Family

This summer I was at a conference and a friend attended a workshop where they asked the authors, "What is at the core of all your stories?"  We sat around the table discussing it and when it came to my turn, I answered without hesitation...family

I find the idea of what makes a family fascinating...there are endless variations.  In my Whedon, PA series, the family came together because of adoption.  In my Valley Ridge series, family was formed through friendship and happenstance. In August's Her Second-Chance Family, my heroine is a foster parent.

But April's award winning book was a bit different.  Carry Her Heart isn't about a family that's formed, but rather the family that's left behind...specifically the birth mother who gave a child up.  And even though her child went on to be raised by another family, ultimately the story still is about family.  It's about a mother's love for her child.  And it's that love, more than blood that makes her that child's family.  Like so many of my books, that book is built around the idea that a family is formed...not necessarily born.

And in my newest two releases, there are no children involved, but they both deal with family.  In 13 Weeks: A Novella, the hero is losing his grandmother...the last of his family.  He learns that those who pass on aren't truly lost...not if we have our love and memories to keep them alive in our hearts.  And in These Three Words (which is out in 11 days...but who's counting??) my hero and heroine are a couple who's been torn apart.  I came up with my tagline for the book early on and I held onto it as I wrote:  Sometimes the greatest loves aren't discovered...they're rediscovered.

Family.

For me, it's everything.  When I started writing I decided that for me, family came first and writing came second.  Everything else just squeezed in where I could manage.  All these years later, I think that was one of the best decisions I ever made.  I've watched my kids grow into such amazing human beings.  And I'm thrilled to confess, they've grown into my best friends.

So as we sit down to Thanksgiving soon, I'll be thankful for many things.  My writing is right up there.  But at the top of my list—at the very top—I'm thankful for my family.  They're my inspiration.  To be honest, they're at the heart of everything I do.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Holly

PS last year's holiday book, A Valley Ridge Christmas, and Carry Her Heart are both on sale this week for $1.99.

Memories

"How many of our memories are truly of an event
and how many did we rewrite simply by the telling of them?
 Until they became a memory of a story, more than of an actual event." 

 ~These Three Words 11/15 

I love family stories. When I was growing up, brothers kept things interesting.  One of my favorite stories is the time two of them started a fire in cinder block and when someone was coming down the drive, one of them sat on it.  (Please note, I'm not naming names here!  LOL)  But there my brother sat, smoke billowing out from under his butt, thinking that was going to hide the evidence of the fire.  Uh, it didn't.  I wonder how many of my memories are accurate and how many have softened and altered with the telling?  I suspect more than a few because now I get to listen to my own kids repeating our family stories and I can see slight variations.

I think it's kind of like something reflecting in a pond.  The real picture is there if you really look at it, but its slightly distorted in the reflection.  Sometimes other things show up in the reflection.  Sometimes a big fish swims by and sends ripples through it.  But if you look hard enough, you can see what's really at the core.

I guess, maybe in the end, it doesn't really matter if a memory is  accurate or if it has softened with time.  I think what really matters is the feelings that go with it.  When my kids look back at our family stories and someday share them with their own children, I don't think I'll care if the story is totally accurate.  I'm not concerned about the ripples and the additions.  I simply hope that when they look hard enough they see that the core of most of our family stories is...love.

I just sent my editor back These Three Words.  It's another of my women's journey/romances.  It's a story in which the heroine is forced to look back at her memories and her family stories. And even though I've hit send, it's still with me as I write this blog.  I suspect that this is a story that's going to stay with me a while.  And I suspect, next time I hear one of our family stories, I'll think about it.

How about you?  Do you have a favorite family stories?

Holly

Current Release:

Carry Her Heart

Carry Her Heart