Writers Read

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From the Campaign for the American Reader, by Marshal Zeringue

What is J.T. Ellison reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: J.T. Ellison, author of Where All the Dead Lie.

Her entry begins:
I’ve just started The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. Fellow author and friend Jeff Abbott suggested it, knowing that I’m struggling with the knowledge that I’m reading less and spending more time online. Twitter and Facebook and blogging and the omnipresent “author marketing” has me flummoxed. I used to read at night, now I Tweet. I want to take back my time.

Hamlet's Blackberry, a brilliant book by William Powers, made me cognizant of just how much time I was spending online. The Shallows is giving me a deeper understanding of why I’m doing so. And, I hope, will give me the tools, the willpower, or at the very least, permission to step away from the Internet, and reclaim my mind from the influx of constantly streamed information on my tiny little screens.
More from the CAFTAR Network
The Page 69 Test: All the Pretty Girls.

The Page 99 Test: 14.

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The Page 99 Test: Judas Kiss.

My Book, The Movie: the Taylor Jackson series.

The Page 69 Test: The Cold Room.

My Book, The Movie: The Cold Room.

The Page 69 Test: So Close the Hand of Death.

Writers Read: J.T. Ellison (March 2011).

Writers Read: J.T. Ellison.

We Have Winners!!!!!!

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HAUNTED CONTEST WINNERS:

The Haunted Contest turned out some seriously creepy, spooky and lovely stories. Thanks to everyone who entered - you're amazing.

Two stories really stood out to me, and both of them win the CASTLE GHOSTS OF SCOTLAND DVD, but the GRAND PRIZE goes to: S.A. Newby for the hair-raising story THE MEN WITHOUT FACES

God, that story freaked me out.

The close second is Barbara Geach's incredibly scary run in with the ghost of Jeffrey Dahlmer.

The rest of the winners have been chosen at random. I will say this, Laura Morefield and Andrea Shlasko really touched my heart with their stories, and Infinitieh and Mary Mac - your ghost pets made me cry...

So, without further ado:

3 $25 giftcards to the winners' choice of bookstore

Tracy Boulet, Donna Christie-Fobert, Mari

5 copies of Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA

Jeff Bennington, Andrea Shlasko, Infinitieh, Merri Bell, Theresa N.

and signed bookplates to all entries.

ALL WINNERS MUST EMAIL ME AT contests@jtellison.com with their information

If you want a signed bookplate, I'll need your address as well, so please send a note to the above email for yours.

AUTHORBUZZ WINNERS:

Signed copies to Muzette Alcocer, Heather Mays, Jess Moskowitz, Allison Moyer, Frederikke Reimer.

Thanks to everyone who entered - again, if you want a signed bookplate, write me at contests@jtellison.com with your address.

And so closesth the contest. You'll see the winning entry from SA Newby posted here on Halloween.

10.6.11

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Crazy day today. It is Thursday, which means it's supposed to be a 10K day. It is also the day after Steve Jobs died, and I will say, I am stll so upset. Even though I knew it was coming, it is sad to see such an amazing mind lost. So maybe I can blame deep thoughts about untimely death on my insufficient writing.

I will say up front I did not write 10K. I wrote 1K. Only 9K short from the goal. Ugh.

In my defense, I tried something new. I got up, showered, dressed, hit a 9am appointment, then went downtown to my husband's office to work. I've done this before in his old office, but he's moved into new digs, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say, when he called and asked if I wanted to go to lunch, I jumped at the chance. After lunch, I finally hit a groove, and the same distraction started up.

What is that, you ask?

Noise.

Oh, my God. How do y'all do it? I know of so, so many people who work in offices. So many authors who write in coffee shops. HOW do you stay focused with all the noise and movement around you?

I either need practice at this, or I need to wrap my head around the fact that I am most productive alone, in silence, a little monk on a couch, and let this whole illusion called "going to work," die. Even with my headphones on, I had to turn the music so loud that it in and of itself was distracting, and I could still hear the guy in the office next door talk. I know I have really sensitive hearing - I'm one of those strange folks who can't stand static on the radio, or the little tap my iPhone charger cord makes when it gets caught in the air from the kitchen vent - tap, tap, tap, TAP TAPTAPTAP! Anything rhythmic and repetitive drives me nuts. I once thought I was losing my mind, hearing voices, and laid in bed debating whether to tell my husband I could hear whispering. I fell asleep instead, and the next morning came downstairs to find my iTunes open and Joyce Bean reading So Close the Hand of Death. Over and over again.

No wonder THE TELL-TALE HEART is my favorite Poe work.

So. I did write 1K, and got a lot of actual thinking done, which is 9/10ths of writing anyway. And tomorrow, I will stay home, in the solitude, and be a little monk on the couch, and write.

In business news: I have partnered with Odyl to run the content on my Facebook Fan Page. I am in love with this app. You can see it in action HERE - I've got a giveaway on the site for a $25 giftcard, so be sure to check it out. And here's some of the stuff that was said about my choice today:

Odyl press release - http://odyl.net/news/award-winning-author-jt-ellison-selects-odyl-for-book-marketing-on-facebook/

My Odyl guest blog - http://odyl.net/if-you-build-it-they-will-come/

Also, this story ran this morning in AllFacebook. Facebook Marketing Tool Odyl Boosts Authors

Cool beans, yeah?

10.4.11

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My eyes are crossing and my mind has turned to mush. Why? A six hour marathon session of copyedits on the May '12 book. Done, and turned in, and hopefully I won't have to see it again anytime soon. (You do stop seeing the forest for the trees after a while, and this one feels like I've edited it to death. Of course, they all do at this point...)

OK. I've been holding out on you. I've talked around this for weeks now, but it's time to share. Brace yourselves.

WHERE ALL THE DEAD LIE is the last Taylor book for a little while.

Don't panic. It is NOT the end of the series. I fully intend to return to Taylor's world very soon. I can't imagine my life without Taylor in it for very long. And we have so many unanswered questions....

As a writer, you always want to try new things. I've never written anything more than a short story that didn't feature Taylor. It was time to spread my wings. My agent and my house kindly agreed, and we decided that it might be fun to spin off the series with Dr. Samantha Owens as the main character.

Let me tell you - writing from a new perspective has been at once liberating and terrifying. Sam is Taylor's conscience in the Taylor books. I didn't know who she was outside of that.

I do now. And boy, how, is she an amazing character.

The May '12 book is called A DEEPER DARKNESS. I PROMISE I will share the back cover copy very soon. With all the transitions - my editor leaving - my new editor catching up, I want to be absolutely sure we are all good with everything before I do. But soon, chickens. Soon.

So. I'm off to read BREAKING DAWN because I need something fun and engaging and different. Tomorrow I'll be back at it with the sandwich book.

Who's buying the iPhone 4S?