Author: hollyfrostgoldportpress

By Holly the Assistant

A couple days ago, Sarah had the bright idea of listing off a bunch of authors on X, and asking her followers who else writes and Xeets. So we have a list, of Indy, Trad, and whatever other flavors of writers are around. This also prompted me informing a whole lot of folks that if you get paid for it you are a professional, and yesterday’s repost at MGC of the Real Writer Certificate. (You can get yours here: https://madgeniusclub.com/2026/01/21/the-velveteen-author/)

Here is the list of Xeeting authors. They may or may not post politics, writing, or anything else: the single requirement was that someone who follows Sarah put the handle on the list. (FTR IndyAntifa is MadMike. Because trollolol.)

@davefreersf

@Jringo1508

@mcahogarth

@JulieCFrost

@TKratman

@NathanCBrindle

@BradRTorgersen

@karentraviss

@Sverizona

@The_Hankerchief

@JohnTaloni

@monsterhunter45

@zakueins

@Andrew_G_Nelson

@RocketPulpHack

@RickPartlow66

@TheJasonAnspach

@Hadrians_Gate

@hpcjoe

@wallywaltner

@DentonSalle

@JayMaynard

@Ogiel23

@KarlKGallagher

@paul_leone

@AlysssaHazel

@LydiaSherrer

@Devon_Eriksen_

@RileyCBolt

@RGWilliscroft

@AlastairMayer

@Dr_Mauser

@NewCoffiest

@Rhodri2112

@JohnBailey64182

@bpardoe870

@caitliniwalsh

@Jesse_A_Barrett

@raconteur_press

@WatcherDamned

@cedarlili

@HollyChism

@dagney_kavanagh

@IndyAntifa

@DavidB90524

@djwojcik57

@wombat_socho

@PulpHerb

@mmcshanewrites

@profornery

With that out of the way, you may notice that some of your favorite authors are pointing you to places other than Amazon a lot more than they have previously. This is likely mostly for the very practical reason that Amazon has been having some code issues lately. They appear to be fixing it as fast as they reasonably can, but it is, I am told by those who have reason to know, a large and kludgy amount of total code. They have informed authors of the problems, but the problems are on going, and if you encounter one on the buyer end, go ahead and report it to them.

For instance, I went hunting for a brand new book by a friend that I knew Sarah wanted a link for. Brand new, as in it had only dropped that moment, the friend had posted it on Facebook and as is the nature of Facebook, it put a bunch of tracking crud in the link. I had the author name and title in hand. And Amazon’s website refused to turn off the 4 stars plus filter for me. Which, being a brand new book, I could not find, because no one had yet finished reading it and starred it. I griped to friends: Nathan didn’t have the broken filter issue and was able to get the actual clean link for me.

That sort of silly code problem. If we can’t find books, we can’t buy books, and authors really like us to buy books.

And if no one told you, the new Dresden Files dropped yesterday. Early reports from friends include “Didn’t sleep” and “Work’s going to suck today but worth it”. So see you on the other side!

AND I got to see another chapter of the sequel to No Man’s Land. I adore the first voice character. She’s the kind of woman I aspire to be. Though maybe leaving fewer dead bodies behind . . . but they all deserve it, so . . . yeah. When I grow up, I want to be Vic.

By Holly the Assistant

(Last night Sarah messaged me that she wasn’t feeling well, would I please take the blog today? So please keep her in your prayers and good thoughts: half the folks I know are down with the winter crud right now and it’s a doozy.)

Good Morning, Usaians, and other Huns and Hoydens!

“Holly,” you ask, “Why are you posting this so many months before July?”

Well, I’m glad you asked. See, my life–since I was two–has been spent in the performing arts. Not the fancy movies kind, but the small, local shows kind. And I married a guy from a similar background, and we raised kids that way, and . . . six months before a show of this scale goes up, you better have a good idea what this production is going to look like.

And it IS a show. A HUGE show. Maybe the biggest show of our lives, for those of us born just after the 200th. So since I’m currently finishing up an arrangement of a group of nice, historical, patriotic songs, for my cello students to play (historical? Yes, do I look like I want to deal with ‘who even owns the copyright? Them? Ugh.’), and considering the ups and downs of playing in the local symphony’s Independence Day concert, I thought I’d poke around the net a bit for what other places are doing.

There’s an official website supposedly for everyone to list their celebrations on. Well, let me tell you, that’s not actually happening. Yet. Most places will probably get around to it eventually, but . . . I know of the local celebrations and none of them are there. https://america250.org/ But there ARE things going on at the national level. There’s a place to register your service hours. There’s a competition for the kiddos. There’s a video recording tour thing . . . interviews with Americans about what America means and you can nominate people for it. Please go nominate people for it. Our people’s voices should be included in the official records. You know the people–and if I list names I’ll have a bunch of grumpy dangerous folk mad at me, so just go do it.

My local towns go all in for Independence Day every year, and looking at their websites, and the county’s, there’s a LOT more going on this year. (I mentioned the symphony playing the fireworks? We usually don’t meet June-August.) I know the civic organizations I’m a member of are doing things, and not just the usual Free Water Bottle Station at the Independence Day parade.

I know a bunch of us are on the solitary side of curmudgeon–looks at the mirror–but it is healthy for even us, as health allows, to get involved with other folks, and this is a good time for it, for us. This is something we can believe in, that while not perfect, America is the best country to ever exist and worthy of celebration. And we all have skills of use for this. I know a bunch of you are going to be involved on the emergency communications side, the medic side, etc. But those of us who are best at putting on a show? At hawking wares at a fair? Painting a wall? Just existing wearing clothes? We’re also needed.

Let’s make this the biggest and best party yet, and give the ‘kids these days’ in another fifty years something to top.

What’s your area doing? Got ideas for how to do this even more and better? Tell me about them.

by Holly the Assistant

Good morning Huns and Hoydens, pull up your chairs, grab your hot cocoa, and let me tell you a story, while Sarah writes over there in her chair.

Many, many years ago, before I ever met Sarah, long enough ago that the kids involved are grown and flown, I met a lady named Pam Uphoff on the internet. She wrote fun books, she let me proofread them, which meant I got free entertainment, she got proofed books, and we were young and broke and had kids, so money was often tight. She wrote a couple juvenile books under the pen name Zoey Ivers, and I bought them for my boys.

And they fell in love.

Those two agreed on nothing, except that having to share a room was the worst ever. They still agree on very little. But they did and do agree that this Zoey Ivers is the Best Writer Ever. She doesn’t put “Ick, romance” in her books. She doesn’t put “Stupid Adults” in her books. She puts Good Adventures in her books. “You know, Ma, the kid who got grounded totally deserved it.” I liked the books–they didn’t encourage stupid behaviors, they had good stories. The boys liked the books. Win-win.

My husband got laid off. Christmas rolled around. And I thought, ok, well, a new paperback isn’t that much, and they’d share it for a gift, I can scrape the money up, if the third book is out by then. I knew the first two stories were done–I was in contact with Pam by blog and by email, after all. So I emailed her. She emailed back. The book would not be done by Christmas.

You guys, Pam sent me the first two stories as attachments to the email, and said I could print them out for my boys for Christmas.

There was some candy in the stockings, not much, but some, and a couple hotwheels cars. There were socks under the tree. Our sons didn’t care. They had new stories. That was all they cared about.

To this day, they tell me the Best Christmas Ever was when they woke up to two thirds of Atlantis+ in their stockings. And, like I said, they’re grown adults now. Nothing, ever, has topped Pam’s act of kindness and generosity to those two boys at Christmas.

Thank you for listening. If you’ve got young’uns and need books, or if you like books for young’uns, here’s the affiliate links to the books: Barton Street Gym: https://amzn.to/4qoV5rT Chicago: https://amzn.to/4pbcRhz Atlantis+: https://amzn.to/4pliYQl

by Holly the Assistant

It’s that time of year: last minute shopping, shipping, etc. No worries, just busy. Sarah says to let y’all know because you do fret.
Please deck the blog comments, but not Holly, thank you. See you in a bit.

By Holly the Assistant

“I want to spend the day writing, can you post something cute tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

It’s tomorrow, and I realized I don’t do cute. I do snark, puns, occasional humor, and sometimes, if I’m lucky, beauty, but cute? Cute is for fluff-brained small animals. Wait, I have some fluff-brained small animals around this place! But are they being cute?

I don’t remember the part of the Bethlehem story when Gertrude sat in the manger, do you?

The orange and white NEVER holds still unless she’s being held. Quicksilver the ADHD kitty, and her brother The Wolf. (That’s the feeding station for gooshy food. Which is why she wasn’t moving very much.)

“Dere’s a Caw yellin at me!” Rocket says.

And then there’s The Wolf, posing for all he’s worth, because he knows he’s Living Art.

Still Life, with tomatoes and The Wolf.

The rest of the menagerie didn’t manage to pull off photogenic yet this fall. (And honestly, Quicksilver’s only in there because her parents’ and siblings’ humans read here, and these weird cats actually look at pictures of their family on screen. I don’t want to worry her mom by only showing her brother.)

Cute? I don’t know, you tell me! Now soliciting cute critter stories in the comments.

(Sarah is en route home, and you will hopefully return to your irregularly regular blog tomorrow or the next day. This has already been the sort of road trip that will have stories about it told for years, so please pray for no more interesting events. Now let’s see if I can make the blog sit up and tap dance today or not, or if it’s going to misbehave at me. –Holly the Assistant)

I’m still mired deep in writing, though the treacle has got somewhat less sticky and I can see the end from where I am.

However, for several days now, I’ve had this song stuck in my head:

Riding on the City of New Orleans,
Illinois Central Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.
All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out at Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.
Passin’ trains that have no names,
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

Good morning America how are you?
Don’t you know me I’m your native son,
I’m the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I’ll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

I know the song echoes of bitterness and all that, but the thing is, I’ve always loved that opening because I’ve always loved early morning America seen from car or bus.  The little houses by the side of the highway, the fast foods opening up, traffic slugishly trickling out onto the highway.

Continue reading “Blast from the Past-Jan 20, 2009” →

By Holly the Assistant

(Sarah’s well, I spoke with her earlier today. You might just be stuck with me through the weekend, but at least this time I’m not also traveling.)

Interesting time of year in America, isn’t it? A rather interesting and very commercialized holiday, harvest has wrapped up or is wrapping up, children scrambling for costumes or begging for boughten costumes, creativity on high display, sugar highs . . . memento mori . . .

My travels a couple weeks ago included accompanying my mother to graveyards where some of her ancestors, and my father, were laid to rest. A lot of interesting and not always nice family history came up, and I’ve written it down with relevant photoes for my kids, the great-great-great-great (counts on fingers) grandchildren of the perpetrators. I don’t mind graveyards: they’re very empty and quiet, a nice place for an introvert, but I know a lot of folks do mind them. Most of the old family houses are gone, no living relatives remain in the area in close enough degree for us to know of them, but her childhood church and the graveyards remain.

We’re coming up on an off year election here, and it’s been interesting seeing all the local political kerfluffles and drama. Oh yes, this town has pulled off as much drama about a mayoral election as you’d expect in a presidential race. No one has been arrested . . . yet . . . This is your reminder to go look up your local candidates before the vote, and also any ballot measures. (Assuming your candidates have not been putting on the show ours have, in which case you already know far too much of the dirt.)

Once the sugar rush is over, it’s worth taking a few moments to think about those who came before and how we ended up where we are today, and to talk about it with the next generations. Whether that’s the families moving to find work or congenial neighbors that led us to the places we live in, or the politicians they chose to fix the most urgent problems of their time and place, which fixes have led to the problems of our times and places, we, and our world, did not spring fully formed from nothing. We come from the past, including the past we do not know, and we’re going to the future, which we also do not know, but have great hopes and dreams for. Being mindful of the past and the ideas passed along to us, and who gave them to us and why, and after due consideration discarding those that are harmful, is only wise on this one-way trip.

Have a safe, sugary, and peaceful holiday.

By Holly the Assistant

Well, Sarah left me in charge again, and let me just tell you she’s traveling far too much, if necessarily so, this fall. Please to not do anything we’d have to explain when she gets back, such as taking over large countries or painting the blog pink. Exploring the floating mountains is fine, or even investigating what the heck is up with what appears to be a very odd celestial body or two in that sky. (Is it one or two? Is the AI high?)

And since I used an earworm for a title, well, yes, I think she spends enough time making music with the clanker to count for the purpose of lyrics, don’t you? Here, have an Elly tune to tide you over.

Due to interference from Indiana. But wouldn’t you be delayed due to one handed typing if this handsome fellow needed you to pet him?

Holly

By Holly the Assistant

THWACK!

This meeting of the Huns and Hoydens will come to order. Mr. Vice President, are all present members of the Huns and Hoydens and entitled to participate in our meeting?

Thank you. All present will join me in pledging allegiance to the flag of our country.

Mrs. Secretary, you will call the roll.

Familiar cadence, isn’t it? Some of you are frowning because I didn’t call for the Opening Prayer, or the Motto, or some other bit that, in the group you know best, belongs between the question of if those present are properly voting members or not, and calling the roll. We learned it in 4-H, or in a collecting club, or scouting, or any number of youth organizations. Some of us honed our illegible handwriting by repeatedly getting stuck in the job of secretary as kids.

This is not, i was informed in the early years of our marriage by my husband, a matter learned worldwide. But Americans, Americans may do it badly or wrong, but we have a concept of making a motion and seconding it burned into us pretty early on. We might have to look up if five people vote in favor, four against, and two abstain from voting, if the motion has achieved a majority or not. And most of us have at least a passing familiarity with the existence of Robert’s Rules of Order (and how Gen. Robert came to write it is worth reading https://robertsrules.com/our-history/) and probably in any given organization someone has a copy and can find and look up the question.

We can pretty easily put together a legislative body that can more or less function, and almost draw straws for who has to open the first meeting and run elections to get a chair or president or whatever we wish to call the leader, and get by, in a pinch. And we very nearly do govern our country that way: we make our county commissioners do it, our school board, our library board, our fire board . . . (No, I had not read Alpheus’ guest post when I decided to write this for . . . whatever day it is, in the weirdness that is travel, but it rhymes.)

You know, and I know, and the fifteen-year-old 4-H club president knows, how to run a meeting by parliamentary procedure. It’s not that hard, once you’ve done it. And if you haven’t, go find a local club for whatever you are interested in, and let them teach you how. It’s one of our basic civics skills in the USA.

I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

Thank you, and a second?

Thank you. it has been moved by the dragon and seconded that we adjourn. Is there any discussion? Are you ready for the question? All in favor will raise their right hand or forefoot. All opposed same sign. The motion is carried.

This meeting of the Huns and Hoydens is adjourned.

THWACK!