Whew, the last few months have been busy! Between end of school year craziness at my day job (teaching high school English online at MNVA) and mom life (being a mom of two boys under the age of 5 is no joke!), my writing has slowed down quite a bit.

However, that doesn’t mean I’ve been completely inactive! I’m making progress on Phantasmic Wars Book 3 (I’ll be sharing the title soon, so keep an eye out for another blog post for that), and I applied for and was accepted to my very first author event! Here’s the info for it:

Come if you are able! It’s free admission for all who are 21+. I’ll be there, as will many other local authors. If you already have a copy of The Book of Imagination and/or The Quest for the Artifacts, you can get them signed while you’re there!

I look forward to seeing you there if you’re able to attend!

~El Holly

Today I had my first author talk at a school! It went fantastically (phantastically?) – the kids had such great questions and all groups (I met with K-8!) were attentive listeners. The staff were all fun and easy to work with and so helpful with getting me set up for the day.

Some of the most common questions asked:

• How do you have time to write when you also teach and have kids?
• What advice do you have for people who want to be authors?
• How old are you? (My answer: older than you!)

I also had quite a few budding authors in the audience! Many kids said they had written stories or books. The most random thing was one of the students comparing me to T. Swift – haha!

All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and one I hope to repeat at more schools in the future. (Hey, friends, if you’re reading this and work at a school – let me know if you’d like to set up an author visit!)

~El Holly

One of the most fun things about being an author is getting to know such fun, unique characters.

In The Book of Imagination, the main characters of the overall series (Tom, Katie, Chad, Sharice, Melissa) meet some astounding, funny, sweet characters. One of my favorites to write was probably Underwargen, Undy for short. Ugly but lovable, Undy quickly endeared himself to the children and to me as an author. I thought for sure I wouldn’t have a character in The Quest for the Artifacts (now available on Amazon, yay!) who I felt the same connection with. It was a different book, a different kid’s imagination, etc.

And then came Skeete the pirate parrot. For those who have yet to read The Quest for the Artifacts, I won’t reveal too much about him. Just know that he’s probably in my top ten of favorite characters to write about so far in my writing career.

Thinking about characters gave me an idea. I am in the process of writing character profiles for some of the main characters in the books, starting with the five kids and expanding from there! Keep an eye out for a blog post soon with the first character profile (hint: it will be one of the girls). I’m working with a friend and excellent artist to do renderings of the characters to include with the profiles as well! It is a fun endeavor, and one I hope you will enjoy.

This brings me to a question for YOU. Who is your favorite character in the series so far? I’d love to know! email me at eholly42@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook, comment on this post, etc. This will help me come up with my list of character profiles. Thanks in advance!

~El Holly

Everybody likes free stuff, right? (I guess that depends on what is being offered.)

I’m excited to announce that the e-book version of The Book of Imagination (Phantasmic Wars Book 1) will be offered for free for a few days next week!

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This promotion is for a limited time only, from Feb 13-17 (Tues-Sat).

What perfect timing, though! The Quest for the Artifacts will be released just a few weeks later, in the beginning of March. My family and I are going on a Florida vacation from March 1-5 and I intend to make sure it is published right around then.

Happy reading!

~El Holly

Life happens, right? I had gone years without writing much at all when I first had my two kiddos. Even still, since I had gotten back into the habit over the last year, it felt strange going nearly a week without penning a page.

Granted, it wasn’t for lack of ideas. I had some nights that I would text myself an idea because I didn’t want to get up to grab my laptop (I’m also thinking I should maybe invest in a journal to go by my nightstand for moments like this!).

No, the last few weeks have been an all-consuming tide of grading and prepwork as one semester ends and another begins. (For those who might not know – I am an online high school English Language Arts teacher.) The days were long; filled with emails to and from students, finalizing grades from semester 1, frantically setting up my semester 2 classes…

And now, it’s Friday, and I am only 5 days away from my personal deadline for finishing the first draft of The Quest for the Artifacts…with 5 chapters to go.

Am I exhausted? Yes. Do I have a cup of coffee next to me at nearly nine at night? Yes. Am I working in my pajamas? Quite possibly.

But I am so excited…the end is in sight, and I just had to share…I’ve officially written over 200 pages for book 2! At this rate, it looks like book 2 will be just a bit longer than The Book of Imagination.

So, in celebration and joy, I am going to finish my coffee and keep on writing.