Daily Tao ☯ 5.9.17

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And so it begins… Brit #5 is underway! Catherine and I met this morning, tossed around some ideas, and settled on a course of action. I had a yummy lunch with my awesome publicist at Má Pêche, then did a quick phone interview about LIE TO ME, in which we were wildly diverted by the appearance of garden gnomes (I swear, the codeine has not gone to my head!)

And now I'm ensconced in the hotel with a big cup of tea, a cozy sweater, and my fat notebook, pulling together the ideas we cooked up into a more cohesive format for tomorrow morning’s session. Today was ironing out motivation, tomorrow will be plot, plot, plot. Then publisher meetings all afternoon. Super fun!

When I’m starting a book, I go in with a series of questions which are, in essence, a glorified version of who, what, where, when, and why. The why is always the most important, and can be the biggest stumbling block. Villains can quickly become one-dimensional mustache twirlers if you’re not careful with their true motivations. For me, finding the why behind the villain/killer is the key to a successful story. 

And I’m pretty sure we nailed it this morning. I’m excited to see where this takes us!

Hope your day was awesome!

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J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.