Cooks and Books—Making Christmas Candy w/ author, Holly Jacobs

I have a few things I talk about a lot on social media...books, cooking, gardening, and let's not forget glee!

Someone told me that I have way too much fun with life...I think there's a chance they're right.  LOL  We've made hard candy for the holidays for year.  It's absurdly simple, but a bit intimidating.  So I made a video.  I'm not sure what Julia Child would say, but I think this spells out the recipe.

I hope it helps while you're prepping for the holidays!

Wishing you a beautiful one that's filled with family, friends, good books...and a lot of glee!  Oh, and candy.  Wishing you some candy, too! 

Holly

PS My HollyDay read, Christmas in Cupid Falls, is on sale today!

Becoming Real...

I've always loved The Velveteen Rabbit and that idea of becoming "real."  As a writer, I've always endeavored to make all my characters are "real" as I can.  One of the biggest compliments a reader can give me is to tell me that they felt as if a character was a neighbor, a friend...they felt they were so real they could imagine that sort of connection.

And it's not just that I want readers to fall in love with a hero, or want to be friends with a neighbor, but I want them to feel that connection with my secondary characters.

I wrote Nana Vancy for the Everything But...Series.  In the first three books, she accidentally cursed her family to bad weddings.  After she broke the curse in the last book, readers kept asking for more. So, Nana Vancy tried her hand at matchmaking (alas she wasn't very good at it LOL) in three more books.  She found her calling matching dogs up with their real forever homes.  And in that capacity she has had a few cameos since that last book. She showed up in Christmas in Cupid Falls and even in Carry Her Heart.  

I was so thrilled this week to find out that Nana Vancy's first books, Everything But a Groom was included on Booklist's Top 101 Romances in the last 10 Years.

As a reader, do you have characters who've become "real" to you??

My first real crush was with a character from a number of Robert Heinlein's books, Lazarus Long.  He was snarky, wore kilts and had red hair.  What's not to love?

So how about you?

Holly

Little Things Give Me Glee

Carry Her Heart, 4/15

Last year I wrote an article about writers and creativity.  Most writers have other ways of expressing their creative soul...from knitting to my personal favorite basket weaving.  Okay, so I have another source of creativity that's giving me untold glee...hang on, here are some examples:

Carry Her Heart, 4/15

Christmas in Cupid Falls, Holly Jacobs

Just One Thing, Holly Jacobs

Those are my knees...and my favorite jeans.  My daughter made me throw them out, but now they'll live on forever!  I'm having so much fun using my pictures as a way of talking about things that are important to me, and my upcoming books.  I'm no photographer, and most of the pictures are ones I took with my phone, but it's so much fun taking an image and finding a way it relates to life or a book.  So a morning sunrise as I walk, or a sunset on the peninsula all become fodder for a new book.  And of course my dogs (Ethel Merman and Ella Fitzgerald) also frequently find their way into my pictures.

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It's not just books...

My dog Ella and my personal philosophy

I like to play with my photographs and some personal life philosophy and bits of glee... 

Outer Banks

Ella

Ethel

My backyard..and another good idea!

Ethel

My dogs, the peninsula, a trip to the outer banks...I've played with all of them!

Ethel is difficult to photograph, but sometimes I manage a good one!

Farm land outside Erie

This shot is a farm out near out camp.  It's about a half hour from Erie proper...somewhere between Union City, PA and Waterford, PA.  This is the area I set Just One Thing and Christmas in Cupid Falls in.

Ethel and Ella

We rescued Ethel and she came with...issues.  One of the biggest was separation anxiety. So we bought her a dog...Ella.  It's obvious that Ella takes her job seriously!

View on a morning walk

 So all these shots become ways to showcase a book, or something I believe.  Some are serious, some silly...but they basically are fun to play with!

I hope friends and readers online have fun with them as well!

~Holly

Presque Isle, PA

Ella

Presque Isle, PA

A 2,000 Mile Year

Walking from Erie, PA to Twin Falls, Idaho

Last year for Christmas, my husband bought me a gift I didn't ask for...heck, I didn't know anything about them.  He got me a FitBit.  He said he knew the tiny device would combine my love of techie things with my obsession  love of walking.  He was right.

I pick an annual word.  Something that I can look at and remind myself of what I want to work on that year.  2014's word was STEP.

And though I am not someone who makes New Year's resolutions, I decided to set the goal of trying for 10,000 steps a day for the whole year.

So every morning, I walk the dogs.  They do their dog stuff and I reflect on the day's work.  It's quiet in the morning.  I feel like the world is mine.  I think about what I wrote the previous day and try to decide where to write next.

Every evening, my husband goes for a walk with me.  We walk around the neighborhood and reconnect.  He tells me about his day at the office, I tell him about mine on the couch working on my WIP.

And every day this year, I've had at least 10,000 steps, which is about five miles a day.  Most days I go a lot farther.

I visited Mapquest a couple weeks ago and realized that if I'd walked west in a straightish line, all those steps and miles would have taken me to Twin Falls, Idaho.  It's not quite to the coast, but it's close.  Just over 2,000 miles.

So, what is my takeaway from my year of walking?
~I like walking, but I knew that going in to it.
~If you set a goal, you can reach it, one step at a time!
~Sometimes it's best not to look too far down the road.  It's easier to concentrate on the next step...the next mile.  The other 1,999 miles will sort themselves out.
~Walking is great exercise for your body...but it's also a great time to sort out things in your mind.

So as I approach the end of my year of walking, there's not just a good chance that I'll be walking again next year...it's a certainty.

Holly

PS. I have a couple coffee mugs that I'll be giving away to one of my newsletter subscribers at the end of the month, and a few more subscriber giveaways planned for 2015! Maybe you can share some coffee glee with me!  Not subscribed yet?  http://eepurl.com/4OPQL

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www.HollyJacobs.com 

Christmas in Cupid Falls

Just One Thing

Maid in LA Boxed Set

Carry Her Heart, Release 4/15

 

 It's snowing this morning…it really sets the stage for my newest release, Christmas in Cupid Falls!  Cupid Falls, PA is a fictional small town between two very really towns here in Northwestern PA, Union City and Waterford.  I love showcasing my region of the US.  I live in Erie proper.  Our city sits on the shore of the Great Lake that shares our name.  

Most of my books have been set in and around Erie.  I'm so excited to start a new series in a new town here.  As I wrote, I fell in love with Cupid Falls.  It's a small town with a big heart.  And I brought a readers' favorite in for a cameo…Nana Vancy from the Everything But… series.  In the final book of the series, Everything But a Dog, she adopts two dogs…dogs who were modeled after my dogs, Ethel and Ella.  They used my dogs as models for the cover of the book.  Yes, my dogs are cover models.  They've developed a rather overinflated view of their fame.  They keep waiting for the PUParazzi to start hounding them!  LOL

So here's a sneak peak at Nana Vancy's cameo in Christmas in Cupid Falls:

They reached the coatrack and all three of them pulled out their coats.

Nana Vancy smiled at him as she slipped hers on. She looked as pleased as if he’d aced a spelling bee. “Yes, my friends. I adopted Clara Barton and Madame Curie to help match Annabelle’s second cousin’s daughter by her third marriage once removed. Bela was so mad when I came home with the dogs, but they stole his heart. There have never been two dogs so loved. And when I decided that matchmaking people might not be my calling . . .”

Kennedy’s laughter couldn’t be contained at that. “From what you told me, there were a few glitches.”

Nana Vancy grinned as she nodded and admitted, “Just a few, kedvenc, but I did help bring together some very happy couples. But when I matchmaked Annabelle’s second cousin’s daughter by her third marriage once removed, who was a veterinarian—”

Kennedy laughed as she interrupted, “—with a man who was allergic to dogs.”

Nana Vancy said, “It all worked out, didn’t it? And I discovered my true calling was matching dogs to their forever homes. And with help from family and friends, I started Everything But a Dog Foundation.”
That was a long story made longer, Mal thought but didn’t say out loud as they walked out onto the sidewalk. He glanced to make sure that Kennedy had zipped up her parka against the cold.

She caught him at it and glared at him. He didn’t need the words to know she was telling him she could look after herself.

He sighed. This time it wasn’t only Kennedy who looked at him, but Nana Vancy, too. She pointed down the street at a big man with two dogs. A large black one and a much smaller white one that had a very sausage-like build.

Mal looked at the big man smile as the tiny woman approached him. He wasn’t a romantic by any stretch of the imagination, but when Nana Vancy’s Bela joined them with the dogs, Mal could see how much love there was between them. It reminded him of Clarence and Joan. Or his grandfather and grandmother.

Nana Vancy walked up to the big man and their bodies brushed, as if drawn together like magnets.

“Kennedy, Malcolm, this is my Bela.” There was pride in her voice . . . and love.

“Bela Salo,” he said, shaking their hands.

“And this is Madame Curie.” At the sound of her name, the black dog sat down and offered them her paw.

Kennedy knelt down awkwardly and took the paw. “Aren’t you a beautiful girl?”

The little white dog, not to be outdone, jumped up at Kennedy, anxious for some affection, too. But Kennedy’s center of gravity was extremely off because of the baby. The small dog hurtling in her direction was enough to topple her, but Malcolm sprang forward and grabbed her under her arms, steadying her.

She looked up. “Thank you,” she said, then turned her attention to the demanding sausage-like white dog.

Nana Vancy shot him a look that made him feel like a bug under a microscope, then she said, “And that rude dog is Clara . . . Clara Barton. She has no manners and very little brains.”

Bela looked slightly insulted on the dog’s behalf. “But she is all heart, that one.”

As if to prove his point, Clara was busy kissing Kennedy, who hadn’t asked Mal to remove his hands, so he continued to steady her as she continued to kneel by the small dog.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!  And that it's filled with love, family and a whole lot of fun!

Holly

Christmas in Cupid Falls

Welcome to Cupid Falls, Pennsylvania…well, actually, this is Waterford, PA.  But it's where my October 21st release, Christmas in Cupid Falls opens.  In Waterford.  You see, the real town of Waterford has a real statue of George Washington because the real George visited there.

My imaginary town of Cupid Falls doesn't have an imaginary statue of George…no, it has an imaginary legend...

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.

I love writing small town romances that have a lot of humor and heart like Christmas in Cupid Falls.  I also love writing, romantic drama, romantic comedy, women's fiction with a romantic twist (I've coined the term Womance for it) and now even comedic mystery.  It doesn't matter what I'm writing, I think there are threads that runs through all my books…things like heart, community and humor.  I hope you enjoy this first book in my new Cupid Falls series!

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

Small Town Holidays

I was talking to someone about all the holiday books I've written.  I went back and looked at my files…turns out I've written a lot.  Eleven Christmas books, and even more holiday books if you count other holidays.  As far as the Christmas ones go, I think it has something to do with my name.  I mean, with a name like Holly, it makes sense to do Christmas…a lot!  LOL

My newest will be released next month, Christmas in Cupid Falls.  Not only is it a new book, but it's set in a new town.  My June release, Just One Thing, I introduced Lapp Mill…it was the kind of town you can miss if you blink while you drive through it.  Cupid Falls, PA is bigger than Lapp Mill…I mean, you wouldn't miss it if you blinked once, but maybe if you blinked twice.

Waterford, PA

In addition to I squeezed both towns in between the very real towns of Waterford and Union City.  Both are just a stone's throw from Erie, where most of my books have been set.

Now, as much as I love showcasing my city and the surrounding towns, the reason I love writing small towns is the people.  Granted, my people are fictional, but the real people in towns like Waterford and Union City are wonderful, and I'll confess, I think the ones in Lapp Mill, Cupid Falls, and some of my other made-up towns like Whedon and Valley Ridge are equally wonderful.  I hope readers do, too!

Most of my series have one character who becomes the touch-stone for all the books.  Someone who shows up in each story…someone who can give the readers a sense of coming home.  In my Everything But series, that was Nana Vancy (she has a cameo in Christmas in Cupid Falls) and in my Perry Square series, it was Pearly Gates.  Both were older ladies…the wise women of my books.  In Cupid Falls, I went in a different direction…an older man.  I leave it up to readers to decide how 'wise' he is!  LOL  Here's his introduction...

Christmas in Cupid Falls

Holly Jacobs, 10/14
excerpt

“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.”

Clarence's name comes from the iconic Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life.  And though he is no angel, he's got a good heart and I hope readers fall in love with him…and the entire town!  There's something special about Christmas…I think that might have more to do with my writing so many holiday books, than my name.  And I hope readers enjoy spending at least part of their holiday in Cupid Falls!

Holly

Today's the last day to enter a contest to celebrate its release at:
https://www.facebook.com/HollyJacobsAuthorOfficial/posts/844582078894158

And I Would Walk 10,000…er Steps

So what's new with me in 2014??

My husband bought me a FitBit for Christmas.  He bought it because he knows me so well.  Not only is it techy, which he knows I love, but it also tracks steps and miles.

For the last year, I've been trying for three mile walks every day. More when I can get them.  I have an app for that.  But sometimes I forget to turn it on.  This solves that.

Now, the only flaw with those long walks every day is I live in Erie.  According to the Golden Snow Globe site, we're #1 right now with 77.4 inches of snow.  I don't mind walking in the snow, but that Polar Vortex kicked my butt.  So even though I still wanted those 10,000 steps, I wasn't going out in -36 degree wind chills.

So I got creative.  I walked in place while I talked on the phone.  I put clothes away, one item at a time, leaving the basket in the sitting room and walking back and forth.  And finally, I watched a television show and walked in place.

Needless to say, I've made it to 10.000 steps each day.  Some of those steps were creative, but I got

them in.

I'm the mother of four, so finding a creative way to meet a goal is something I've done for years.  When I first started writing, my youngest hadn't started school yet.  Let me tell you, writing with four kids under foot takes a lot of creativity.  I called those years my "Vampire Years."  I wrote after they went to bed.  I wrote until my eyelids wouldn't stay up another minute.

And here I am, years later, more than fifty books.  Those Vampire Years paid off.  So, I'll be as creative as I need to be in order to get those steps in.

Oh, and my word of the year?? (I don't do resolutions—I pick a word to build my year around.) This year, my word is…you guessed it, STEP.  It sort of ties in nicely to my goal of 10,000 steps a day, and really does apply to my writing, too!  At the moment, I'm a bit swamped.  My desk is groaning.  But I'm simply taking things one step at a time.  The day before yesterday I finished galleys for June's Just One Thing, and yesterday I did a fact sheet for October's Christmas in Cupid Falls.  Today, I'm planning to work on a new article that's due in Feb and working on February's final Maid in LA Mystery, Swept Up…step by step, I'm crossing items off.

How about you??  Do you have a word of the year, a resolution, or simply some goal you're working toward?

Wishing you all a very happy 2014!!

Holly