A New AWOW and The Last Smatterings of 2022

Sunday Smatterings logo on a christmas tree closeup

’Twas the night before…well, Saturday, because it’s Friday evening as I write this. I’m cuddled with the cats in front of the fire; it is genuinely chilly here in Nashvegas. The trees are lit, there is a holiday radio station on the TV (playing The Waitresses, naturally) and I’m going through my ToDo lists making sure everything has been covered before I bid 2022 a fond farewell.

It’s strange how this time of year makes us all flip out. I can’t help feeling compelled to get everything wrapped up, no loose ends or unfinished projects. This year, I am determined to take some time off, and not be worrying about work so I can enjoy the holidays. I have books to read, and cookies to make, and family to enjoy. Its time to put away the Type A personality and chill.

We started early with a quick trip to see bestie Paige and the godbabies in Georgia, which was so deeply soul-nourishing that I am still glowing. Also, Paige’s book launch at Hills and Hamlet was incredible. They have signed copies. You should buy one.

There are a few other things I wanted to share to wrap the year with a tidy bow.

On A WORD ON WORDS this week, I sat down with Gal Beckerman to discuss his fascinating book THE QUIET BEFORE.

If you get the newsletter, you already know about this, but if not, I was delighted to have an extensive, wide-ranging interview with my friend Cal Newport about the realities of becoming a thriller writer.

I made a new friend recently who shares my love of examining the deep life, albeit on her own terms. Lauren Lowrey has a very cool podcast called Amstigator, and her last show of the year discusses the vital nature of allowing ourselves to be fallow over the winter in order to build stronger roots for our creativity. I loved this idea, which is, of course, analogous to the seasonality discussions Cal has been sharing. It seems more and more of us are seeing the value in slowing down instead of grinding it out day after day.

Here’s a quick look at what I’m reading this month, in addition to Paige’s awesome THE LOST WITCH.

And on the Joss side of things, there’s a new short story out today called A BETRAYAL OF MAGIC that you can read for free if you sign up for the newsletter, or grab it on Kindle. A major goal for 2023 - I am taking Jayne’s world wide, so you’ll be able to buy/read from any store you like.

And lo, this brings me to a wonderful moment in time. I am closed for business until January 3!

Mr. E, the kitties, and I wish you a safe, healthy, peaceful, and joyous holiday season. See you in 2023!

Smatterings: For Love of ASMR Rooms

Thunder booms. Lightning flashes. the rain pummels the windows. But inside, you are safe, warm, womblike in the library. The fire crackles, candles flicker, the sconces on the wall glow gently. A clock ticks, and the susurrus of a pen scratching on paper lulls you into an almost hypnotic state. In this place, you can enter a flow state that allows your mind to genuinely focus on your tasks. 

ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, is a relatively new phenomenon. And, from my quick bit of research, it doesn’t work the same way for each person. That makes total sense to me--what I find lovely and relaxing in person (cozy interiors with snow or thunderstorms outside) might cause someone else great distress. The whispering ASMRs meant to comfort make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. There are thousands of ASMR rooms to choose from, to each their own.

I bring this up only because I’ve been doing work with my life coach recently focusing on rewiring myself to let go of internal blocks and accept the flow state, and I’ve combined it with my favorite ASMR rooms this week to great success. Here are a few of my favorite ASMR feeds if you want to give it a try yourself. Just be warned, it truly is hypnotic, and you might just create something magnificent!

Royal Library

Writing Library

Thunderstorm at Hogwarts

Everything from My Ambience especially Crackling Fireplace

I think you’re going to love working with some of these in the background. Let go and let it flow! Onward…

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Links 🔗

I’m up this week on A WORD ON WORDS interviewing Patti Callahan about her new book ONCE UPON A WARDROBE. I rarely get a chance to interview close friends on the show, and Patti and I have a tendency to finish one another’s sentences, which made for a fun, intimate conversation. 

An interesting piece about the influx of AI in the audiobook sector. What do you think?

Scott Young talks about goal setting and the science of achievement.

Susan DeFreitas spent a year reading Ursula LeGuin novels, and it blew her mind.

Another Worlde story, but with a nice look at all kinds of word puzzles.

The February Newsletter went out this week, with some fun news…

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Reads 📚

A good reading week in between the Olympics coverage. Finished THE WIFE STALKER (5 stars for creativity), moved on to Jennifer Armentrout’s FROM BLOOD AND ASH, dabbled a bit in SWAN DIVE by Georgina Pazcoguin, and made good progress on a galley from thriller author Adam Hamby. 

Happy Valentine’s Day! ♥️ I hope you’ve had a great weekend with a wonderful book!

Smatterings: A Little Productivity Pep Talk

Happy Sunday. I hope you’re safe and warm with a good book close by.

I had a conversation with a writer friend recently that I thought salient to this week’s note. This author is highly motivated and extremely creative. She regularly juggles multitudes of projects—quite successfully, I might add—writes quickly, is used to immersion into the worlds she creates. She was having an off day and was resisting the urge to beat herself up over the lack of productivity. Hyper-productive authors don’t do well with moments like this. I know that for a fact, because I too have these days when I can’t seem to move the chains no matter what I try. The words just aren’t there. Those days are rough, and it’s very easy to fall into the I am screwing everything up when you don’t hit your goals. Here is my response:

“Paradoxically, I think this is what makes us great creators. It's the same emotional diligence that keeps us coming back to the page and trying to create, even when there are bad days. It's tied to our self-discipline. So if you reframe it like that, it might help. Also, look into Cal Newport’s new ideas about slow productivity. It deemphasizes the micro in favor of the macro. I had a crap day Thursday, but looked back and realized I'd written 25,000 already for the month. (Last year I only wrote 140K, so this is a BIG leap forward for me) You'll be okay. You have a ton of projects you're juggling, and brains sometimes need a little rest from the incessant adrenaline spikes we give them.”

I stand by this advice for her, and for you. Those artists who suffer from extreme emotional frustration when they can’t produce are the same ones who, over time, accrete an impressive body of work.

Slow productivity is a real thing and is especially appropriate to writers. Very few of us can toss off 100,000 words in a month. It takes time to write a book. I’ve always equated writing novels to an ant eating an elephant. It takes thousands of small bites every day, day after day after day, to consume the whole thing. 

The next time you’re feeling frustrated that you need to lie fallow for a day or two, keep the faith. It’s just your brain recovering from the adrenal strikes. Over time, you’ll see that one or two bad days don’t matter at all.

And with that in mind, onward! 

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Links 🔗

Season 7 of our literary television show A WORD ON WORDS begins airing this week, and a huge Nashville welcome to my new co-host, the divine Alka Joshi, who digs deep into Jessamine Chan’s THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS!!! #keepreading

Publishing has been plagued by a scammer, and he’s finally been unmasked: The Talented Mr. Bernardini

My life coach has some advice for you: Savoring! 3 Ways to Squeeze More Sweetness out of Life

I’m sharing because it’s cool but also I call dibs: The Woman Who Can See 100 Million Colors

Who wants to be the master of their domain?

Some superb editing advice…

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Reads 📚

I had a momentary reading block earlier this week trying to conquer the paradox of choice that is my To Be Read pile. I finally settled on Sarah Pinborough’s amazing BEHIND HER EYES, and also watched the adaptation on Netflix, which was stellar, and Liv Constantine’s excellent THE WIFE STALKER, which helped me jump right into the proposal for my next book. Thanks, ladies, for the great books!

What are you reading this weekend?

Sunday Smatterings: Architects versus Designers

Happy Sunday! Yes, you’re seeing that right. The Friday blog wasn’t ready in time, so I pulled it, and thought I’d send it in the regular Sunday spot. Do you prefer Sunday mornings for these missives? Friday will always be my business day, it just works better, but I’ve discovered that if I’m to post a blog in a timely manner on Friday, I have to start thinking about it Wednesday and write it Thursday and guess what? That sort of defeats the purpose of business Fridays…

I’ve had crazy dreams this week, all of which were lucid. Crazy enough I’ve been considering sending one or two into This Jungian Life. I don’t know that I enjoy the dreams where, amid the action, I’m saying to myself, oh, you must remember this, it’s a great story; this is a new series concept; oh wow, this could be a super cool movie...

I am a visual person—a visual learner, thinker, writer. My characters’ conversations play out as small movie reels in my head. It’s not too much of a leap to understand that translates to my subconscious, too. It’s an architecture thing—the way the stories build, word by word, is clear as the noon sun to me. 

You’d think my brain would be overflowing with ideas when it comes to design. But when I try to envision a look, a placement, a color scheme, there’s nothing—black space. I am an architect, not a designer. A builder, not a guilder. They are two very different disciplines. Complementary, by necessity, but different. 

This inability to design traverses my entire landscape. I am a not-so-great photographer.  Drawing anything more complicated than a box, an arrow, or a piece of holly is simply beyond me. Friends kindly lend their expertise when it comes to styling bookshelves and furniture placement.

So when we get to designing artwork on books, you can imagine how challenging that is for me. I have a hard time conceptualizing what a cover should look like, so I rely on a cadre of highly talented artists to guide me. I need them to crawl inside my brain and tease out what I’m trying to explain, which can be challenging for everyone. I know what works the moment I see it, but explaining how to get there is not my forte. What I do know is what I don’t like. Which, I suppose, is a talent of sorts, too. 

Regardless, all this to say, Rachel and I have spent a couple of days this week with our fantastic artist working on the cover for MASTER OF SHADOWS. It is gorgeous. I can’t wait to share.

Also, it’s been a decent writing week. I’m now deep into the third act on this Taylor book, though I hit a wall Thursday and ended up having to have a conversation about the plot with my friend Jayne Ann Krentz (her new book, LIGHTNING IN A MIRROR, released this week, you should grab it!) Some fun action is happening, and while I don’t quite see the end, in the next couple of weeks, I’m hoping I’ll be unfolding my lucky Harvard T-shirt for the last day stretch. Wish me luck!

Onward!

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Links 🔗

(Yes, you read that right, too.) Here are some stories I dug this week:

Inside a Dying Japanese Town Obsessed With Aliens 

Colleen Hoover Did It Her Way

Finding Joy Through Art at the End of the World in ‘Station Eleven’

Our Kinder, Gentler, Nobody-Moves-Out Divorce

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Reads 📚

I’m deep into WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD now and finished an incredible book coming out in late summer called COMPLICIT. And a TBR shoutout: I also have THE PERFECT FAMILY by Robyn Harding in the queue. 

What are you reading this weekend?

Bohemian Like You

So yours truly went down a rabbit hole this morning listening to some music with the lyrics playing on the screen. I never write to songs with lyrics, but I was doing a Joss Walker newsletter and needed to reference the wonderful Garbage song “I”m Only Happy When It Rains” and the next thing I knew, I was hitting forward on a mixed soundtrack looking for lyrics of songs I adored. I know there are plenty of programs that do this, I just hadn’t seen it before. It’s quite handy if you, like me, tend to screw up lyrics. I’m the WORST. (Though I will give mad props to an old boyfriend who thought Tin Roof, Rusted in the B-52s classic “Love Shack" was Henry! Rest. Still makes me laugh.)

I listened to the fabulous “Bohemian Like You” by the Dandy Warhols, and then of course decided to try “Bohemian Rhapsody” which has many lines I never get right. I mean, I had no idea that A - it was Bismillah, nor that B - Bismilliah means “In the name of God” in Arabic. So. A rabbit hole in which I learned something. Winning.

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?

Bismillah! No, we will not let you go

(Let him go!)

Bismillah! We will not let you go

(Let him go!)

Anyway. That brings me to titles. Soooo many of my titles have their roots in song lyrics. That’s always been my go-to resource to title my projects. Get inspired by a song, write down a lyric, twist it around, and boom goes the dynamite. 

I do believe we’ve settled on a title for the 2023 standalone, and I love it, so yay, and interestingly, it is NOT a lyric. at all. It was actually a lament. I’ll be able to share it soon. Double yay.

But now I am now toying with two titles for the new Taylor book. I love them both. My agent loves them both. One is a play on a lyric from Les Miserables, and one is the working title I’ve had for this book from day one. They are both good. So don’t be surprised if I end up polling y’all to see what you think.

I wrote a lot this week. I had my all is lost, I need to put this book away, I will never finish, it’s terrible moment Wednesday night, and lo, yesterday I got to blow something up, and I was telling Mr. E, and boom—I saw what I needed to do. Fingers crossed it works. And since I’m on deadline for this Taylor book, it’s time for me to get back to the day job and move on to her world for the rest of the day.  

Friday Reads 📚

From my teetering TBR comes a highly anticipated read from Andrea Bartz, whose last novel I experienced, THE HERD, blew me away. I loved this cover, too. Vibrant and sassy. Have you read this one yet?