Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday, friends!

One of my greatest joys is the day after Thanksgiving. Not because of Black Friday, but because it is sanctioned from on high that we eat pie and bacon for breakfast. I know that sounds like a silly thing to feel joy about, but I am firmly in the camp of if it makes you happy, do it, especially this year. The day after birthdays also sees this familial dispensation, when we enjoy cake and bacon. It feels like such an indulgence, and such a wonderful way to ease out of a holiday/special event. The leads ins are so dynamic and chaotic, I feel like it’s improper not to give the day a farewell kiss, preferably on both cheeks.

I was telling my dad that thanksgiving dinner is analogous to novel writing in so many ways.

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(Oops - Jordan wanted to say hello. I figure cats don’t often have a voice, so why not let her words stand?)

Let’s try that again. Novel writing analogous to Thanksgiving dinner. Right. You spend hours making a dinner that’s consumed in less than 15 minutes. Authors spend a year(s) writing a book that a reader consumes in a day. All that work for such a short period of enjoyment. 

And yet...

How many holiday meals stay with you? And I don’t mean on your hips. 

How many books have stayed with you? 

Quickly, off the top of your head, tell me five works that stand out to you, that you will always remember reading for the first time, that you think about regularly—days, weeks, years after you’ve finished them?

I’ll go first:

Outlander - Diana Gabaldon

Critical Space - Greg Rucka

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

The Eagle - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Hills Like White Elephants - Ernest Hemingway

Well, that was an interesting exercise. I should really include Plato’s Republic, specifically Chapter VII, the allegory of the cave, which spoke to me so deeply in college and continues to resonate with me all this time later, but that’s more of a concept... no, it counts because it shaped how I approach the page. So that’s six stories, poems, books, and theories that have shaped me as a writer and a person.

What about you?

In other news, the bookcases are done, the boxes unloaded, and my library ladder installed (though I still need to stain it.) Trust me when I say I am inspired every time I enter my office, which is EXACTLY what I needed from my new space—an inspiration wall! I’ll post a pic on my Insta feed later today.

Lots of fun links this week, so…Onward!

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GOOD GIRLS LIE IS ON SALE:

Kick off your holiday season with GOOD GIRLS LIE! It’s on sale for $2.99. At The Goode School, secrets and lies are just the beginning.

Get your copy:

KINDLE
NOOK
APPLE BOOKS
KOBO
GOOGLE PLAY

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THE LATEST ON THE INTERNET:

Dolly Parton, Rachel Bloom & More Of Your Favorite Celebs Have New Memoirs. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what’s been published this month. So many books I want to read…

Your Local Bookstore Wants You to Know That It’s Struggling. “We’re really trying to get the message out, to help customers understand that not just for bookstores but local retailers and local restaurants, if they want them to be there when the pandemic over, they have to support those businesses now.”

Also, for Small Business Saturday, here is a list of books recommended by many of your favorite authors! (Hint: WORLD OF WONDERS is in there…)

On Becoming Grateful. I love the story of the glass being too full.

46 Books Our Favorite Indie Booksellers Were Grateful For This Year. I love seeing the books that booksellers highlight!

12 YA Thrillers Perfect for Any Time of Year, Not Just Halloween. These sound great!

The Gift Of Time. "Creativity is a boost to mental health. By creating something fresh, you will not dwell endlessly on negative thoughts and will take pride in your accomplishments."

Here Are All 56 Original Nancy Drew Books, Ranked Worst to Best. Brilliant, hilarious, and totally on-point.

Training Facial Recognition on Some New Furry Friends: Bears. Fascinating! My brother sent me a bear sighting near his neighborhood this week - it hurts me that we’ve invaded their habitat so thoroughly.

Virtual Library Tour: Newnham College, University of Cambridge. Beautiful! I love Cambridge, so much. I would love to live there for a few months…

15 Gifts for the NaNoWriMo Writer in Your Life. Some tangible ways to encourage NaNoWriMo writers...

Don’t forget: Goodreads is giving away 25 Advanced Reader Copies of HER DARK LIES!

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That’s it from me. Let me know what works stand out to you, don’t forget how much your local animal shelter needs helps this winter, and let’s show our bookstores some love this weekend! I’ll see you next Sunday!

Peace and hugs,
J.T.

GOOD GIRLS LIE is on sale!

Happy day after Thanksgiving! I have great news: GOOD GIRLS LIE is on sale for $2.99. Treat yourself or gift a copy to your loved one!

Download your copy!

KINDLE
NOOK
APPLE BOOKS
KOBO
GOOGLE PLAY

About the book:

Goode girls don’t lie…

Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous.

In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder. But when a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with a secret that drove her to suicide.

But look closely…because there are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened.

J.T. Ellison’s pulse-pounding new novel examines the tenuous bonds of friendship, the power of lies and the desperate lengths people will go to to protect their secrets.

Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday, friends!

A quick(ish) smatterings today, as the weather is fine and the To Do list is overflowing. 

It was a heavy on the work and house side of things week. Four Zooms in two days, which, for me, is a lot, and takes a huge outpouring of creative energy.

The bookcases and ladder are installed in my office at last, the kitchen table arrived, and that’s the end of renovations. Now we just need to hang the curtains, hang the rest of the art, and unpack about 20,000 boxes, and we’ll be done. It’s so easy to let the minor things slide, especially since we’re just plain exhausted with the whole process. With luck, I’ll get the books unpacked this week. They are really taking up too much space in the dining room.

It’s funny, I was so discombobulated when we first moved in. My kitchen seemed alien and difficult; I couldn’t find the right path from office to teapot. Changes in the nighttime routine meant I was forever remembering things I’d forgotten to do (change the cat’s water, arm the alarm) and a new gas fireplace meant I was constantly checking that I’d turned it off. Not being able to use the master bath for a month was a pain, but it too is complete.

Now, a month in, there’s a groove again. A rhythm forming. I moved the silverware and that solved the weird feeling in the kitchen. I swapped my desk direction to face the office doors instead of the window, and now the rug isn’t bunching up and the flow feels better. The cats certainly seem to love this place. They travel through the house on sunbeams, finding warm spots to curl up and snuggle. I think we’re all feeling more settled, and that’s a very good thing. 

Now to turn back to a quieter creative life. The new book is percolating. I have a short story to finish. I have time to read again. Christmas cards are ordered, the turkey is in the freezer for our lone Thanksgiving. We are hunkering down, hoping to ride out the storm until the vaccines come. It’s all we can do.

Change is not easy. Change that we choose is tough enough — moving and renovating is high on the list of life’s major stressors. That we’ve all been forced to change our lives, our lifestyles, at once is remarkable. Any time I start feeling frustrated or sad that we can’t do something that in our past life we’d do without a second thought, I remind myself that you, too, are feeling exactly the same, and it truly helps.

And with what turned from a quick note to a blather, onward!

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Goodreads is giving away 25 Advanced Reader Copies of HER DARK LIES! Big giveaway!!

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The Ultimate Guide To Book Socks For Readers. So many cute options!

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That’s it from me. Consider adopting a pet from your local shelter, buy yourself some flowers, read a great book, and I’ll see you next Sunday!

Peace and hugs,
J.T.

Tonight: Friends & Fiction with J.T. Ellison and Hank Phillippi Ryan

Join me and Hank Phillippi Ryan tonight at 7pm ET when we meet up with Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan Henry, and Mary Alice Monroe on their weekly Facebook Live show Friends & Fiction. We’ll be talking about writing, books, and life--and offering you some special opportunities.

Friends & Fiction is seriously amazing and I’m thrilled they invited me on! You can learn more about the inspiration behind the show in this cool article.

Plus, Parnassus Books is offering 10% off of select titles, including GOOD GIRLS LIE, with the code friendsfiction10. Click here to shop!

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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THE LATEST ON THE INTERNET:

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

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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.

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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.