Welcome to another hot summer Sunday, friends! I come to you from the air-conditioned cool of my office, where I am suffering from that most ridiculous of problems, a desk chair that continues to sliiiiiiiiide from its proper position down to a shortie chair. It's disconcerting, to say the least, to start tall, keyboard and elbows in proper position, and by the end of the sentence, I am reaching up to the desktop to type. Comical, but annoying. The cats think it's great fun, though, and have been on this ride for the past half hour. Putting darling husband to work on it when he gets home.

There have been many, many words this week. It's so funny, at the beginning of a book, a 500 word day feels like an accomplishment. Toward the end, anything less that 2000 feels like slacking, and my word counts are often in the 3-5k range. There has also been a LOT of walking, yoga, and – cue the celebratory trumpets 🎺 – the laundry was folded, I unpacked from my Colorado trip, and I even cooked once. The self-care routine I spoke of in the July newsletter really is helping. (What? You don't get the newsletter? Egads! Sign up here, STAT!) I'm listening to A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES right now. I'm hurrying through my words so I can reward myself with a walk and a listen. Getting healthy, burning off stress, and immersing in a fabulous story–that is self care at its finest.

Enough from me, you're here for the links. Off we go, here's the latest news and bookish goodness!

Here's what happened on the Internets this week: 

Inside Gillian Flynn's Dark and Rage-Filled Empire. "It’s frighteningly easy for me to slip into the darkness; it’s crawling back out that’s trickier. I’m an empath, so I can get into most people’s brain space. I think most writers are. You grow up feeling like an outsider, and grow up trying to figure people out and what makes them tick." (Yes, we are. And paranoid alarmists, and conspiracy theorists of the worst sort. Comes with the territory.)

The Chinese Buddhist Billionaire Who Wants to Fix Your Brain. This is a fascinating long read. Do we need better testing to determine psychiatric disorders in order to secure better, more effective treatment? Absolutely. 

There Should Be No Internet for One Weekend Per Month. What if? I'm seriously considering this. I do go hours without on the weekend, but not the whole two days. Hmm...

Exciting news: Are you familiar with the The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society? It's coming our way August 10 thanks to Netflix! You still have time to read the book if you haven't already. I love a good epistolary novel, and this is one of my favorites.

11 Books that should be made into movies ASAP. This is a great list and not just because TEAR ME APART got a nice mention!

Against Chill.  Excellent—Chill is jumping the shark. We need less chill. More chilling, but less apathy.

And closer to home:

I am beside myself with joy over this starred review for TEAR ME APART from Publishers Weekly. 

The Real Book Spy shared a stunner review as well!

I'm really so happy TMA is being well received. I hope you love it, too! Would you like to read an excerpt? 

That's all for now! Drink some cool, tart lemonade, take a dip in the pool, make a donation to an animal rescue (I like this one) and I'll see you next week.

peace and hugs,
J.T.