Romantic Times

I live in Erie, PA and when I found out that RT's annual convention was in Pittsburgh, I knew I was making the two hour trip south to go. I planned to go for the whole convention, but due to deadlines, only went for two days, but I planned to make them count!

So, I loaded up Floyd (for those who don't know, I name things....Floyd's my little orange Vibe), plugged in my iPod (who doesn't have a name) and due to my directional inabilities, my GPS (which is actually a function of my PDA, Minerva) and hit the road very early on Friday.

With Minerva's help, I made it into Pittsburgh and arrived at the hotel. I was in the overflow hotel, the Omni, and they were great. My room was ready at seven-thirty am. So after I stowed my luggage, I headed to the Hilton.

At ten, I had a panel workshop on series romance. It was fantastic (Anna DeStefano was the captain and did a great job putting it together)! One question threw me. Did we write category as a first choice, or was it a fallback. It was nicely asked. When I talked to the woman afterwards, she said she'd never really considered writing category romance until our panel, and after listening to us, she was quite enthusiastic about the idea! Anyway, to answer the question...writing series romance was my first choice! I originally wanted Duets, and have been fortunate to continue writing for Harlequin since that line closed!

Right after the two-hour panel, it was the awards lunch! I sat with two award winners...Molly O'Keefe who won the Reviewers Choice for best Superromance of '07, and Hannah Howell, who was honored as a romance pioneer! And my book, The House on Briar Hill Road won the Reviewers Choice Award for best Harlequin Everlasting of '07!! This was truly a book of my heart, and my first non-humor/comedy, so the honor was so very appreciated.

The rest of the day was a blur. I met a bunch of friends. I ended up at Heather Graham's Vampire Ball, sitting with Kerrilyn Sparks. I didn't get a pic. Here's the thing, I ALWAYS take my camera, and so very rarely forget to pull it out and take the pics! SIGH. But trust me, she looked lovely!

The next day, I bummed around with more friends until the booksigning. It was a blast! So many old friends (old in terms of length of time I've known them, not that they're old!) and new friends stopped by!

Afterwards, I went out to lunch with friends...well, two lunches with two friends! LOL I really wanted to stay for the Dorchester party (I heard wonderful things afterwards) but Floyd, Minerva and I were beat. So we headed back to Erie! But as always, Romantic Times was a blast! Next year it's in Florida. Sounds good to me, though Floyd and Minerva will be depressed that I don't need them to come, too! LOL

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I've got five books coming out, starting in August, so this is a busy travel season for me! I was in New York in March, now RT in April. I'll be at Cleveland RWA's conference in May, then a family vacation to DC and Williamsburg, VA in June, and finally RWA's National Conference in San Francisco in July and August.

So, how about you? Any travel plans for the summer season??

Holly

PS I added the "**" because the formatting kept skewing and I couldn't make paragraphs stick. Just wanted to break up the read!

On Briar Hill...not just a book, but a song!

I did a booksigning yesterday, and one of the people I spoke to said, you must have the coolest job ever. And I confessed, I do. I mean, I get to make up stories. Most of the time, my stories are comedies, and I'll confess, they make me laugh. So, really, sitting at home and laughing at the people in my head all day...it's a great gig. I love my job!

My current release, however, didn't make me laugh while I was writing it. It's my first serious book. The House on Briar Hill Road deals with a family who's coping with breast cancer, and with loss. It was a hard book to write, in and of itself, but it was made harder because it hit so close to home. We lost my mother-in-law to breast cancer in 2004. It was the most difficult time my family ever went through. Dort was not only my mother-in-law, she was a friend...the heart of our entire family. Writing this book was in so many ways a tribute to her.

I've already had some beautiful letters about the story, and they've meant the world to me. A few days ago, I got one of the coolest tributes ever...someone wrote a song, based on the book. On Briar Hill. It's a great song in its own right, but it's even cooler if you know the story. She really captured the feel of the book. If you want to hear it for yourself, I've posted it on my site. You can go to http://www.hollyjacobs.com/THOBHR.html ...it's about halfway down the page, right over the Harlequin link.

My mother-in-law was so much more than just my husband's mom. She was a friend. She was always there, believing in me, cheering me on, willing to prop me up when I needed it. I hope I did the same for her. I was so lucky to have her in my life. Everyone needs a someone like that in their lives...someone who's always there. Who is that person in your life? The person you turn to when you need a shoulder? The one you can always count on? Sometimes we forget to think about them, because they are always there. It's nice to take a minute to share these special people...so please, share with us, and tell us about your special person.

Holly

The Moments--an online, eHarlequin short story

I'm so excited that my first book, THE HOUSE ON BRIAR HILL ROAD, is released in just a few weeks. It's a book about the Conway family. About their ups and downs...about their pulling together and sadly, about them falling apart.

I was thrilled when I was afforded a chance to do a short story for eHarlequin.com. "The Moments" is tied to my October book and it starts today. It features the main characters' from the book's daughter, Livie. At the end of THOBHR, Livie said, "My mother always said life was made up of the small moments and it was punctuated by the big ones." I knew that sentence had to be the theme of her story. But how to present a broad scope to her romance in a short story? It was a challenge, and really pushed me as a writer. But I think the story shows those moments. You can find it at https://www.eharlequin.com/article.html?articleId=1299

What about you? What sort of moments do you treasure? Not the big, found-the-love-of-your-life, got-married, had-kids sort of moments. But rather the read-the-Sunday-paper-together, walk-the-dog-in-the-evenings sort. (Uh, those are two of my favorite kinds of little moments with my dh, btw! LOL)

So, what about you?

Holly

"The Moments" 9-10-07 through 10-29-07

THE HOUSE ON BRIAR HILL ROAD, 10/07

Got Covers??

I love getting new covers. It's like Christmas, when you open an package to discover if you have a new toaster, or a fabulous new piece of jewelry. With covers, I tend to open an email, download a file and hit, open file...then watch as the cover appears. Most of my covers I've at least liked, a few not-so-much, and every now and again I get one I absolutely adore.

Well, I've recently received my October and December covers...and adore them both! It's like hitting a lottery...well, not quite, but almost like hitting the lottery. Want to see???

The House on Briar Hill Road is my October Harlequin Everlasting Love, and Everything But a Groom is my December Avalon, it's the first book in my Everything But... trilogy. And they're both beautiful.

Yes, I've got covers...and I'm thrilled with both. It's the lottery and Christmas all wrapped up in one!

Hope you all are having a wonderful summer!

Holly