'll be at the signing, so stop over and say hi!

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

On that same note (see previous post), I frequently try to lend a shoulder and moral support to writers with editor/agent appointments. 

More than once I've had someone who's worried about some ALWAYS/NEVER advice. For instance, once someone had prepared little notecards because she was so nervous about her appointment. She gone to a workshop where the speaker said, NEVER use notecards at an editor/agent appointment. An editor/agent will NEVER ask to see a manuscript from someone who used a notecard. ARGH.

Just in case you have an appointment, I've done an informal poll and the editors and agents who take appointments all said they don't care if you use notecards. What they really want is to hear something short and to the point about your story. To be honest, they all really WANT to love your story. That's why they're there, to find new talent. So take a deep breath and do your best. There's no ALWAYS or NEVER about how you do it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've met so many newer writers who come out of one workshop or another feeling that however they've been working is 'wrong.' SIGH. Here's some very good conference advice…if you go to a workshop where the speaker uses the words, 'always' and 'never' a lot, take anything they say with a grain of salt.

Susan Gable and I have done a workshop together (and occasionally solo) called, "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Rules." A better title might be, "Your Rules Might Not Apply to Me and Vice Versa," but that's a bit long and cumbersome. Anyway, you get the idea. Own your own creative process. And realize that what works for you today might not work for you tomorrow.

Remember, what works for you might not work for the next person.

Uh, that's not really a Conference Tale. It's more of a lecture, but hey, I'm a mom. Sometimes lectures just happen!

(A funny aside, I was never a physical discipliner. I 'talked' or lectured the kids when there was an issue. On occasion, they begged me to become a spanker! LOL)

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

I already mentioned that if you see someone at the conference sitting alone say hi…ask to join them, or invite them to join you. I've met more lovely people that way! 

One trip, I was in the window seat when a man came and sat in the center seat. I smiled and said, hi. We had a great conversation. I mentioned a husband straight away and he mentioned a wife…so we were both sure it was just a chat. LOL He worked for the airline and I asked about his job. I love collecting those random bits about different jobs. I've frequently used them in books. As the plane landed, he said thank you…he flew all the time but hadn't talked to another passenger in years. I asked why he talked to me. He said…because you smiled.

So smile at people at conference! You never know when the next stranger you meet will turn out to be a best friend! 

Conference Stories

Hanging with Nora Roberts this morning!

I've hung with her before…not that she'd remember, but I do!

My 1st Harlequin party (1st RWA Conference) she walked into the hotel at the same time as me. She said, "Do you know where the Harlequin party's at?" I squeaked out, "No," in awe that one of my icons had spoken to me. Then she said, "Well, follow me." She found it and I walked into my first party with…Nora Roberts!

Fast forward a few years. I'm on an escalator with my suitcase…a not-moving escalator. So I'm walking down that is in essence a staircase. My bad leg had been wonky for a few weeks and it buckled. Now, I'm used to it and I caught myself, but not before Nora Roberts saw the buckle and positioned herself at the bottom of the stairs, her arms out, ready to catch me if I fell. Uh, between me and the suitcase, we'd have smooshed her, but she didn't seem worried.

It's nice when the women you admire are just as nice as you'd want, ushering a newbie into a party and trying to save a wonky-legged woman from a fall. That's the great thing about going to #RWA14, I'll get to see friends I don't see near enough, and I'll get to see/meet the women who inspired me to try my hands at writing!

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

I'm a big fan of Susan Elizabeth Phillips and at one conference, as I was sitting drinking coffee (I know, you're thinking…What, Holly drinking coffee?) she came over with her drink and asked if the seat next

to me was taken. I said no, please sit down.

(Note, even if one of my best friends had been sitting there and just got up for a moment, I was have asked SEP to sit down!)

I said, "Do you mind if I babble at you for just a minute?" She laughed and told me feel free. So I gushed about how much I loved her books…but I limited it to a minute or two gush. Of course, I spoke with the speed of an auctioneer to get it all in. When I finished my word-vomit praise, I said with very business like seriousness, "Now that the fan-gushing is over, I'll be Holly-your-fellow-writer and ask, How's your conference going?" She waited a pregnant pause and then burst out laughing. I of course joined her.

It's nice when your icons are not only nice, but have a great sense of humor and don't take their icon status (and themselves) too seriously!

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

I am not above bribing people. As a new, very unknown author (as opposed to my current status of older, known-to-a-select-few author), I wasn't above using humor to my advantage. I occasionally asked friends and readers I knew, or had just gotten to know, to come to my book signings and shout, "Oh, my god, it's Holly Jacobs," as if I was someone everyone should know. This worked well until I was out to lunch with a bunch of much better published and well know authors. Two particular "fans" shouted, from the back of the restaurant (I was in the front) "Oh, my god, is that Holly Jacobs?" with the appropriate fan-girl shriek. I looked at the bestselling authors I was with and said, "I can't control my fans," with a deadpan expression.

Moral, Be careful what you ask for. Or maybe it should be, Be careful WHO you ask! Okay, the real moral is, every stranger is a potential friend…and fake fan-girl shrieker!

Holly

Holly's Granola

I keep getting requests for this recipe…well, any recipe from me is a rather broad description.  This one in particular can take all kinds of tweaking toward your own personal taste.  I'm including the version I make most often here and some of the easy substitutes.

Anyway, I'm putting it here so it's easy to find in the future!


Holly's Easy Granola

1/2 cup oil

1 cup brown sugar (or honey or maple syrup…real maple syrup)

1/2 cup water

2 tsp vanilla

6 cups oats (I've been using a Bob's Mill multi grain cereal for part of the oats lately & love their thicker cut oats)

1 cup of soy flour & whole wheat flour (I vary the amounts and have never found a problem)

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 TB or more cinnamon

1 cup or more nuts (walnuts, pecans and almonds are my favors…I've been doing more nuts of late)

Place in two greased 9x13 pans and bake about 2 hours at 250, stirring every twenty minutes or so.

I frequently do an hour or so, turn the oven off and leave the granola in it as it cools.  Later in the day I come back and do the other hour or so.

When I serve it for breakfast, I do a quarter cup or so with about the same amount of yogurt and then fresh fruit or raisins.