Follow Your Passion
Inertia’s a bitch.
It can mean doing nothing until something kicks you out of your complacency and starts you rolling.
You get rolling in a particular direction, and it make sense, so you keep on rolling in that direction, doing the same things, dealing with variants of the same problems, until your direction, your actions, and your life all start to feel inevitable.
Inertia tells you: This is what you’re doing, therefore this is what you ought to be doing. It’s working, therefore why question it?
Until now, since I started teaching writing online back in 2006, I have NEVER taken a vacation that did not include checking both e-mail and customer service at least a few times. So I never had a full stop to derail my inertia. Even if I rolled slower, I still kept moving in the same direction.
My inertia included back-to-back-to-back 70-hour seven-day-a-week work weeks, creating new writing courses, supporting older writing courses, writing newsletters about writing, building a (very cool) writing community, and a LOT more.
Recently, with the self-publishing explosion, I added getting rights back on all my out of print work, and adding in MORE work while I get those ready to reprint.
There was answering a lot of writing e-mail.
There was lots and lots and lots of customer service.
People love my writing courses and get some simply amazing results from them. So putting what I know about writing into in-depth, comprehensive courses felt like the way things ought to be. What I ought to be doing.
However…
If you want to shake off your inertia, to actually see your life as it is, and to be able to question what you want it to be, there’s nothing like jamming a right-angle turn into your forward motion to shake you loose from everything you accepted as having a permanent place in your life. And the past two weeks have been, for me, that right-angle jump-the-tracks come-to-a-screeching-halt turn.
There was the vacation, first of all. I turned the computer off, and left it off, for two straight weeks. I did not look at e-mail, I did not touch customer service, I did not pay affiliates, I did not work on courses.
I. Was. Gone.
There was my time with the Air Force kid. My older son had a grim time in Afghanistan, which is not to say his tours of the Middle East’s other “vacation spots” have been picnics. But Afghanistan was a real nightmare, and even now that he’s home, there are parts of this last deployment he isn’t going to shake off. Not in a few weeks, a few months, a few years. Not ever. A line of ghosts follow me from my ten years in nursing. He has his line of ghosts, too, and though they’ll become less insistent over time, they won’t go away.
As much as we could, we worked around the ghosts. I loved being able to sit and talk with him again, to discuss the screenplays he wrote while he was in the desert, to talk about going indie from the film-maker’s perspective. I loved just being able to see him, and to know that he was okay, he was safe, he was home.
And I loved having nothing but time to spend with Matt and my younger son, too.
There was Steve Jobs’ death, and I’d be lying through my teeth if I suggested that was anything but a massive wake-up call. He created what he loved, not asking what people wanted but envisioning what he wanted, pushing past “that’s not possible” to make what he wanted possible, and then bringing his visions to those of us who have appreciated the hell out of them.
Figure: Having Windows eat my work, crash regularly, update constantly, welcome viruses like long-lost friends, and require constant fucking tinkering with the system, in the form of .ini files and other tweaks, just to get programs I needed to function so I could get writing, printing, and internet work done, was a part of my life, my expectation, my inertia. I backed up constantly when I remembered, and when I got into the flow of my fiction, I lost whole chapters because that’s just the way Windows is.
Until my husband bought me an early OS X Snowball Mac. I got it for Christmas in 2002. In the almost ten years since then, I have ONCE lost words. About three hundred of them, if I remember correctly. MY screw-up. The Mac asked me if I would like to save the file when Word crashed, and I, being VERY new to the system at the time, said “no.”
I haven’t lost a single word since. And since then, I’ve upgraded through iMacs and iBooks and Pros, and currently have an older Pro, the 11″ minimal-configuration Air, and the currently largest possible iMac desktop. Every Mac I ever owned still works. I just needed bigger and faster for the courses, the movies I was creating. And because, let’s face facts: I’m a total tech ho and while I don’t spend money on shoes or clothes or much of anything else, I’m white on rice when it comes to upgrading to a new computer.
So I owe Steve Jobs’ driven passion to create the best possible products—and to hell with the naysayers—for making my life measurably better.
And the wake-up call from his death, combined with the other elements above, allowed me to question my own passion.
Which takes me to Week Two of my vacation, in which, relaxed, happy, and caught up on my sleep, I wrote three and a half chapters of the new Cadence Drake novel, Warpaint.
And became reacquainted with my real passion. Which isn’t teaching. I’m good at teaching, I like it, and I love students’ success stories.
But I love to write fiction.
And when I compared four hours a day five days a week while everyone else was asleep, stretched out on the couch with the Air propped on my lap, embracing my passion by telling a story I want to tell while knowing it’s going to get published the way I want it to be published…
…Versus seventy-hour seven-days-a-week workweeks stretching as far into the future as I could see, struggling to translate how I do what I do into techniques and procedures and processes other people can use to embrace THEIR passion…
…Well…
…You probably have some idea where I’m heading with this.
But I guarantee you don’t have the whole thing, so stick with me a few more minutes.
Yes. I’m going to quit teaching.
No. I’m not abandoning my students. ALL students who are members of the big courses, including students who join the day I lock each course’s doors to new members, will have permanent access to all your purchased course materials, including, if applicable, the Walkthrough, new self-pub modules, or any other course upgrades, depending on the course in question.
No, I’m not abandoning any of my current courses.
And no, I’m not abandoning the three big promises I’ve made.
Promises first.
I’m finishing the How To Think Sideways Walkthrough. Furthermore, the online version will be the FULL version of the course, minus a few handouts I cannot include, and the Walkthrough. It will include the lessons for Self-Publishing, but it will also include the Commercial Publishing track. So it will be 29 lessons, not 25.
I’m expanding the How To Write A Series Course with what I learn while writing the Cadence Drake series.
And I’m finishing Create A World Clinic.
I’m looking at, best guess, about two more years of working insane hours while I meet these three promises, and at the same time write several Cadence Drake novels, move ALL my courses to Kindle/ Nook/ iTunes/ CreateSpace.
The rest of what I have to do:
Before I can dedicate myself to my passion, writing fiction, I also have to make sure existing big-course students can use the online version of the courses permanently.
And Margaret and I have to put together a way for the students who take my classes via the big publishing platforms (again, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and CreateSpace) have a way to join the Boot Camps writing community.
The Boot Camp Community, with its Self-Pub Resource Providers, its lesson-by-lesson discussions on How To Think Sideways, How To Revise Your Novel, and as soon as we can get the database updated, How To Write A Series, its camaraderie and friendships, will remain and continue to grow.
The Boot Camp Community currently offers free lifetime membership to students of HTTS, HTRYN, and HTWAS for their respective courses (and of course, students of all three courses have lifetime access to the entire community).
For students who take the e-book or print versions of the course, Boot Camp membership will be optional, and will require a small monthly fee or a one-time lifetime membership payment for whichever course the student is taking.
And I’ll become a Boot Camp member writer, rather than an overworked occasional visitor.
But as I get things transferred, everything else is going off my sites. I’ll be closing my little writing shop, and closing the online versions of HTTS, HTRYN, and HTWAS, as well as the Free Plot Outline course.
I’m working on transferring How To Think Sideways first, and the Walkthrough will not be included in the e-book and print versions. I may at some later date figure out a way to do the Walkthrough lessons as DVDs, but right now, my plan is to simply keep them available for Legacy HTTS students.
If you want the How To Think Sideways course with free lifetime community membership and the Walkthrough included, you’ll need to join before I post all the lessons on Amazon and Barnes & Noble (because of technical issues, I’m not sure that I’ll be able to offer the course on iTunes).
I have that pencilled in on my calendar for February, 2012. On the day the course goes live on the big platforms, the doors for the online version close permanently to new members.
How To Revise Your Novel will then follow suit as quickly as I can make it happen.
How To Write A Series will be open to new students considerably longer, because I still have to write the books that I’ll use to expand the course.
And following that, I’ll write the rest of Create A World Clinic, which will ONLY be available through the big platforms. I’ll never sell it from my own shop, which I hope to close before or around the same time I close How To Write A Series.
It comes down to time.
I’m fifty-one.
I don’t know how much I have left, but whatever time I have left, I want to invest in my passion, my true love, the thing that has made me willing to pop out of bed at six in the morning for the past twenty-seven years, just to be a part of it.
I’m going back to writing fiction exclusively.
All the existing courses will still be there for you, in one fashion or another. The community will get even better.
But no matter how long I live, I cannot live long enough to tell all the stories I still want to tell. I would, however, like to write as many of them as I can.
And I aim to give it my best shot.
Holly,
I’ve been waiting for an announcement like this. You’re a wonderful and generous teacher, but I know that fiction is your passion. I’m excited that the current publishing climate allows you to write the books of your heart and connect directly with readers.
Good luck, and thank you for all that you’ve given us as a teacher. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll give as a writer.
*laughs* you are a spring chicken like me…i’m 47. well, congrats to you. i feel you on reawakening and following your passion which in the long run will make you happier and keep you sane. life is too short and i’m sure as like quite a few of us, you have only scratched the surface of what you want to accomplish.
last year, i quit my job cold turkey to move across the country to spend time with my grandchildren (three babies under 20mths old), start a third book in a series i’m writing and start a young adult horror epublishing company for new and aspiring authors (one of three i plan to establish in the very near future. also, i have just signed my first author…YEA!).
though i love my grandchildren to death, i am not getting much work done from being on constant babysitting duty. i am feeling sorta miserable; a lot used and abused and am moving BACK across country in 2 weeks (they are adults and can take care of their own now—if they want to go out, they’ll have to take the babies with them). this decision has set me free. i feel i am back on the right track now. i needed to come here to stop the excuses but now i need to leave to continue on this exciting road.
i wish you well no matter what you do with your life Holly, no one can do it justice like you can.
Be happy,
Nina
Congrats on shaking that pit bull of an inertia challenge! If anything, you’re an inspiration to the rest of us who are thinking the same thing – “but I’ve always been doing this, so I guess I just have to keep doing it…” Hell no!
Write what you love and we’ll be here cheering you on, just like you cheer us on. As for me, I’m really happy for you and hope to see you in the coffee shop somewhere down the road where published authors go to swap ‘remember when…?’ stories.
Don’t worry if you throw a few bolts and lose a spring or two from derailing your train. It’s inevitable, and eventually will be worth something between a hard laugh and a giggle when you retell your decision–all that screeching and the acrid scent melting steel and burning oil.
Has Cadence ever done something like this?
Best wishes for a peaceful, purposeful and passionate future,
your fellow traveler over the tipping point.
Holly,
I feel so grateful that I have had the opportunity to have taken both the HTTS and HTRYN courses. They were amazing and have helped me tremendously through my writing and continue through the permanent access (which I absolutely love). You are so wonderful and you have touched so many writing lives.
We are all behind you with whatever you do. Also thanks so much for giving us all the heads up. I wish you happy birthday and happy writing!
Once again, thank you for all that you have the students.
RJ
Holly, you have made me realize my own dream. I wish you all the best in rediscovering your own. I hold nothing but admiration for your resolve.
Best of luck as things change over the next few years!!
I’m happy for you. Can’t wait to see the efforts of you doing what you love. That’s a good set of priorities.
K
Holly, I’m thrilled for you.
Devastated for me and my writing class plans, of course – but thrilled for you. Sometimes it takes a real wake-up call to make us realise we’ve lost sight of what we were most passionate about. You’ve got your vision back, and that’s a wonderful thing.
Your writing classes are such a gift to the writing community – but you’ve also got to be true to yourself, so onwards and upwards! I’ll look forward to hearing how you’re getting on.
Glad your son made it home safe! Thank him from all of us.
Holly,
When is how to write a series available? Is it that much different from how to think sideways? I’m in HTTS now, early stages but I’ve always wanted to write series stories so I definitely want to learn that as well.
Bravo for you Holly. I don’t care if this isn’t great for all of us students — and I do think you are going about it in a more-than-fair way. I’m just happy to see you going back to what you love. Good on ya.
Oh hell yes, you should be writing fiction! Even though I’ve gone through my own periods of having the fiction writing time and energy sucked away by other things (I still love renfaires but I’ll never work one as cast ever again), I never realized how time consuming your courses are. Drop whatever you must to open up time to create new novels.
My only selfish thought is keeping your shop up long enough so I can buy all the How to books I want. Or will you market them through Amazon and etc.? It does seem odd that you’re thinking of closing it when Joe Konrath just had a post last month how he set up an ebook shop on his website http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/09/ebooks-la-carte.html Well, he did hire help, so if it is a time suck that must be considered too.
Just let us know and I’ll be saving my pennies.
The only person you ever really have to live with is yourself. If this is what you need, what you know deep in your heart and in your gut is your calling and passion, then follow that path.
I feel blessed to have found your courses when I did. I’ve referred back to HTTS, HTRYN and HTWAS multiple times, and always glean new information. I’m glad that you are transferring them over to Amazon, so that they will still be available in some format for others that follow.
I’m also glad that you are finishing the World-builing clinic, as I’ve been waiting for years to see if it would tempt you back. You’ve kept your promises to your fans and students, and now it’s time to keep the most important one to yourself.
All my best…
Thanks Holly for all you have given us. I came across you about a couple of years back now and you have taught me much in that short time. You have been one of the best teachers I have ever had and I will never be able to forget the inspiration and the gifts of words you gave me and many others. You have been a mentor to not just me but, as most of the other responses have proven, many others as well. It is great to hear that you are going back to what you love. God bless you Holly in the years to come as you have been a real blessing to us all.
hi holly,
hi holly, i just want to say, i really admire what you do and good on you for making that choice. I havent had the opportunity to take your courses due to finiancial problems. you have however given me alot of insperation with your weekly newsletter and all the helpful aritcles on the website. will the website still be open?
good luck on everything you choose to do in the future
*hug*
I don’t quite understand what’s happening regarding the course. Will I still be able to buy the course as materials and walkthrough once you shut down in February? I haven’t done your course because I haven’t been ready and at the moment I’m still not.
Thank you.
I wish you all the best in future.
Dear Holly,
You have given so much to so many, even people like me who could not afford your courses. I’d have loved to take them, but times are hard and money is extra tight, especially with the lack of jobs these days.
You have given all of us your time and shared invaluable knowledge with us. You have touched so many aspiring writers. I agree it is time to follow your heart and live your dreams.
Having lost so many relatives in the past five years, I know all about how short and precious life truly is. Thank you for teaching all of us and caring enough to give us everything that you have shared with us.
I wish you the best with all of your writing adventures as you continue to share your unbridled passion with the world through your wonderful stories.
Sincerely,
KittyB78.
Oh and happy birthday. LOL You are giving yourself a great gift.
I’m truly happy for you Holly. Life is short and we are all well advised “to follow our bliss.” You are a very great inspiration to all of us because you have the courage to follow your own convictions and be true to your inner self. I am grateful for your lessons and the role model you’ve provided us, both as writers and decent human beings.
Thanks and all the best of luck to you in your new endeavors.
Lesley Lawrence
This decision makes sense. I’m only a few years older than you, and I understand the feeling completely — the feel of running out of time to get all those stories told. I so just want to write. If I could start making more sales, I could afford to give even more time to it. That’s my real dream.
I know you’ve wondered why I wasn’t trying to do the classes, too. I did, after all, have the 2YN stuff written and just needed to rework it. I had other material I worked on. I have most of a 4 week short story class done, in fact. You encouraged me to do it. But . . .
But this wasn’t what I wanted to do. I tried to get more interested in doing the classes. I tried to make the money side important — and it should have been, given how dismal things are here — but I could not get myself to want to do the work.
My wakeup call came more slowly and in a different way. I kept asking myself why I wasn’t working on the classes. The answer finally came in an odd way. I have spent 7 years with the free 2YN classes and the number of ‘I found some of this helpful’ notes were so outweighed by the ‘You didn’t do what I wanted’ ones that by the end, I really just wanted it done. We have only a few more weeks of the very last class left and then I’m finished. The real wakeup call came when I found someone referencing the class and saying they liked part of it. However, they had never bothered to tell me the same thing.
When you are giving something away for free (or even selling the books), on a topic you hope will help others, the ones who are helped need to let the person know. Otherwise, as always, those who aren’t happy are the ones who will always yell and complain the most. After a while the negativity is all the person sees and there’s no reason to offer the help any more.
I found, finally, that I just couldn’t care enough to give my precious writing time over to people who didn’t care. I am, first and above all else, a writer. I don’t pretend to be a great writer, but it’s always been my true love in life. It’s what I do every single day and I never grow tired of it. I don’t have enough time to write all the stories I want to. I think that’s something you (Holly) can fully understand.
So give yourself back the time and take advantage of the chance to do what you truly love. I am really looking forward to reading some new stories from you.
I totally understand.
So revise your novels, dammit, and get them out there. Now is the time, and you have the power, and the talent, and I want to hear about you being able to buy yourself a house that isn’t falling apart out of the proceeds from your fiction.
And last I heard, about a hundred novels waiting to see print. God, I wish I had that much stuff done right now.
I understand, Holly. It’s time for all of us to begin to look at what we’re doing and finally do what we really want and even need to do for ourselves.
Best of luck to you–I’m glad I slipped in to the HTTS class before this happened and most of all I am excited to see that you still plan to finish the clinics with worldbuilding! I have wanted that book since I bought the other four. So excited.
Excellent! A guy on the ‘Net that I read up on a lot has a theme he likes to hammer home, on “job” vs. “calling”. You are so blessed to be able to get paid for following your calling.
And, thank you for doing your “side stint” of teaching your calling long enough to remind me of my own.
A wise decision young lady. Not many of your students could say that, but I am 81 and just self-published my first novel “The Island House.” A lot of your wit, wisdom and teaching tools were used. I waited entirely too long to start writing –Monday morning quarterbacking. I have just finished another novel, “Hang the Witch,” and hope to have it in publication within the next two months.
Thank you for all you have done and are doing. In my world, I was told two really good things to do. When racing around like a maniac, they told me, “Breathe.” And the other old standby, “Take time to Smell the Roses.” Do both for yourself.
Good luck in your future.
Good luck for the rest of your life. You’ve done us proud, so much information shared. Write, write, write. Enjoy!
Of course, life is short. Steve J. lived by his passions and went down the highway of life with them next to him, determining what his next course would be. We all need a kick in the pants — something to shock the system and get going. If you were to die today — what would you have liked to accomplish?
Visit a friend? Write a book? See a movie?
What passion would you like to discover that would fulfill you as a creator?
Go explore it and report back.
I’m pleased to say that most of what I’ve wanted to do with my life, I’ve done.
I never did learn to play the cello, and that pisses me off no end (and is something I may yet pursue).
And I have a boatload of novels hammering on my brain demanding to be written.
But at fifty-one, I can happily say I have regrets of commission, but none of omission.
Forgot to mention: I’m 54 myself, soon to turn 55. I understand the urgency that comes from seeing that milestone looming in the not very distant distance. :O But I wouldn’t go back to any earlier age, even if I could. Some things, like fine wine, just get better with time.
Well, I wondered how long it would take. Good on ya, Holly! Go for it! Make your dreams come true! I’m right there with ya. I love sitting on the couch — or lying in the bed with my dawgs or sitting in a cafe — with my MacBook Air or my MacBook Pro in my lap, scribbling away in Scrivener, writing whatever the heck I want to, the way I want to, when I want to. And if I had to do all the stuff you’ve been doing, I am more than certain I’d have migraines all the dang time.
I’ve got quite a collection of your novels already, Holly, and I’m looking forward to reading the stories that are going to pour out of your heart and soul now that you’re going to be diving back into writing mode full-time. Hoo-ray!
You inspire me. Know that you have crowds of fans cheering you on. Go. For. It.
Holly, I am positive you have made the right decision. Like you, I was shaken by Steve Job’s death. I am fifty-seven, and now it feels like living on borrowed time. Thank you so much for your incredible drive and your dedication to you students. You have taught me so much, but I am so very glad that you are returning to your primary passion. We only have so much time! Make the most of it. You have already paid it forward, many thousands of times.
Thank you, Holly!
Deb
Thank you so much for everything you have given us. I should have completed my novels years ago but I kept losing chapters & getting frustrated with my Windows computer. Next month I plan to by an Apple & throw myself back into writing & using your courses. Again thank you so much & always follow your dreams to your hearts content
Danny Doyle Jr aka Dee Write.
About damn time you got back to fiction.
Good luck! I know it’ll all work out great! {{huggs}}
What’s the old cliché? This is not a dress rehearsal. Best of luck to you, and brava for following YOUR passion and dreams.
I love you Holly! I will forever be indebted to all you’ve given and you have given your all. I’m so with you as I turn 50 this month. Life is too short and reading this has been a wake-up call to me as well. Whatever you need, wherever you are, we’ll always be behind you.
Please give a big hug to your son for me and yourself. His sacrifice is great and I am grateful, indebted and humbled by his service to me, my children, grandchildren and children yet to come. I am praying for him in something I’ll never know. God Bless.
I actually had to solve a “if 6-x=1, then what is x?” math problem before your site decided I’m human. Big respect. Good luck. Peace.
Holly,
This is BRILLIANT and courageous and feels oh, so wise! Why wouldn’t you choose to sink into your biggest passion everyday? I have been thinking lately about how much I’d love to just do my creative and mentoring work only and feck the rest of the mind numbing biz stuff. It won’t be long now … and in the meantime I am cheering you on wholeheartedly!
Hugs
Eva
Follow your passion!
Good for you, and thank you for all you’ve shared. You’ve given it everything and it’s much appreciated. Now you can be a great example by enjoying the hell out of your writing and just doing what you love.
I’m glad you’re easing up, Holly. The last time you got ill was really disturbing. I’ve never known how you coped, especially as you have a family and I suspected you had only one other person to help you. One elderly (sweet but very difficult) SIL being dumped on me was enough to put paid to MY writing. I found I could no longer cope with all the (private) temper tantrums I was having from the frustration of being constantly interrupted. I guess I need a course on how to win a war with control freaks without their being aware of it. :-0
BTW, I’ve used a Mac since 1 May 1986. Before that I did my writing on an Olympia SM7 portable typewriter and then a decrepit IBM golfball. I’ve lost work on my Mac only once. And who was responsible for that? Bill Gates with Word 6. It corrupted at least 3 files (and even the backups were corrupted). I could open them but not read, change or even print them. Fortunately, in those days I had hard copies (these days I bother only when I’m submitting) so I laboriously retyped them. I had used Word since version 1 and always looked forward to upgrades. I used Word 5.1 for as long as I possibly could (it was wonderfully stable: never crashed on me; never corrupted files) but now I have no MS software on my Mac, now in its 8th year. I’m given to understand everyone else has forgiven Microsoft for the fiasco of Word 6, but I never will.
All the best for the future, Holly.
Holly,
Thank God! You are/were a wonderful teacher who has enriched many students’ lives, but I’ve missed your writing like a man in the desert misses water. I’m so excited that you will be devoting yourself to it full time again soon. I found you through your books and have never forgotten how excited I was reading the World Gate books and then all the others that followed. This is awesome!
Stephen
Dear Holly,
You’ve entertained for decades, which is a gift and a blessing. You have taught us to find our voices for 10 years.
From where I sit, you are a blessing and the kind of person I want to be when I grow up. (the fact that I’m two years older than you has nothing to do with it!)
Success and joy in the next phase of your life,
Lisa
I’m gonna be selfish here, and say:
Yay! Moar books!
I think you’ve helped many people with what you’ve done over the last few years, me included.
Time to follow your muse!
I agree – Jobs’s death plus Brian Keene’s heart attack brought me to something I decided I couldn’t do anymore. I took a job and worked 35 hours a week that was supposed to help with the bills. But in fact it only paid my rent. So, the death of Steve Jobs made me decide it was time (being 55) to write more and think of money less. I get stressed way to easily. I’m lucky I have a partner that is behind e 100% of the way. Now to see what happens.
at the age of 61, struggling to achieve my dreams despite my responsibility as a full-time caregiver to a disabled adult child, I totally understand where you’re coming from. Write on.
Holly,
I’m behind you 100% and totally understand where you’re coming from. You’ve given us all so much. Now it’s your turn.
Luckily I’ve taken or will have taken all your classes and will find a way to get your Create a World Clinic even if I have to buy a Kindle. I wish you all the best. Write well, write often.
DragonsLady,
You won’t have to buy a Kindle. You can download free Kindle software for your PC or Mac which will enable you to read Kindle books.
The software is on the Amazon Kindle page.
At 87 I am still writing and loving the process. As the winter of my life closes around me I still find beauty in the world, find time to enjoy friends and family and always find time to write. Two long stays in hospital interrupted my writing and my reading of Thinking Sideways course. In fact I’m unsure I can even access it now, but I intend to try in the next weeks. Enjoy whatever you are doing.
EWOP (everything is working out perfectly)
How well you’ve lived your life is evidenced by what you leave behind. Your choices have made the world a better place and now it’s time for dessert!
Congratulations and thank you for continuing to be a trailblazer in our lives.
m
The line from the movie “9 to 5″ comes to mind, “Atta girl!” Wake up, and smell the roses! Spend time with the munchkins. (We have parental rights to call them that FOREVER!) And, every once in a while, drop us a novel.
Like we are always told “Keep it simple stupid.” It was getting waaay too complicated.
Dear Holly:
I admire and respect your decision. Too many people don’t listen to that little voice inside–you know, the one that tells you it’s time for a change. They let fear or guilt (or whatever other form of self sabotage exists) continue to knock ‘em off of their true path.
I have a feeling that Steve Jobs’ passing is causing more than a few of us to stop and re-assess where we’re at and where we need to go. Follow your passion, full-force! All of the best to you on your journey, and thank-you for sharing your knowledge with us over the years. God/dess Bless.
~Dawn
Holly,
I’ve learned so much from your newsletter, courses and how-to-books, which I am really grateful for. I’ve often been amazed of your commitment and wondered how you managed to do all those things. I will miss hearing from you regularly, but will look out for your books instead. I absolutely understand and support your decision, one I’m trying to make as well, and I wish you the very best with following your true passion.
Holly,
I’ll be fifty in March of next year. Some of what kicked me to go the self-published route are exactly the kinds of things you’re talking about.
I can only say (besides a gigantic thank you for everything you’ve contributed): I’m behind you all the way!
Hi Holly,
I so understand your decision
and
send blessings.
Thank you for all that you’ve done and for keeping HTTS and the Walkthrough available and alive.
Journey well,
write well,
Namaste,
Laurel