One Of The Best Things About Nashville...

One of this big advantages of living in Nashville is the music. Last night, I had the pleasure of attending an awesome bi-monthly event called EAST SIDE STORYTELLIN’, which is put together by the indomitable Chuck Beard of the very cool East Nashville shop East Side Story. Every event features an author, and a musician. Words, and lyrics. What a beautiful combination.

By the way, Chuck’s bookstore is unique - populated with books by Tennessee authors only. It is a true labor of love, and I can’t recommend buying from him highly enough. Not only is it a cool bookstore, it’s filled with art and love. If you’re in Nashville, stop by. If you’re outside of Nashville - give Chuck a call. He can hook you up with just the right book. Because Nashville - heck, all of Tennessee - is FULL of brilliant writers. We’ve undergone quite the literary renaissance lately, and Chuck has all of us there.

So back to last night - a great match up of words and lyrics. The author was Alecia Whitaker, the music by Alissa Moreno. These two have been teamed together for Alecia’s book, WILDFLOWER, the story of a young singer who’s gotten her big break, and Alissa sang the breakout song that’s featured in the book. There’s even a talent search underway for the next big star, so if you know a great teen signer, send them here. The book itself is the brainchild of Kathryn Williams, developmental editor of Aerial. This is a great example of Nashville teamwork. 

And I officially have a crush on Alissa Moreno. What a voice! You know how some songs, some people, just strike you? Well, you’ve heard her before, too, though you may not know it. She’s one of those amazingly talented singer/songwriters who populate this town. I bought one of her albums, and I’m stoked to go see her around town.

And since this has turned into a linkfest instead of my initial premise, I’ll get to it now. I am not a signer. I have no discernible musical talent. I played a bunch of instruments in school — clarinet, mostly, but sax and flute and drums and guitar, too — but they didn’t speak to me like words, and I had to choose between band and G&T classes, and I chose the latter. As such, I am always fascinated by people who have both words and melody in their heads. It seems such an ethereal gift, less workmanlike, more tangible than words alone. I know I can turn a phrase, but do I give people goosebumps and make tears come to their eyes? 

That’s how I felt last night. That overwhelming spark that sends tingles throughout your body when you hear just the right voice, just the right note, just the right words. I didn’t want the evening to end.

Do check out these extremely talented women, and give Chuck a whirl — you won’t be disappointed.

Have you been moved by anything or anyone lately? 

10.30.14 - How Do You Use Your Writing To Attain Your Goals?

Last week I asked a hard question - why do you write? Now that you’ve had time to think about it, I have another question for you. 

How do you use your writing to attain your goals?

 

  • Do you lose yourself in story?
  • Do you spend your time deep inside your characters heads?
  • Do you talk about your work on social media?
  • Do you keep plugging away on the same book, year after year?
  • Do you write when the spirit moves you?
  • Do you wait for lightning to strike and the perfect story to land in your lap?
  • Do you write every day, with a schedule and attainable goals? 
  • Do you honor your writing time, and expect those around you to honor it too?
  • Do you take yourself seriously?
  • Do you learn about publishing, enough to understand which path you want to take?
  • Do you procrastinate, then complain to friends how hard writing is?

You already know the answer to the question, don’t you? The only way to succeed at your writing goals, no matter what they are, is to show up to do your work. Yes, lightning strikes. How many writers can you name who’ve had that one idea that propelled their career and allowed them to never write another book again? Harper Lee comes to mind. J.D. Salinger. 

Ergo, it doesn’t happen all that often. You have to write. You can’t succeed in your career if you don’t write the book of your heart, right now. Write the book that you’ve always wanted to write. Life is too damn short to wait. What if, God forbid, something happened to you tomorrow, and you hadn’t worked on it?

Yes, yes, we have to maintain our careers. We have to feed the family and make the deadlines. But I challenge each and every one of you to spend five minutes each and every day writing the book of your heart.

Because guess what? That’s the book that will break you out. Break you free. Your passion for the story, the characters, the setting, will translate.

And it might break you entirely. You may feel like you’ve already written that book, and no one responded. Or it didn’t achieve the acclaim you wanted. Revisit it. You’re a better writer now. You’ve learned so much. You’ve achieved so much. You can rebuild it. Make it stronger. You know it’s not perfect. Nothing ever is.

Five minutes a day. Only five. Two hundred words. That’s a solid, single, solitary paragraph. That’s all it takes. You do that everyday, starting tomorrow, and the book of your heart will be there waiting for you in a year. 

And when you’re ready, you can love your perfect story into being. Sell it, sit on it, whatever. 

But isn’t THAT why we’re writers? To tap into our very souls and create something that makes our hearts sing?

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.

10.27.14

It's 6:00 p.m., and I haven't gotten a thing done on the WIP, because the edits came in for WHAT LIES BEHIND! I haven't seen this book in two months, so I'm excited to dig in and reacquaint myself with the story. And of course, I had a fun conversation with my editor about the eerie timeliness of the book -- at it's heart, it's about an attack on the U.S. using an Ebola-esque hemorrhagic virus. Yeah. Topical much?

I had a heck of a time writing it, too because the concept was developed last year and I was more than halfway through the story well before the outbreak, and as the outbreak continued to spread, I kept having to change the book so it didn't look like I'd stolen the story from the headlines. Because I, apparently, am simply too prescient when it comes to writing about current events. I remember months ago, telling my agent about my struggles, and he asked if it was at all possible for Ebola to spread in the US. And I assured him it was. To New York, he asked? Oh, yeah, I answered. Hard to spread, because of the nature of transmission, but we'll have a few cases here and there. Trust me, I know way too much about everything that's happening right now.

This isn't the first time I've had a coincidence like this in my writing. As a matter of fact, it seems to happen with alarming frequency. Perhaps I need to start writing books about people winning the lottery and cancer being cured and the alleviation of grief and suffering. It's a thought.

My parents are coming for a visit tomorrow. I have all kinds of things planned, and went shopping tonight and bought all their favorite foods. Made a nice big pot of chicken soup for dinner, too, so the house smells like salt and warmth and happiness.

The larder is full, the edits await, the minions have been gifted with a new catnip trout, and the soup is bubbling away. I call it a day well spent, even though I wrote not a single word.  

Wait. Does the blog count?

/Source

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.

10.22.14 - Why Do You Write?

I find the following question to be one of worth to all writers, at every stage of the game, from aspiring to NYT bestseller:

Why do you write? 

I admit to a deep interest in the question. I have a number of author friends whose opinions matter to me a great deal, and I’m curious to see if any of them will stop by and share their answer.* 

I ask also because I recently had the pleasure of attending a writing retreat with a number of brilliant, talented writers, and we touched on this, albeit briefly. I came out of the discussion with this -- I think it’s one of the hardest questions a writer can ask themselves, and truthfully answer.

Because there are a million answers to the question of why create art. Especially when there’s quite a precedent that shows creating our unique “art” does not guarantee fame, fortune, or self-actualization, as so many of us are hoping. On the contrary, it often leads to rack and ruin, unhappiness and divorce, even, at its worst, death.

So why do we keep at it? What is it that drives us?

Here’s a top of mind list of why we write (and by write, I mean create, in any form):

  • To be read
  • To make a living
  • To win awards
  • To become famous
  • To get a job
  • To tell stories that need to be told
  • To entertain
  • To affect change
  • To give people something to think about
  • To alter the course of humanity
  • To show someone you can
  • To get rich
  • To win over a love interest
  • To get revenge
  • To chase away demons
  • To satisfy some indefinable inner urge to write
  • To heal thyself

There are many more reasons. What do you think, fellow scribblers? Are you willing to share why you do it? I’ll go first. 

I write to entertain, to affect change, to make a living, to chase away demons, to heal my soul, and because I can’t imagine doing anything else.

What about you?

*The comments section of the blog is back open! All previous issues with SPAM have been fixed, and I’ve discovered I like having the conversation here. So feel free to join in, writer and reader alike!

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.

9.24.14 - On Starting

Novel the 16th is underway. I feel like I need to start marking these moments as they happen - beginnings, and endings. So here’s a shot of my word counter at the end of today’s two writing sessions. I did 600 this morning, just spit them out, then had an interview that went longer than either of us expected, then took care of a few things (ahem… drinking tea and playing catch with the cats) before I returned to the manuscript and tossed down another 700. Perhaps not the most lightning strike of first days, but I’ll take it. Stephen King says it best:

“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”

It’s so true. I am always terrified of starting. Granted, Catherine and I have been massaging the plot for this book for a couple of weeks now, and will continue to do so, probably until the very end. And I have a 20 page synopsis done and 20 pages of notes, but the actual words, the opening line, the beginning - that’s what’s so freaking scary to me.

Oh, yes, it might do to mention this is the new Nicholas Drummond novel - the third in the series. Number two, THE LOST KEY, comes out Tuesday (“WHAT?” you say. “I hadn’t heard…”) and I refuse to be cowed by the good reviews and responses like I did when I was starting THE FINAL CUT. Oh, did I not mention that lovely bit of writerly neurosis? Yes, well. Now you know.

One of my favorite reader questions is which book is my favorite? For me, it’s the one that’s just released, because there’s no more pressure, no more worry and anticipation. It’s out in the world doing it’s thing, and officially out of the my fiddling writer’s hands. 

So until Tuesday, I will fret and bite my nails and drive you mad on social media and hope that the new book is well-received, but whilst I'm worrying, I'm going to keep my head down and keep on writing the next one. 

Because that’s what we do. We write, in the face of fear and anxiety, pain and illness, joy and sorrow. 

We write.

And so it begins…

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.