THE IMMORTALS has a new cover!

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The Taylor Jackson series cover re-issue continues with THE IMMORTALS! What do you think?

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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.

Smatterings: For Love of ASMR Rooms

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Thunder booms. Lightning flashes. the rain pummels the windows. But inside, you are safe, warm, womblike in the library. The fire crackles, candles flicker, the sconces on the wall glow gently. A clock ticks, and the susurrus of a pen scratching on paper lulls you into an almost hypnotic state. In this place, you can enter a flow state that allows your mind to genuinely focus on your tasks. 

ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, is a relatively new phenomenon. And, from my quick bit of research, it doesn’t work the same way for each person. That makes total sense to me--what I find lovely and relaxing in person (cozy interiors with snow or thunderstorms outside) might cause someone else great distress. The whispering ASMRs meant to comfort make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. There are thousands of ASMR rooms to choose from, to each their own.

I bring this up only because I’ve been doing work with my life coach recently focusing on rewiring myself to let go of internal blocks and accept the flow state, and I’ve combined it with my favorite ASMR rooms this week to great success. Here are a few of my favorite ASMR feeds if you want to give it a try yourself. Just be warned, it truly is hypnotic, and you might just create something magnificent!


Royal Library

Writing Library

Thunderstorm at Hogwarts

Everything from My Ambience especially Crackling Fireplace


I think you’re going to love working with some of these in the background. Let go and let it flow! Onward…

Links 🔗

I’m up this week on A WORD ON WORDS interviewing Patti Callahan about her new book ONCE UPON A WARDROBE. I rarely get a chance to interview close friends on the show, and Patti and I have a tendency to finish one another’s sentences, which made for a fun, intimate conversation. 

An interesting piece about the influx of AI in the audiobook sector. What do you think?


Scott Young talks about goal setting and the science of achievement.


Susan DeFreitas spent a year reading Ursula LeGuin novels, and it blew her mind.


Another Worlde story, but with a nice look at all kinds of word puzzles.


The February Newsletter went out this week, with some fun news…

Reads 📚


A good reading week in between the Olympics coverage. Finished THE WIFE STALKER (5 stars for creativity), moved on to Jennifer Armentrout’s FROM BLOOD AND ASH, dabbled a bit in SWAN DIVE by Georgina Pazcoguin, and made good progress on a galley from thriller author Adam Hamby. 

Happy Valentine’s Day! ♥️ I hope you’ve had a great weekend with a wonderful book!

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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.

Smatterings: A Little Productivity Pep Talk

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"Smatterings" with a snowy background with park benches and snow-capped trees.

Happy Sunday. I hope you’re safe and warm with a good book close by.

I had a conversation with a writer friend recently that I thought salient to this week’s note. This author is highly motivated and extremely creative. She regularly juggles multitudes of projects—quite successfully, I might add—writes quickly, is used to immersion into the worlds she creates. She was having an off day and was resisting the urge to beat herself up over the lack of productivity. Hyper-productive authors don’t do well with moments like this. I know that for a fact, because I too have these days when I can’t seem to move the chains no matter what I try. The words just aren’t there. Those days are rough, and it’s very easy to fall into the I am screwing everything up when you don’t hit your goals. Here is my response:

“Paradoxically, I think this is what makes us great creators. It's the same emotional diligence that keeps us coming back to the page and trying to create, even when there are bad days. It's tied to our self-discipline. So if you reframe it like that, it might help. Also, look into Cal Newport’s new ideas about slow productivity. It deemphasizes the micro in favor of the macro. I had a crap day Thursday, but looked back and realized I'd written 25,000 already for the month. (Last year I only wrote 140K, so this is a BIG leap forward for me) You'll be okay. You have a ton of projects you're juggling, and brains sometimes need a little rest from the incessant adrenaline spikes we give them.”

I stand by this advice for her, and for you. Those artists who suffer from extreme emotional frustration when they can’t produce are the same ones who, over time, accrete an impressive body of work.

Slow productivity is a real thing and is especially appropriate to writers. Very few of us can toss off 100,000 words in a month. It takes time to write a book. I’ve always equated writing novels to an ant eating an elephant. It takes thousands of small bites every day, day after day after day, to consume the whole thing. 

The next time you’re feeling frustrated that you need to lie fallow for a day or two, keep the faith. It’s just your brain recovering from the adrenal strikes. Over time, you’ll see that one or two bad days don’t matter at all.

And with that in mind, onward! 

Links 🔗


Season 7 of our literary television show A WORD ON WORDS begins airing this week, and a huge Nashville welcome to my new co-host, the divine Alka Joshi, who digs deep into Jessamine Chan’s THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS!!! #keepreading


Publishing has been plagued by a scammer, and he’s finally been unmasked: The Talented Mr. Bernardini


My life coach has some advice for you: Savoring! 3 Ways to Squeeze More Sweetness out of Life


I’m sharing because it’s cool but also I call dibs: The Woman Who Can See 100 Million Colors


Who wants to be the master of their domain?


Some superb editing advice…

Reads 📚


I had a momentary reading block earlier this week trying to conquer the paradox of choice that is my To Be Read pile. I finally settled on Sarah Pinborough’s amazing BEHIND HER EYES, and also watched the adaptation on Netflix, which was stellar, and Liv Constantine’s excellent THE WIFE STALKER, which helped me jump right into the proposal for my next book. Thanks, ladies, for the great books!

What are you reading this weekend?

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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.

Smatterings: That Time I Worked In A Bookstore

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I saw this week Barnes & Noble is trying something new, and it made me very happy and terribly nostalgic. Happy, because offering a discount on pre-orders is a really great way to get people buying books. Nostalgic, because when I went to the website and saw the Coming Soon lists, broken out by weeks, I was immediately thrown back to my own bookstore experiences. I worked for a time at Waldenbooks, right before Randy and I moved to Tennessee. I swear I took the job partly so I could see when the new books by authors I loved were releasing. 

These were the days before pervasive internet: authors’ websites, social media, and email newsletters. The newsletters from authors were snail mailed in print, and the libraries and bookstores and review columns were the only way a layperson you could find out who had a book coming, and when.  It made me feel special to know well ahead of time that the new Diana Gabaldon would release on December 30, and to use the box of alphabet letters to spell that out on the board behind the register. Ah. I do sometimes miss my time working in a bookstore. Though I do not miss the pop-up holiday calendar kiosk in the mall, nor injuring my shoulder falling off the tall rolling ladder, which is what ultimatly ended my career there. If ya can’t haul boxes, ya can’t work in a bookstore.

I applaud Barnes for this new effort to get books into the hands of readers at a lower cost, and the format they’re using to do so. There’s a ton of bargains out there, from a ton of amazing authors. Pre-orders are incredibly vital to a book’s trajectory, so go grab some of these beauties. A few I’d recommend to get you started:

David Bell, Jennifer Hillier, John Grisham, Kellye Garrett, E. Lockhart, Karen M. McManus, Ruth Ware, John Sandford, Lisa Scottoline, Paige Crutcher, Emily Henry, Ashley Herring Blake, Sarah J Maas, Mark Greaney, Tracy Deonn.... Oh, my gosh, there are too many to count. I’ll stop now : )

And with books on our brains…onward!

Links 🔗

A helpful exercise: How to quiet your mind by doing a brain dump

Julia Cameron on the best ways to get creative indoors.

Reckoning With Joan Didion, the Archpriestess of Cool.

Cal Newport says it’s time to embrace slow productivity. I agree.

Ruth Reichl has a new substack, and I am so here for it.

Are you Wordle-addicted yet?

Reads 📚

A couple of big releases the past few weeks - THE OVERNIGHT GUEST by Heather Gudenkauf and ONE STEP TOO FAR by Lisa Gardner, for starters. Wowza! I finished WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD, read half of BOX 88, jumped to END GAME. I’m all over the place...

Did you see the chilling new cover for THE COLD ROOM? I LOVE it!

What are you reading this weekend?

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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.

THE COLD ROOM has a new cover!

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Next up in the Taylor Jackson series cover re-issue is THE COLD ROOM! What do you think?

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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.