Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday to you all! Hope you’re having a lovely day. A little business first. In case you missed it, the November Newsletter hit inboxes Friday with a few ruminations on gratitude and a tasty banana bread recipe. We’ve been working busily behind the scenes to get moved over to a new delivery service, so we spiffed up the look, too. If you didn’t get it, check your bulk mail folder and sweep it into your inbox. Thanks!

There’s been a LOT of communication from me this week, which always feels a little cringey. It was a crazy week of books on sale, backlist titles on sale, the newsletter. Never fear, I will be going back to the more normal schedule of once or twice a week now.

We’re halfway through November and you know what that means — it’s time to check the NaNoWriMo word counts. Drumroll please... nope, not at 25,000 for the month — but I’m close. My goal for this month of concentrated communal writing is simple: move the story forward. That’s it. Yes, I want the coveted 50k, but I want to get out of this rut more.

It’s very normal for me to circle a story for several months, writing and rewriting and (rewriting) before it all clicks into place, and then I’m off to the races. This new one has been very different. I’ve been circling since May. Changed a thousand and one things, then changed them all back, then changed them back again. It wasn’t until I started this month determined to stop fretting and just write that it finally broke free. Things are grooving along again. I am more intimate with my lead characters than I have been before. I abandoned two subplots and new ones cropped up that work so much better. That’s always the way of writing, though. When you try to force an idea it’s like a square peg in a round hole.

Despite putting in my time on NaNo, it wasn’t just writing this week. As mentioned above, we managed to move the newsletter to a new email delivery service. Holiday prep has begun: I ordered Christmas cards, DH ordered a special soy-free turkey (did you know all the grass-fed chicken and turkey are given “vegetarian diets” which means soybeans? And that regular chicken is injected with a solution made up of soy? Yech!) I even moved around a little on the old knee. I’m still not doing cartwheels, but I can balance all of my weight on one leg, which feels triumphant. Before the second surgery that wasn’t even remotely feasible, it would buckle and I’d fall. The pain is gone, too, just twinges here and there. Hurrah! 

All in all, a good week. Might even make an apple pie this weekend as a Thanksgiving test run — I found an almond flour crust recipe that looks delightful.

On to the links…

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THE LATEST ON THE INTERNET:

50 Best Harry Potter Gifts in 2019: Ideas for Kids and Adults. So many great gift ideas! I would love a Deathly Hallows necklace…

Author Zadie Smith On Difficulties Of Dressing For Life In London And New York. Just fabulous. I don’t speak the language of fashion, but I was fascinated nonetheless.

The Cat’s Meow: 14 Authors on Their Feline BFFs. Authors and their cats…what more do we need?

'His Dark Materials' review: A gorgeous introduction to a complex world. Sunday night on HBO is fun again. I loved how closely the first episode followed the books - hard to say this is the next Game of Thrones; the base stories are too dissimilar. But is this a fabulous fantasy adaptation? Yes!

A Word on Words #3607: J.T. Ellison. Behold: A very young thrillerchick in her first-ever interview with the brilliant John Seigenthaler — yes, I was on the other side of the A Word on Words interviews!) #keepreading

The 5-Hour Workday Gets Put to the Test. This is easily adapted to a creative workday as well...I can’t do more than 4 hours of creative without my head exploding anyway.

Philip Roth Left $2 Million to Newark, New Jersey Public Library. What an incredible gift that will keep on giving!

Time management Monday: How to use habit trackers to achieve your goals. I've only just realized my daily word tracker is really a suped-up habit tracker.

What are Preorders, and Why Do They Matter? Very grateful to everyone who has preordered my books over the years! It makes such a difference. You can preorder GOOD GIRLS LIE, out December 30!

Related: The Best Thing You Can Do to Support a New Book. Preorder, preorder, preorder, baby!

How to Use the Alastair Method Weekly Spread. Having some serious planner envy. If only I could make mine look like this…

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WHAT I’M READING:

TRUTH BE TOLD by Kathleen Barber

I am so excited that Kathleen Barber’s book ARE YOU SLEEPING is being adapted by Apple TV – and being rereleased under the title TRUTH BE TOLD.

I loved this book. I was completely hooked from the very first page. Layers of deceit, family drama, a murdered father, a disturbed mother, mayhem, cults, lies, betrayals, and a possibly deranged podcaster--this story has it all. Lanie and Josie are Janus twins, and their twisting lives left me breathless. Who to trust? Who to believe? Who really killed their father? TRUTH BE TOLD taps into our collective conscience with a true crime podcast propelling the narrative and takes an unflinching look at the truths we create about ourselves. Kathleen Barber is a fabulous new author to watch. If you like twisty psychological thrillers, this is your book. And watch the Apple TV series, starring Oscar winner Octavia Spencer & produced by Reese Witherspoon, coming soon!

What are you reading?

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That’s it from me. Let me know if you liked the new and improved newsletter, pick some apples, start planning your Thanksgiving meal, and I’ll see you next week!

Peace and hugs,
J.T.

Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday to you. I hope today’s missive finds you well. It’s chilly here, so I’m ensconced by the fire working hard on the new book, fleshing out my main character. She’s been quite shy thus far, which should tell you something about her personality. I’m so used to writing larger-than-life, flashy, almost show-offy leads, and Logan has been very reluctant to open up to me. She’s making me work to get to know her, and I hope that means she’ll be richer for the experience. If not, I may have to throw her off a cliff. (Never fear, you’ll get the reference when you read this book.)

I’ve been trying to keep up with my NaNoWriMo word counts. I went gangbusters for the first 4 days, then trickled off again, but the weekend has brought a bounty of words, so I’m moving the marker forward again. I’m halfway into the story, and there is so much left to happen I wonder if I’m actually only 1/4 of the way in. It will come. It always does.

I’m starting to think about the holidays, the idea of Thanksgiving in two weeks, Christmas in six, is starting to freak me out a bit. I love to have my cards done by Dec 1, love to put up my tree the day after Thanksgiving, and right now I’m just looking down the barrel of the book and wondering how will I do it all?

Isn’t that the issue we face daily, though? From dawn to dusk, living our lives, working, loving, playing, nurturing, we have to find a balance in order to do the things we love. Do I need to put up my tree so early? No. But it gives me such pleasure that I want to. Do I need to make cornbread stuffing and pumpkin pie? No, but it gives me pleasure, and so I will find the time.

This year, instead of worrying so much about what needs to be done over the holidays, I’m going to worry about what makes me happy, and do that, instead. 

Would love to hear how you balance your wants and needs lists.

Oh! A brief, exciting announcement before we hit the links:

Hundreds of Episodes of A Word on Words Now Available Online. This is the coolest news ever: the original, unsurpassable A WORD ON WORDS TV show with the late, great John Seigenthaler digitized and available for viewing. You can even watch the episodes I appeared on before I was a host. It was always such an honor to don my pearls and sit down with John for a chat. #keepreading

On to the links…

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THE LATEST ON THE INTERNET:

The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries: Real Gabinete Português de Leitura. This is beyond gorgeous.

How To Wrap A Book: 8 Unique Options. These are all great ideas! I insist on giving books as presents; it’s just the writerly thing to do.

The Talented Patricia Highsmith’s Private Diaries Are Going Public. As a reader and fan, this is tremendously exciting. As an author, it's kind of my worst nightmare.

How Magazine Pages Were Created Before Computers: A Veteran of the London Review of Books Demonstrates the Meticulous, Manual Process. What an incredible amount of work! I’ve seen letterpress readied and it’s so fascinating.

Tune In To These Great Libby Audiobook Hacks. Are you getting your audiobooks from the library? You’ll love these great tips!

Bright Lights, Dark Shadows: Glamorous Women in Crime Fiction. “Many of my favorite mysteries combine a bit of glitz with their murders, showing us how bright lights can cast the darkest shadows.” I love me a dangerous woman.

Single Father Adopts 5 Siblings Under 5: 'They Deserve to Be Raised as Siblings.' I loved this so much. It’s a great story, and a great reminder to be the change you want to see in the world.

Want To Borrow A Library Ebook? Why It Might Become More Challenging (& How Libraries Are Fighting Back.) Macmillan’s ebook embargo went into effect November 1 and this is a good overview of how libraries will be affected. I’m not sure how I feel about this yet. I understand the desire to sell physical books, for sure. But I also hate to see library patrons unable to read our work. I fear this isn’t the end of the story.

An ode to the magic of Britain's country house libraries. Such interesting history. I don’t know about you, but a real library is on my #lifegoals list.

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WHAT I’M READING:

IF SHE WAKES by Michael Koryta

I just finished this amazing title from Michael Koryta on audio. The conceit—the main character in a coma—scared me off at first, but several people told me Koryta pulled it off, so I dove in. And holy cow. This story rocks along, and has one of the scariest villains I’ve read in a long time. Think of a rattlesnake sheathed in the skin of an assassin. His female leads are fantastic, heroic, leap off the page larger than life, and the intricate storyline is A+. There are also multiple points of view, all handled wonderfully. Just a superb book all the way around.

What are you reading?

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That’s it from me. Send me some good writing mojo, take a nice long walk in the leaf-strewn woods, cuddle up to the fire with some hot apple cider, and I’ll see you next week!

Peace and hugs,
J.T.

Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday!

Most of you who read know my love of my friend Laura Benedict, who is in turns confidant, critique partner, shopping companion, and fierce friend. When things are going south, or going north, I call. 

Earlier this week, when I was complaining, as I am wont to do, about my latest story, how it simply won’t behave, this is what she texted me. 

“Very few easy things turn out to be extraordinary.” ~Laura Benedict

Isn’t this the most inspirational quote?  It applies to every endeavor in life, creative or otherwise. Painting walls isn’t easy, but if done correctly, the results are extraordinary, just like the 100,000-word slog that is writing a novel.

But as profound as this quote is, it didn’t magically fix everything. (unfair) The story continued to give me heck from all quarters. Why? Why? What is wrong with the damn thing?

I reached out to another brilliant, dear writer friend, Ariel Lawhon, explaining the issues I was having. She reminded me that every story has a shape. “What do you see when you think of the story?” she asked.

This is what I saw:

Yep. Utter and complete chaos. 

OK. As weird as it sounds, talking it through with Ariel, that “shape” sparked something for me. As we dug deeper, what we discover in that chaos was a maelstrom — a giant whirlpool of currents fighting against one another, reversing course, and swirling into a funnel. You can almost see it if you imagine that insane scribbling in 3-D.

An actual shape emerged. And the story broke free, as happens when you figure out some intrinsic truths about it.

I share this not to complain that I’m stuck, or that I can’t figure out what’s wrong. I share this because I truly feel healthy writing doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Surrounding yourself with the kind of people who will drop everything and help you break it down is a blessing in this life, one an artist can’t live without. 

These relationships must be cultivated, carefully tended, fertilized, and given the exact right amount of sunlight to thrive. They aren’t easy to find, but when you do find them, they are worth their weight in gold. They are not always easy, but when handled with care, they are extraordinary.

Also, if your story isn’t working for you, thinking about it terms of shape can help tremendously.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I’m doing NaNoWriMo this month. I’m a bit behind, but I’m already feeling the freeodm that comes with stowing the critical voice and just writing for the sake of telling a story. Such fun.

And with that, on to the links!

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THE LATEST ON THE INTERNET:

The most anticipated books of 2020. I want every single one of these — the list is only missing Ariel Lawhon's CODE NAME HÉLÈNE, but luckily I've snagged a galley, and can’t wait to read it!

How to Choose a Writing Instrument and What It Says About You. A little humor for your day. And yes, I am a fountain pen. Bring me your epigraphs!

'A bit emotional,' Margaret Atwood receives rare honour from Queen Elizabeth. How wonderful! Congrats to Margaret Atwood. I interviewed her for AWOW season one (from a jail cell) and have always been a devotée.

Why I Always Visit Cemeteries While Traveling. I do this. It’s remarkable. There are some excellent cemeteries out there in the world to visit, too. Personal faves: Père Lachaise, Greyfriars, Saint Louis, Monmarte, Arlington.

A Piece of Advice I Wish I’d Included in My Book. Interesting technique from Cal Newport. I’m reading Digital Minimalism right now, actually.

50 Fictional Librarians, Ranked. Do you agree with their ranking?

An Imitation of Imperfection: A History of Deckle Edges. This was really interesting! In my opinion, there is nothing better than a book with deckled edges.

I had a wonderful time discussing TEAR ME APART with Brenda Novak's Book Group on Monday. Here's our conversation!

‘The Writer’s Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands’ by Huw Lewis-Jones. The perfect holiday gift for your book lover. Hint, hint.

Productivity Lagging? Here’s How To Avoid Self-Sabotage. “We must pay better attention to our attention.” Such a great observation, and great advice follows.

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WHAT I’M READING:

NINTH HOUSE by Leigh Bardugo

Sigh. The evening after I finished Leigh Bardugo’s incredible novel, I sat down to read a new book and experienced an actual moment of grief that I was done with this one. What a brilliant world Bardugo has created. Smart, intricate, fearlessly crafted, this is an intellectual fantasy/horror novel that cements Bardugo firmly in the annals of the best storytellers of this generation. Immediately shoots into my top 3 books of 2019. Just incredible. 🐍👻🖤

What are you reading?

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That’s it from me. I hope your November — the month of chill and gratitude — is off to a great start. Reach out to your best friend and thank them for being there for you, rake up some of your neighbor’s leaves when you do your own, give the leftover Halloween candy to the little library down the street, and I’ll see you next week!

Peace and hugs,
J.T.

Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday! So who else screwed up and bought the on sale Halloween candy last week? I’m telling you, I’m not much of a candy person—I normally only ever eat chocolate on the golf course when I need a boost, a frozen Milky Way on a hot day is divine—but the combination of sheer boredom and walking practice means I keep strolling past the damn bag. From Costco, ergo: it’s massive. I have it stashed away, but I guess my willpower is weakened by the months of recovery. I asked Randy to disappear it for me this morning, or else the kiddies aren’t going to have any treats!

Are you big on Halloween? I love it, but I also have weirdly mixed emotions. When I was a kid, I had a lot of bad luck on Halloween. One year I fell in a cactus, and spent the remainder of the night having spines picked from my backside. Another year, after a knock-down drag-out fight with my mom because I didn’t want to ruin my awesome Peter Pan costume by wearing snow boots, my ankle was run over by a car. Without the boots it would have surely been crushed, as it was, it was badly sprained. There were other bizarre occurrences, too. So you can understand why I tended to shy away from too much spooky celebration.

But now, Halloween is fun again. I usually carve a pumpkin, make a big pot of soup or stew or chili, we light a fire, toast marshmallows, light some candles to honor the ones we love who are no longer with us, and watch something seasonally appropriate. I don’t like super scary movies, but something psychological is always fun. 

Do you have any special Halloween traditions? Do you dress up? Go to parties? Scare the neighborhood children with a spooky house display? Have a favorite childhood costume you wish you could recreate? Sound off, I’d love to hear about it.

And then, November 1, we get to celebrate our cativersary with the minions! We brought them home six years ago—astounding to think of. They are as sweet and goofy as the day we adopted them.

Before I send you off to the links, a quick reminder. Tomorrow night (Monday, October 28) is a huge, exciting online event—TEAR ME APART is being featured on the Brenda Novak Book Group! Brenda will be here at Chez Ellison to interview me about the book, the minions, life, and anything else that might pop up. You can watch us live on Monday, the 28th at 5:00 p.m. PST/ 8:00 p.m. EST right here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/brendanovaksbookgroup/

This also means I’ll be straightening away all the kitty pillows and toys and blanket tunnels the girls use, so my house will look like adults live in it. So exciting! I can’t wait, and I hope you’ll join us. 

On to the links!

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THE LATEST ON THE INTERNET:

Pitching for Bookstores. Great story about Washington Nationals star reliever Sean Doolittle and his love of independent bookstores. I mean, combining books and baseball? How can you not love him?

Harry Potter book sells for £50k after being kept in code-locked briefcase. But how can they part with it?!

The Stories We Tell Ourselves. Joshua Becker speaks some lovely truth. Our minds are so easily pushed into thinking one way or another. Really like his attitude about how to handle the messages on kid’s clothing, too.

8 Fun Facts About Mary Shelley Just in Time for the Spooky Season. Mary Shelley was pretty badass.

A Rundown of V.E./Victoria Schwab’s Books and Upcoming Adaptations. If you haven't read Victoria yet, you're in for a treat!

As a rule, I don’t read my reviews, but when I heard Abby at Crime By The Book really loved GOOD GIRL LIE, I had to read it. And I was blown away by the analysis of the story and characters. There’s nothing cooler than when a reader “gets” your book. I hope you enjoy her review, and you really need to start following her instagram and blog, She’s the real deal.

The Reason Why The Great Gatsby Isn’t In the Public Domain (Yet). Fascinating history! What do you think the first big pull qoute will be?

15 Quotes That Will Remind You of the Joy and Power of Books. I love a good quote list.

Just in time for Halloween, here’s a great podcast with bestie Laura Benedict on The Monster Professor talking about her gothic inspirations, writing supernatural stories, and her superb creepy storytelling skills.

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WHAT I’M READING:

Boxing The Octopus by Tim Maleeny

With a fascinating caper, a twisted mystery, a grizzled PI with a kick-ass Ninja chick sidekick, and a complex plot worthy of Leonard's heir, Tim Maleeny bursts back onto the crime fiction stage with a surefire winner. BOXING THE OCTOPUS features a dizzying array of well-developed characters both friend and foe—and cephalopod, of course—who catapult the story forward. Thrilling, amusing, and thought-provoking, I couldn’t stop reading! Can’t wait for Cape and Sally’s next adventure. And how cute is the octopus???

What are you reading?

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That’s it from me. Carve an elaborate pumpkin, just for fun, make a big pot of turkey chili, kick back with your favorite spooky movie, and I’ll see you next week. Happy Halloween! 👻🎃

Peace and hugs,
J.T.

PS: Please bear with me over the next few weeks — I am moving email and newsletter services and there might be a few glitches. Will do my best to keep everything in line. If you see something wonky, feel free to shoot me an email and let me know.

Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday! I come to you without stitches! This gives me freedoms I haven’t had in a couple of weeks, like baths. And CBD cream. And pants. That last comes at the perfect time since it’s suddenly quite chilly here. We went Summer to Winter with barely a Fall. We have a big neighborhood party today, with fire pits and hot dogs and bbq and chili and s’mores. It’s always so much fun to connect with the folks we only wave at most of the time as we’re driving in and out. 

It was a long, strange week. We lost an uncle who had been ill for some time, and the funeral was unbearable, uplifting, and everything in between. He was an Air Force veteran, so there was a full military service graveside, and that was the strangely uplifting part for me. The playing of Taps, the flag-draped coffin, the ceremony and respect helped, in some ways. So too did the baby changing station in the bathroom. Such an odd reminder of the circle of life. Rest in peace, Joe. You will be missed. 

I also think I have the book figured out. Three big plot breakthroughs, lots of waking up to write myself notes and scribbling away in the notebook. Oddly, I didn’t get a lot of writing done, but I’m working on the outline now.

Last week at Southern Festival, Jeremy Finley and I were talking about outlines. I don’t like to outline until I’ve been writing on a project for a while; he won’t start writing until he’s planned out exactly what he’s doing. Neither way is right, neither way is wrong. Both are valid, both get you where you need to go.

I like to do my outlines at this point, when the first third of the book feels really solid, when I’ve set up several plot points, and I know the why behind them. I can see the threads of where things are going, why the characters have made their moves, and know many of the scenes I want to write to make it all come together.

And by “outline”, for me, that’s just putting one or two lines about what happens in the scene. I don’t map it out deeper than that, just make a note about what I want to accomplish in the scene. It gives me a little bit of a road map. My notebook is littered with scenes broken out by character. At this point, I take those, lay them into Scrivener, and the shape of the story reveals itself.

Hmm. Maybe I should stop referring to it as outlining, and starting using roadmap instead.

And with that, I’m back to it. A happy writing and reading week ahead to you all.

Oh! Be sure to keep an eye on the Bargains page. Lots of deals rolling through right now and there’s more to come.

On to the links!

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THE LATEST ON THE INTERNET:

How To Search Books By Color. Great tips for those of us who have rainbow bookshelves or want to know what that book with the red cover is. Because trust me, when you know the book cover is black but the spine is red, it causes all sorts of issues.

Waldsassen Abbey is the Fairy Tale Library You Need to Visit. This is so gorgeous!

Are the Women of ‘Succession’ Finally About to Smash the Patriarchy? If you're not watching Succession on HBO, you should be, because it engenders fascinating conversations like this.

Pottery Barn Is Launching a Harry Potter Holiday Collection. This is tempting…

What Fan Fiction Teaches That the Classroom Doesn’t. “A fan-fiction site is a uniquely energetic learning environment. Unlike in the classroom, where a writing prompt is as likely to be met with groans as with enthusiasm, writers on fan-fiction websites are thrilled to be there, excited to write, and passionate about the material—because it’s based on a book, TV show, movie, video game, or something else they already love.”

The germiest place in your home and the best way to combat those microbes. ACK! At least I feel better about Jameson’s love of drinking out of the toilet.

Could you be suffering from ‘book burnout’? “Don’t get me wrong, I love reading, but it’s got to a point where I feel like I’m only reading to keep up with the zeitgeist, rather than for my own sheer enjoyment or learning.”

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WHAT I’M READING:

GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn

When we talk about unreliable narrators in novels, Amy Dunne is almost always at the top of the list. Gillian’s brilliant book almost single-handedly resurrected the female villain/unreliable narrator device, and love it or hate it, it’s here to stay. It never truly went away; read any Du Maurier book and you’ll see this device front and center.

It’s always been my goal not to overly victimize the women in my novels, especially those who die at the hands of a male killer. Now that I, too, have pivoted toward writing books with unreliable narrators, I’ve been thinking about how the female villain can too easily be forced into this role, becoming the victim in other ways.

I’m also interested in how many writers have changed from having women as victims to women being the leads, albeit often as unreliable narrators. Is it any different? Or is it just the other side of the coin? Would love to hear what you think...

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That’s it from me. Make some popcorn and sit by the fire, work on strengthening your core with some great yoga (Adriene is my favorite), rake up some of your neighbor’s leaves, and I’ll see you next week.