The news broke today that Holly Lisle, author and teacher, passed on August 27th. I didn’t know her personally, but she is absolutely the reason this site, not to mention my life as it currently is, exists.
Back when I was getting ready to start my first year of university, I had enough extra money to buy a MacBook. It was my first laptop and the first computer that was properly mine. The first thing I did with it was watch Spirited Away finally, after wanting to ever since it was first released in North America. The second thing I did was look up worldbuilding advice online.
At the time, I was very focused on improving my writing and hopefully finally finishing an actual novel, so when that fated Google search brought me to Holly Lisle’s website, I eagerly took in everything she had to say on the subject. Finding out she had courses available, I convinced my parents to help me get How to Think Sideways, Holly’s course on writing and publishing (including self-publishing!), and joined her class forums. Little did I know that this would kick off a series of events that led me to where I am today.
Through her forums, I met all kinds of people, some of whom are still friends (including Katharina Gerlach, who I was able to meet in person when I travelled around the world for a year after graduating university!). Because of her courses and her general help and guidance online, I got into self-publishing. I also got onto Twitter (when it was actually good) and connected with even more people, especially when I joined the Puttytribe to try to figure out how to include all of what I loved in more of my life.
Due to a connection in the Puttytribe (Tim Fau), I was able to do a skill trade- he made the first version of this site, before I really took it live. That started me on website design and maintenance, blogging, and email lists. Because, well, I couldn’t afford to pay for someone else to do that for me, I learned how to do it myself. And, for the same reason, I learned how to do as much of the self-publishing process as I could by myself, too. Including ebook and paperback formatting, both of which I absolutely hate doing 😂
Building these skills allowed me to start working as a self-employed virtual assistant in early 2016, with my first client being another member of the Puttytribe and now a dear friend, Shanna Mann. That virtual assistant job eventually (thanks to Shanna) morphed into the tech support I do now.
And now we come full circle.
The last interaction I had with Holly was when she was moving all her courses over to LifterLMS and, thanks to the tech skills I’d gained over the years, I was able to find a solution to a rather large problem (with a surprisingly simple solution!) that was majorly slowing down the last part of the migration. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to help someone who had and continues to be so instrumental in my writing and self-employed journey. It is, now that I think about it, somewhat poetic, and the best way I can think of to have thanked her for all the good that’s come into my life because she’d thought to make worldbuilding advice available on her website for anyone who wanted it. That said, I want to try a thank you with words, too.
Thank you, Holly. You told me my dream was possible, and I believed you. You told me how I could make it possible, and I did. If not for you, none of my books, and so few of the books of so many authors would exist. I know that whenever I’m ready to publish again, if that happens again (I’m hopeful but not interested in forcing an outcome), your words will be there, waiting for me, ready to help me continue learning and growing in this area of life that I love.
You talked about how none of us can or should try to save the world with our words, but I must say, you sure made the world better than how you found it for countless people. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a lot of worlds saved. And, as someone who is recovering their words, no matter how slow the process is, I still believe you that my dreams are possible and in those dreams are so many worlds…
Thank you. You lived exactly the right life for you, and that has been a beautiful thing to see. Your legacy will live on.
