Hello, chickens! Happy Father's Day to my daddy, and all the other awesome dads out there!

What a week we've had. Assistant Leigh and I have been cooking up lots of social media goodness, I made some decent strides on the Brit in the FBI book, and the secret project I've been working on over the weekends is almost ready to announce. And then there was the great spider invasion of 2018. 

I hate spiders. They're my kryptonite. And there is a size and situational threshold that I take very seriously. I know they do good, and if they're outside and not attacking me, they get left alone. But when they're the size of half dollars and perched in my foyer? Oh hells no.

It all started when husband said "Wow, this is a big spider. And you know it's big if I say it's big." Then, thwack! and "Babe, bring me a paper towel."

I, approaching with trepidation, arriving with the savior paper towel to see a monstrous THING on the floor... and tons of tiny dots surrounding it. And then they started to MOVE. Yes, it was a mom with her babies -- and yes, I know, but IN MY HOUSE!

Took a good ten minutes of smashing and thwacking to restore order. Husband, nonplussed, went to bed, and I was about to join him when Jameson started pouncing on something. Assuming it was more babies, I approached with a shoe, only to see a brown recluse. Um, no. Husband thundered down the stairs in response to my screams and dispatched the beast. Nightmare scenario for this arachnophobe. 

And five minutes ago, the cats were playing with something that turns out to be another, smaller recluse. So they're in the house, and there's more than one, and I am freaking out. I may work at a cafe today. I mean, really. 

So on that cheery note, on to the links... Here's the latest news and bookish goodness!

Here's what happened on the Internets this week:

Why It's Important To Work Hard. Hint: it’s not all about getting rich. Being fulfilled, knowing you've done your best, given it your all, is so satisfying.

Focus Starts With Self-Care and Unplugging. I love my Freedom app— and Leesa Renee Hall speaks a lot of truth about how to keep yourself focused, and why you should.

Speaking of focus and discipline, my coauthor Catherine Coulter expressed it perfectly this week:

“I was thinking about discipline and realized you really can't succeed without it. For example, writing, dancing, accounting, preaching, exercise -- anything you name -- you have to be disciplined and discipline means you must do the activity at the same time every single day (or let's get real and say 5 or 6 days a week -- I write 5 days a week and only on weekends when there's a deadline.) So if you want to have the chance to be great at your chosen metier OR if you want to have a fit healthy bod, then you must be disciplined and that means being scheduled. Never forget, you control the horizontal and the vertical, no one else.”

Soy Is Not A Health Food. Important piece by Randy Ellison. Full disclosure, the gentleman with the byline is my husband, and I have witnessed this firsthand. As a GF/celiac myself, I have to say soy and it's byproducts are our next true health crisis. 

The Kids Are Writing School Shooting Fiction. "There, on a site usually dedicated to painting innocent fantasies about being Harry Styles’s girlfriend, teens and preteens are living through a culture so dominated by guns that fears of their schools going on lockdown and fantasies of martyring themselves to save their friends have seeped into the stories they tell."

Work It: Prioritizing Your Life. I absolutely LOVE this conversation about boundaries and saying no. My default answer for the rest of the year is NO.

17 F*cks You Should Finally Stop Giving When You're A Grown And Mature Person. A-f*cking-men.

My Number One Productivity Tip. Simple but great advice. When I worked I used to do this -- when I travel I always do this. One less important decision to make. What’s yours?

An Eater’s Guide to Nashville. There are a lot of inside jokes in Nashville, but one is about the restaurant scene. People ask what is our favorite or the best restaurant in town, and we all look around and shrug, say well, I don't know, I never go downtown. (Downtown Nashville is a pain to reach for a casual night out, traffic, crowds, tourists, make it really difficult.) So if you're coming to town, here's a list!

And closer to home:

Enter to win a copy of LIE TO ME, plus more than 45 crime fiction thrillers! That's not enough? BookSweeps is giving away an ereader too. We're in such good company here. Good luck! 

And the June newsletter went our Thursday night, with a fun recipe and other goodies. If you don't have it, check your spam filters, and if you want it, you can sign up here.

That's all for now! Run through a sprinkler, drink some lemonade and watch the fireflies, and we'll talk again soon.

xo,
J.T.