Interview with Holly Jacobs

Interview with Holly Jacobs
April 2006

This month we will be talking with Holly Jacobs about her career, her latest book to be released in April 2006, Harlequin closing some of its category lines, and what is to come in the future. Thanks Holly for taking to time to talk with us!

1. Congratulations on your newest release, Night Calls, due out this month. Having had the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book, I found it to be full of the charm and humor always present in your novels. Can you tell us a little bit about the story?

NIGHT CALLS is Cassie’s story. She’s an evening DJ at WLVH radio...where love is just a song. As a matter of fact, her program centers itself around love. She plays love songs, offers advice. Seems Cassie has a handle on love for everyone but herself. Her failed wedding proves that to her. So she decides to be a spinster and concentrate on finding love for everyone...everyone but herself. She’d buy a traditional spinster pet, but she’s allergic to cats, so she buys a dog. But it’s going to take a big dog to make her forget about her failed dreams of a happily-ever-after of her own. Dudley, an Old English Mastiff puppy, certainly fits the bill. But what Cassie doesn’t take into account is her neighbor, Jonathan “Coop” Cooper. Because when she’s around Coop, she forgets all about her plans to forget about love. Unfortunately, Cooper’s built a career around failed marriages and is as cynical as they come about love. Is there anyway a romantic and a cynic can make this love thing work? Maybe with the help of a 120 lb puppy!

2. As we understand, this book is to be the conclusion to the WLVH “Lovehandles” trilogy. How did you feel about ending the collection? Do you have any plans to bring some of the characters back in future stories?

Yes. As a matter of fact, early in ‘07 there will be another book that’s tied to WLVH, although not directly part of the series. In LAUGH LINES, the disc jockeys (from PICKUP LINES, LOVEHANDLES and NIGHT CALLS) are MCing at a local comedy Club. And that WLVH- where-love-is-more-than-just-a-song magic follows them into the club where Dani, a CEO at a text book publisher, and Luke, the owner of the club fall in love. You see, Dani’s found she’s got a talent for stand-up...and she’s standing a lot, except when she’s falling for Luke!

3. Since we are talking about endings, this summer sees the end of a long lasting era at Harlequin/Silhouette with the conclusion to the Silhouette Romance line, for which you’ve been writing for several years. How do you feel about seeing this line, among others come to an end? What was your first thought upon receiving the news?

I’d already decided to wrap my Perry Square books up, but really had hoped to move onto new series at Silhouette Romance. I love the line. So it was a blow hearing that it was being canceled. But it’s not the first time I’ve lost a line, and as long as I can keep finding homes for my stories, I’ll be a happy writer! And I was really relieved to have a chance to finish with one last Perry Square book, July’s HERE WITH ME.

4. Also this year, you will be seeing the release of your first single title novel, Confessions of a Party Crasher, in June through the Signature line. Was this difficult for you, writing your first full length novel? How is the writing process for a longer novel different from writing the shorter category length stories? What about the process is the same?

Working on this June’s CONFESSIONS OF A PARTY CRASHER was so much fun. The longer format allowed me to explore the secondary characters to a fuller extent than I’ve been able to in the past. But really, writing is writing, so the process was the same as far as the day-to-day parts. Pull a little hair, knock your head against your desk, and write until your fingers are just nubbins! <g>

5. What was it that made you one day decide you were going to be a writer? Did you always know or was it a surprise to choose this career path?

I’ve always been a reader. Always. I don’t remember a point in my life when I wasn’t reading a book. So, when the day came to really look at the world and decide what I wanted to do with my life as my kids grew older and I had more time, writing was a natural step from that love of writing. Writing is kind of like raising kids. It’s rewarding beyond belief. It’s always something new, exciting and exhilarating and I love it...except when it’s frustrating, aggravating and making me nuts! <g>

6. In my opinion, I see your signature in your writing be the fact you write heart warming stories full of humor. If someone were to ask what you felt to be your trademark, what would you say?

On my website I use the line, Where Love is a Laughing Matter. Which echoes your “writing heart warming stories full of humor.” (By the way, thank you...that was a lovely compliment.) Both really sum up what I hope to convey with my writing. It’s a reality I’ve lived for more than twenty years with my husband. That loving and laughing concept. Because I live it, because I believe it, I hope it shines through in all my stories, even the books that aren’t strictly comedies.

7. To date all of your novels have been contemporary romances, with some under your pseudonym being the fantasy fairy godmother series. Do you see yourself continuing to write this genre or do you plan to branch out? What about your fantasy series? Do you have any plans to go back and write more in the genre eventually?

I love the stories I tell. The fairy godmother, fantasy series, were at heart contemporary romantic comedy, with a dash of fairy dust. Would I like to do more fantasy? I’d love it. But right now the market seems to gravitate toward darker romantic fantasy. But these things ebb and flow.

Really, my biggest goal with my writing isn’t about following the market, or any particular label for my stories. It’s just to continue telling the stories that are just itching to be told.

8. If you had to think back and pinpoint who it was that inspired you to be a writer, who would you say? Would you say these same people have been most influential on your writing style? If not, then who?

I was raised by writers like Tolkien, Heinlein, Lewis, McCaffrey... So many. Writers who gave me new worlds to explore, and by exploring they taught me to really look at this world. They fostered my dreams and taught me there’s so much to see. I don’t know that they really influence my style, but they certainly taught me to dream...and dream big. To follow my heart. As for my style, really, my friends say I sound like my books, or vice versa! <g> I’ve never actively tried to develop a style, I just write the way the story sounds in my head. (Okay, I almost said, the way the voices sound in my head...but people seem to worry about people, even writers, with voices in their heads, so I substituted the word story...but really, I do try to sound like the characters who’re flitting away through my mind! <g>)

9. This is one of my favorite “signature” questions to ask in an interview. If you had to write a short paragraph about your writing to convince readers to give your books a shot, what would you tell them?

Um, my youngest just got braces and the orthodontist wants to be paid, so please buy a book? LOL Seriously, that’s a great question, and all I could really say is I try to write from my heart, and hopefully what I’ve written will touch your heart...so give it try? And if that doesn’t work, then I pull out the braces statement! LOL

10. In Night Calls, Cassie is a bubbly woman full of happiness and self-proclaimed hopeless romantic. Her enthusiasm just floats off the page and drew me in to her story, making her a special woman. What was it about her that compelled you to tell her story?

I loved that Cassie is a hopeless optimist, even though for a while she forgets that she is, it’s there. I love her sense of humor, her sense of possibility. And mainly, I love that she has such a big heart.

11. Watching Jonathan and Cassie dance around their feelings for each other, and of course for the lovable Dudley, provided many moments of sheer entertainment. What does it feel like to write characters so bound and determined to resist their obvious attraction?

I think a lot of us resist love because when you allow yourself to love, you put your heart out there, offer it up and there’s such a huge risk involved. Even the most daring might hesitate. And when two people are so different the risk seems even greater. But that’s half the fun, helping those characters overcome their fears and realize that love is worth the risks...whatever they are.

12. How much advance plotting goes into your writing process? Do you plan everything out ahead of the time or do you just start writing and see where your characters lead you?

When I first started writing, I was a seat-of-the-pantser. I had a basic idea for a story, and just wrote. I was always surprised to see where it went. I loved that uninhibited sense of discovery. But these days, I sell on proposal, so I do come into a story with a synopsis, a sketch of the whole book. I try to give an editor enough to say, yes, this will be a great book, and buy it (I also hope she’s muttering things like, brilliant, hysterically funny, heart warming...<g>), and yet, leave enough wiggle-room to allow me that sense of discovery and possibility.

13. You always sound like such a busy woman with your family and other responsibilities in addition to your writing. How do you work out your schedule to balance your family life and your professional life as a writer?

My boss is an ogre (and by boss, I’m not talking about my agent or editors, but about me! <g>). For me, it’s just a matter of priority. Family first, writing second, dust bunnies last. My kids are all in school all day, and we have weekend pick-up parties where the whole family pitches in to clean the house, so I do have my days for writing, and I really try to keep to a schedule.

14. What kind of plans do you have for future books with the conclusion of the series you’ve written for so long? Where do you hope to market future books to?

In addition to CONFESSIONS OF A PARTY CRASHER this June, I have a novella out in November. Deck the Halls is in the DASHING THOUGH THE MALL anthology from Harlequin Books. After writing that first big book, it was fun to return to a short format, and this story was particularly a blast. And that’s pretty much my answer to your question about my plans. What I plan to do is to keep telling stories. Long stories, short stories. Out-and-out romantic comedies, and love stories with a gentler sense of humor. I just want to keep writing stories that make my laugh and pull at my heart, and when I do I hope they make you laugh and pull at your hearts as well.

15. Can you tell us about your other books coming out this year? What do you have in the works? Can you give us any teasers?

I just mentioned the novella Deck the Halls in the DASHING THROUGH THE MALL anthology. The other two authors are Darlene Gardner and Sherryl Woods. To say I had fun with it is a vast understatement...it was a blast.

In DECK THE HALLS, the hero, Ed Hall has rules for just about every circumstance. For instance there's Number Ten, Tied-together bathrobe belts do not make sturdy rope and should not be used for rappelling, no matter what your brothers tell you. Yes, he can plot and plan for just about any circumstance his three boys bring his way...except shopping at King's Mall on Christmas Eve with Joy O'Connell. She's not what he expected, and he doesn't quite know what to make of the store manager who's feeling as bum-humbuggish about the holidays as he is. Joy's first holiday as store manager is testing her abilities and her sanity. A third of her staff is out with the flu, which is how she finds herself shopping with the Hall family. Three teens and their dad. Her already rock-bottom holiday spirit takes a nosedive. But even when she's tempted to Deck the Halls, there's something between herself and Ed. Something that leaves her wondering if Santa left her a present just a little bit early!

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with me about your latest works, Holly! Do you have anything you’d like to say in closing?

Just that people can always find me online at www.HollyJacobs.com, and mainly, thanks as always, Kelley!

Interviewed by Kelley, 2006.

Read a review of Night Calls!

Check back for more reviews of Holly's 2006 releases, coming soon!