Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday, friends!

What a beautiful week it’s been here in Nashville. After a blustery wind Tuesday blew away all the fallen leaves, it’s been exceedingly pleasant, sunny, low 60s—perfect driveway date weather. That things were returned to normal enough that we were able to resume said driveway dates is wonderful. Between moving and the election and the last of the renovations, there hasn’t been much downtime to soak up some vitamin D. That also means a return to a more regular writing schedule. Since I’m so early in the book, I’m not worrying about the word count but instead how much time I spend with it. Two hours nets me at least one scene a day, which sets me up well for when things start shaping into a bigger picture. 

I did lose a huge amount of time to a Facebook situation. I had to verify my page in order to keep control of it. They needed me to prove it was actually me running the page. While I admire the efforts to root out fake accounts, I’ve been blue-check verified for years, so it should have been a simple thing to show some ID and move on. It wasn’t. It took four days, multiple denials, and a load of frustrated emails. It reminded me yet again the only social channel we authors actually “own” are our websites and our newsletter lists. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram—we are beholden to the organizations that run the sites to allow us to continue posting there. If something goes south, at least I know I have the blog and the newsletter. 

I think it would behoove every author to invest significant energy in cultivating a newsletter list. I would love to hear some of your favorites—I’ll start compiling them for recommending, just like I do with books I love. Leave them in the comments and I’ll check them out. I’ll go first: Laura Benedict, Allison Brennan, Gregg Olsen, Mary Laura Philpott, Catherine Coulter are great examples, as are Patti Callahan Henry and Ariel Lawhon. 

Speaking of Patti and Ariel, November’s missive went out with some insights on both evocative thematic lines and villains talk. If you didn’t get it but are signed up, send me a note, and I’ll get it out to you.

SO many logistics go into being a modern author. I hate losing writing time to these kinds of business shenanigans. But writing is a business, and these are the things we need to do to stay connected with you, our favorite reader!

Onward!

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Every Captivating Thriller and Mystery You'll Want to Read in November. Have you read any of these yet?

Not Your Average Watering Hole. This made me so happy. I would love to put out a fountain with a camera.

Bookshelf: Bestselling authors create a virtual community of writers and readers. Friends And Fiction is the bomb!!! I’ll be chatting with them next week and I can’t wait.

International Thriller Writers is putting on a Thriller MBA and y'all need to be involved.

9 of the Best Gothic Novels for Every Mood. Great list. What’s your favorite gothic?

ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS is currently free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers! Get your copy.

Tana French Talks Westerns, Folklore, and The Comfort of Crime Fiction. "There’s something strengthening about realizing that turmoil and fear and injustice have always existed, other people have struggled through them too; we’re not alone."

Print-at-Home Bookish Art For Updating Your Decor. Some great options!

These 17 Books Will Give You the Same Romantic Thriller Vibes as Rebecca. Sigh. There goes my TBR…

The Unlikely Detectives: Unlicensed, Unqualified, and Fully Invested. Do you have a favorite unlikely detective?

A Librarian Set Up a Drone Service to Drop Library Books So Kids Can Keep Reading. So inventive!

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That’s it from me. Show some love to your favorite authors by signing up for their newsletter, indulge in a sweet treat, buy some extra hand sanitizer, and I’ll see you next Sunday!

Peace and hugs,
J.T.

Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday, friends! I feel like I start so many of these blogs with “What a week!” But truly, this one has been extraordinary. Obviously it’s been exceedingly hard to work without unplugging the router from the wall and putting the phone in another room. (Actually, the universe did that for me three days in a row in the form of rolling power outages which rebooted my iMac multiple times a day. This baby isn’t young and takes AGES to turn on and run properly, so it’s been an exercise in frustration trying to accomplish anything.) Election days are hard ones for us to do anything but stay glued to the statistics. When day turn into days with the possibilities of weeks, well, I’ve forced myself to look away and ask those I know who are still glued to the moment by moment coverage to text me when something happens. 

Finding flow during a time of great distraction is nigh on impossible without some sort of external accountability. I have several layers of this in place naturally, deadlines and the like, and I’m a self-motivated person in general, but 2020, with the pandemic and the chaos and the constant background noise, has tested me.

The only way to conquer this, of course, is to work through it. I have become an expert at creating places and scenarios that shut out distractions so I can work.

I took this week to start getting a handle on what’s to come for the rest of the year creatively.  I started the new book. I worked on the short story. I had a nightly check in with some of my writer besties to share what I’d done and what I planned to do the next day, and they shared their accomplishments and plans as well. There is comfort in accountability, yes, but even more in community. Knowing everyone is sharing the same set of uncertainties and is finding their paths through it keep me on track.

If you ever need to get through something, recruit some like-minded friends and hold each others’ feet to the fire. It really works.

And so, that’s it from me, because if I can’t share that I’ve touched the book today, I’ll be in all sorts of trouble this evening!

Onward!

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THE LATEST ON THE INTERNET:

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A Continuous Shape. This short documentary about stone carver Anna Rubincam blew me away. The best example of creative focus I've seen lately.

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How Lolita Author Vladimir Nabokov Helped Ruth Bader Ginsburg Find Her Voice. I had no idea.

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That’s it from me. Find some accountability this week, and let me know how you do! I’ll see you next Sunday!

Peace and hugs,
J.T.

Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday, friends! It’s Jameson and Jordan’s 7th Cativersary today! We brought home our little minions on November 1, 2013. Good grief, it feels like yesterday. Their story is a fascinating one, and we are so blessed in their company. Sweet, sweet girls, both.

If you’ve ever renovated a house, or even done a major home improvement project, you know how disruptive that can be. Boxes. Dust. Strangers in the house at all hours, many of whom down gallons of coffee to wake up and then embarrassingly need to use your facilities. (Pro tip: don’t schedule any appointment before 10 am...) The uncertainty that results from the paradox of choice—you can do ANYTHING to your home now, in any style, with any design, color, or detail. Choosing between 14 incredibly similar but totally different French country-style dining tables can be a bit...overwhelming. Add in coordinating schedules of multiple vendors, making plans to lock up the pets, and the added stress of COVID safety measures, and it can be a wee bit challenging. 

The house we bought needed a LOT of work. But, having renovated our last house, we knew we were up to the challenge. We focused on the envelope first—foundation to roof, then moved inside: restoring the hardwood floors, painting everything a neutral gray, re-carpeting a few rooms, installing new bookshelves, and designing a master bath. I’ve acted as our general contractor inside, Mr. E handled outside. We’ve been blessed with incredible craftsmen the whole way—you know a project is only as good as the contractors and vendors you’re working with. 

Meanwhile, we were staging/selling our house, which involved moving out half the furniture and all the books, then moving what we needed to live and work into the new house while leaving behind the bulk of the furniture, then, because the closing moved up 2 weeks, getting out entirely, quickly, hiring and directing movers, and finally, bringing to the new house all the things we moved out to stage the old. 

This was not the easiest path, nor the measured and thoughtful retreat we had in mind when we set ourselves upon these stormy seas, but it’s nearly over. We’re a week away from completion, and that is only an hour job once things arrive. Everything we own is at long last in this new house. The cats have found the places they like to sleep. My books came today, and that makes me oh so happy. The end of the chaos is upon us.

So, since I am, at last, expecting no one, I am taking the next week off. I am going to hunker down and do a week-long writing retreat to kick off my new creative life in our new home. I plan to stay far, far away from anything that doesn’t serve my current story. It is going to be a difficult book to write, and I need to sink into its warm waters and soak myself. 

Wish me luck, and be good to each other. We’re all we have. 

Onward!

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THE LATEST ON THE INTERNET:

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A Reader That Never Sleeps: 9 Thrillers Set in New York. It’s both a great city and a great setting.

If you want another spine-chilling read to add to your TBR pile, you can enter to win my book THE COLD ROOM on BookSweeps—plus 50 exciting Dark Mysteries, Thrillers, and Horror novels from a great collection of authors. And the Grand Prize winner gets an eReader!

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The Reason It's So Hard to Spot Your Own Typos. Thank God for proofreaders.

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That’s it from me. Don’t forget to vote, and I’ll see you next week! 🇺🇸

Peace and hugs,
J.T.

Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday, friends! How are you this fine day?

I’ve been looking at the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year, curious to see how I’ve done meeting, exceeding, or failing to launch. Obviously, many plans have gone awry thanks to the pandemic, but I’ve still accomplished most of what I set out to do. I’ve written 150,000 words so far, with a goal of 200k. I’ve read 50 out of my 80 books. I’ve definitely pulled back on my social media time. My move streak is at 140 days, so I’m getting more exercise and fresh air. I’ve kept up with my Smatterings, and I’ve made strides into reclaiming my work/life balance. 

2020 was dedicated to the word ENOUGH. When I wrote my annual review, I was saying ENOUGH OF THIS

Now, I’m saying it slightly differently. “Enough” means it’s time to make changes. 

And with change comes loss.

This—with change comes loss—has become  my 2020 mantra. I have changed a lot about my life, both professionally and personally. I have changed dramatically this year. Things that used to bother me to the point of distraction are now totally irrelevant. Shallow concerns have been replaced with much more serious actions to ensure our bodily safety. We even went so far as to take advantage of an opportunity to move so we would be safer, and more secure.

As we forge ahead into an uncertain fall and winter, I take the habits I’ve built over the past several months into my new office. I sit at my desk with my steaming hot cup of tea and start to write as the morning sun spills into the room. It feels good, this new day, this new view, this new perspective. 

I suspect this is the same for most of us, considering. When is a pandemic a blessing in disguise?

And with that, I say, onward!

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Climactic Moments in Literature Rescheduled as Zoom Meetings. That would definitely change things.

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The Book Behind Netflix's Rebecca Is the Perfect Halloween Read. One of my all-time favorite novels, and I’ve enjoyed the movie this week. Armie Hammer FTW.

17 Crime Fiction Series That Use Real Historical Figures As Sleuths. See any favorites here?

All The Shakespeare Mugs. Great gift idea! But don’t send me one. I am DROWNING in tea mugs… LOL!

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That’s it from me. Look at your goals for the year, give the kids and furkids a hug, HYDRATE, and I’ll see you next week!

Peace and hugs,
J.T.

Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday, friends! I hope today’s missive finds you well.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about creative passion. 

I purposefully took off the month of September to get us prepared for the move and get the new house renovated. It was good timing—I’d just finished the revision of HER DARK LIES and knew it would be in production for a few weeks at least before I got copyedits. I also knew that as much as I like to pretend to myself that I finish one book and immediately launch into another, my actual pattern of behavior is finish one book, immediately start another, then spend a month messing around while the new idea pushes away the previous one. There’s a real period of grieving every writer must go through when they finish a book. You’ve lived with these characters and this story for so long, it’s hard to simply shut the door and walk away without a proper goodbye.

I decided to take advantage of my month of lying fallow and accomplish something instead of surfing the web letting the new idea work its way into my subconscious. And for the most part, I’ve accomplished my goal. As with all great plans, I neglected to budget an extra 25% of time to accomplish all I set out to do, which is why it’s mid-October and we’ve just moved, the old house still has a few things to be cleared out, and I haven’t gotten past the first chapter of the new book. But I’m here at my desk, and I worked on a short story yesterday, and I know how it ends, so that’s nothing to sneeze at.

All of this to say... I’ve ben itching to get back to writing. This break feels much too long. My writing muscles haven’t atrophied, but they’re sore from disuse. Which brings me full circle to the creative passion thing.

Wanting to write isn’t enough. Thinking about writing isn’t enough. Talking about writing isn’t enough. If you actually want to be a writer, to have a career, to sustain yourself financially, to have a modicum of success, however you define it—you have to write. You must create. You must let YOUR passion for YOUR work drive you to the keyboard or pen every single damn day. It doesn’t matter if it seems too hard. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think it will get published. It doesn’t matter if you’re worried about reviews or reader response or how much money you can get out of it.

No more excuses. Just do it. Stop worrying about the business side of writing, and get to work on the business of writing.

Just write. 

Onward!

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THE LATEST ON THE INTERNET:

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Why Are We Obsessed With Other People’s Bookshelves? Because they tell us so much!

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How COVID-19 is changing the English language. Fascinating.

8 of the Best NaNoWriMo Prep Books for Writers. NaNoWriMo is right around the corner. Are you joining in this year?

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LEGENDBORN by Tracy Deonn

What a magnificent book. I've spent the past week recommending LEGENDBORN to everyone I know. It's got everything: a complex new magical system, grounded in Arthurian legend; a sassy protagonist who is destined to become an iconic hero in her own right; important, thought-provoking themes; and a burgeoning love triangle that feels inevitable but right. Seriously, y'all, this book is a blast! Tracy Deonn is now on my always pre-order list.

What are you reading?

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That’s it from me. Clean out your junk drawer, buy some shelf liners and clean your fridge, write something, even if it feels hard, and I’ll see you next week!

Peace and hugs,
J.T.