Sunday Smatterings

Hey, friends, how's tricks? You doing okay?

I'm plugging away, deep in writing mode as I prep for the LIE TO ME tour that's coming up soon. It's been a good writing week, actually—I've written my way past some tricky areas in Brit #5, which is always a great feeling when I can power through. I don't believe in writer's block, just bad plots. When I'm stuck for a couple of days, I take a breather, grab a couple of margaritas with my husband, and together we can usually hash out whatever the problem is. It's a beautiful thing.

Y'all ready for some links?

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Here's what happened on the Internets this week:

Anyone want to buy a bookstore? Seattle Mystery Bookshop is up for sale. I have long admired this great store from afar, and I'm beyond thrilled to be signing there for my first time in a couple of weeks—but heartbroken the store is up for sale. I'd love to see it live on.
 

The email app that delights. I am a big fan of the Newton Mail client. Clean, minimalist, and easy to read and respond. What more do you need? Well, Windows fans, they are available for you now, too!
 

Harry Potter Nerds Rejoice: 2 New ‘History of Magic’ Books Coming This Fall. I'll take more Harry Potter any way I can get it, thank you very much.

Harry Potter-themed store opens in Toronto. And speaking of HP, I know where I'm making a pit stop when I'm in Toronto this fall... (y'all, Toronto even has an HP-themed bar!
 

A new-to-me travel tool: JustyFly.com. If you're looking for a cheap getaway, this site may help. 
 

Here's How Many Books You Could Read Every Month If You Cut Back Time Spent on Your Smartphone. Just a tech PSA. If you read your books on your phone, you are excused.
 

18 Tiny "Game Of Thrones" Details You Might Have Missed First Time Round. This season of GoT, we're getting all kinds of payoffs. This list may help you remember some nuggets you've forgotten so you can enjoy what's happening on the screen even more. #dragons
 

7 Reasons Slow Reading Is Actually A Good Thing, Because Being A Speed Reader Is Overrated. In case you needed a morale boost for that book it's taking you forever to finish. Read to your comfort speed, no more.

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And closer to home:

Have you added LIE TO ME to Goodreads? One of the easiest ways you can (1) make sure you're ready for LIE TO ME's release and (2) help spread the word about my new book is to put it on your Goodreads shelf. Why's that? The more people who shelve the book on Goodreads, the more Goodreads will suggest it to new readers: it's a win-win situation! Speaking of Goodreads, my friend Debbie is running a LIE TO ME bookclub there in September and October, and you can join in. Trust me, you may want someone to talk about this book with when you finish. The more, the merrier!

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That's it from me. Y'all enjoy the eclipse (and make sure you wear your eclipse glasses, pretty please), eat some fresh honeydew, read a good book, and we'll talk again soon.

xo,
J.T.

Sunday Smatterings

Hi, chickens, happy Sunday. Did y'all have a good week? As you know, I just got back from vacation (which was glorious). After a few days catching up, I'm happily back at work on Brit #5, trying to flesh out a rip-roaring adventure for Nick and Mike. Things are swimming along, and there's a big month of writing ahead. Summer's over for the kiddies, and now it is for me, too. 

I have a favor to ask you below, but we'll get to that later. Right now, it's time for links:

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Here's what happened on the Internets this week:

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? A fabulous long read with sobering statistics.

Aziz Ansari gave up using the internet for reading books. After reading articles like the last one, this gives me hope.

Why are cats afraid of water? This was the most retweeted article on my feed this week—for good reason. Face it, you've always wondered...

[Listen] The World's Most Glamorous Librarian. BookRiot brings us the life of Belle De Costa Greene, the most glamorous and influential librarian in early 20th Century America. And she is fascinating. 

Branch out from your usual genres this year (and 15 titles that will help you do just that). For those of you doing book challenges, Modern Mrs. Darcy may be able to help you out.

Megan Abbott on Genres. On the last season of A Word on Words, I talked to the brilliant Megan Abbott about the literary vs. genre divide. And her insight is pretty spectacular and totally spot-on. This week Poets & Writers picked up the interview, which turned out to be quite timely.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter's New Ride Promises to Be Scarier Than the Dark Arts. This is important. Obviously.

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And closer to home: LIE TO ME is almost here!

Y'all, I have to tell you – I am so excited to share LIE TO ME with my chickens! You can start devouring Ethan and Sutton’s story on September 5!

If you'll indulge me, let's talk about this book a little bit.

I had a specific goal in mind when I wrote this story – stretch myself beyond my limits. Thankfully, some very important people agreed. Lee Child called LIE TO ME “wonderful... a one-more-chapter, don't-eat-dinner, stay-up-late sensation." Lisa Scottoline said LIE TO ME has “more twists and turns than the backroads of Tennessee.” And in their starred review, Publishers Weekly said LIE TO ME was “exceptional” and “may be [my] best work to date.”

This book is a big one, y’all. It would mean the world to me if you supported LIE TO ME the way you have with my past work.

How can you help, you ask?

I’ll be honest – a pre-order means EVERYTHING for this book. Pre-orders are vital to a book’s early success. It tells bookstores to order more copies, it helps with placement on the front tables and bestseller lists, it gets libraries excited to stock the title – everything a book needs to be a success. And it’s all in your very capable hands.

Plus, you have options! You can order it in your preferred format – trade paperback, hardcover, digital, or audio – right now. No waiting six months to a year for the more cost-effective paperback. Cool, right? (FYI, the trade paperback is only 10 bucks. Just sayin’.)

So if you would, pick up a copy, rate it on Goodreads, leave a review at your favorite retailer, copy and paste the image above on your social feeds, tell a friend about it: every little thing helps, and I am so grateful for any support you can give.

Thank you, thank you for coming on this journey with me. I’m thrilled to share my writing world with you!

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That's it from me. Y'all have a great week, go get a popsicle, finish the book you're reading, and we'll talk again soon!

xo,
J.T.

Daily Tao ☯ 8.11.17

So things have been a little hectic since I got back from vacation, lots of loose ends that need tying up. But I’m starting to feel caught up, and writing again — last night at 8 I solved a problem and had to open the manuscript again. So that bodes well — it’s starting to come alive for me.

August newsletter is out — if you haven’t received it, check your non-priority inboxes or give me a shout and I’ll get you taken care of. 

I mention this because I received a lovely letter from a reader who complimented my marketing skills. I told her the truth, I had a shortcut, having been in marketing in the past.

And it reminded me of a funny, sad story. Staff meeting, aerospace contractor, circa 1994. I came in with a major marketing proposal, nervous as all get out. When my turn came, I presented my idea: start a company website. Many small and large companies around us were doing it, I knew a guy who could build it for us on the cheap, and it would give us a leg up when RFP* time came — we would have all of our previous projects and successes on the site, so it would be a one stop shop instead of recreating the wheel for the RFP.

(*RFPs — request for proposal — the soul sucking process by which the government hires contractors to build things for them. It is a long, arduous process that involves a million details, long nights, and a lot of hard work. And of course, only one company can win the contract, so every advantage helps.)

Anyway, my proposal was met with absolute silence, then an older gentleman who’d been in the game for a long time scoffed, “We don’t need this. This is a ridiculous waste of time. I refuse to approve a major budget line item just so you can give some guy you’re sleeping with a job.”

And just like that, the proposal was shot down. No website for us.

Ahem.

As my husband can attest, said guy was NOT my boyfriend, he was a legitimate, ahead-of-his-time computer programmer. Yes, I made a SH complaint. Yes, grumpy old man was disciplined. No, we did not get a website. Soon after, I bolted for greener pastures, to a company who also wasn’t interested in a website but grudgingly let me do it, and then, happily, circumstances changed and we moved to Nashville.

Moral of the story: technology changes. The world charges forward into the breach whenever a crack appears. Early adopters aren’t always mad. Sometimes, they actually do have good ideas.

As we gear up for the LIE TO ME launch, as we exploit the now very powerful internet and my own websites to help reach more readers, I am struck by how much things have changed, and how much has stayed the same. It’s easier to reach people, yes. But the product is still paramount. And I will always be looking for a new and better mousetrap. It’s just how my brain works. It was nice to be reminded of that today.

That’s my trip down marketing memory lane. Since I still have you, please considering pre-ordering LIE TO ME, so I can free my brain from the marketing and write more books.

Sweet dreams!

Sunday Smatterings

Hey, y'all! How's tricks? The Ellison house is trying to stay cool during the heat wave, and thankfully that's more possible now that our air-conditioner is fixed...er...completely replaced. Yes, our 30-year-old unit took one look at the heatwave and said, no, nope, no way and quit. Oh, the joys of Tennessee summertime... 

Got a bit of writing done on the new Brit in the FBI book, though not as much as I wanted. But like I said, hitting a rough patch at this stage of the book, a quarter of the way through, is normal for me. Sometimes you just have to buckle down and write through it anyway. It's not fun, by any stretch, but as a professional, sitting down and doing the work is something I have to do. The end result will be worth it, and I think you're all going to love this book. Plus I get to go on vacation soon, a proper one, something I haven't done in a couple of years. That's a nice light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyway. It's been a while since we've had a Sunday Smatterings, so without further ado...

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Here's what happened on the Internets this week:

BLAME, the stunning new thriller from Jeff Abbott. Y'all, do yourselves a favor and pick up a copy of my buddy Jeff Abbott's latest novel, BLAME. It's a five-star read!

10 Writing Rules You Can (and Should) Break. Amen. What makes your writing yours is how you break the rules.

Revered and Feared in the Book Review. "A good murder novel, she once wrote, can be 'a portal to a wider world.' Here she is literally at home among them, windows into alternate realities as familiar and vital to her as they can be strange and sinister to others."

Should You Make Your Book Available for Pre-Order? I, along with 13 other authors, weigh in.

The Handmaid's Tale: How to Soundtrack a TV Show Set in Silence. If you haven't seen the TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood's THE HANDMAID'S TALE, trust me when I say the soundtrack of the show is sheer brilliance. I enjoyed this peek into the creative minds behind it.

Emma Watson Interviews Margaret Atwood on "The Handmaid's Tale." Speaking of tapping creative minds, Hermione Granger interviewed the author herself. The meeting of these two smart, savvy women is so enjoyable!

The Golden Age of Bailing. "Technology makes it all so easy. You just pull out your phone and bailing on a rendezvous is as easy as canceling an Uber driver.... But we should probably make bailing harder."

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And closer to home:

This week, not only did we receive a wonderful starred PW review (!), I announced dates and locations for the LIE TO ME tour! I'm heading to some new places on tour this time. Am I going to be near you? If not, never fear: I have a LiveSigning planned on September 21! What's a LiveSigning, you ask? It'll be a live streaming video where I'll sign books on camera, talk about LIE TO ME, and answer your burning questions—just like a regular bookstore signing. And guess what? You can get yourself an autographed book and submit a question before the livecast! Want to learn more? Details here.

New J.T. story: THE ENDARKENING. Have you read my latest short story? It's the perfect ebook read for a plane ride or a day at the beach. Especially if you're into sexy Scottish Highlanders...

JUDAS KISS is only $0.99 until tomorrow! If you've never read Taylor's 3rd book, now's your chance to get the ebook for a bargain.

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That's it from me! Y'all enjoy a lazy summer day or two, binge-watch something good, be safe in the heat, and we'll talk again soon.

xo,
J.T.

Daily Tao ☯ 7.17.17

And… we’re back! Did you have a fabulous couple of weeks? We did. Amy had a blast on her travels, I got a ton of writing done, and now we’re back to regularly scheduled programming, albeit it with a bit of fantastic news to kick off the week:

LIE TO ME received a Starred Publisher’s Weekly review today!

★ Publishers Weekly

Successful authors Ethan and Sutton Montclair, the married couple at the heart of this exceptional domestic thriller from bestseller Ellison (No One Knows), lead a relatively quiet life in Franklin, Tenn., where they each work on their respective books. Then Ethan wakes up one morning to discover a note from Sutton telling him that she needs some time away and doesn’t want him looking for her. Distraught, Ethan contacts Sutton’s mother and her friends, yet all of them claim not to know where she is. When Ethan finally decides to get the police involved in searching for Sutton, he falls under suspicion. Witnesses claim that Ethan physically abused Sutton and was even responsible for the death of their infant son. Might Ethan, emotionally devastated as he appears, be a psychopathic killer? Ellison keeps the suspense high with chapters from the point of view of someone very evil. The person responsible for Sutton’s disappearance remains a mystery right up to the surprising finale. This standalone may be Ellison’s best work to date.

I cried. Of course I cried. A — it’s an incredible review. B — sometimes, you don’t believe what the people around you are saying, and you need affirmation from an anonymous stranger. Isn’t that how art works?

The hardest part for me is always when the book is no longer mine, and it’s gone out into the world to belong to others. You hope and pray it stands up straight, showers daily, puts on fresh underwear in case there’s an accident, comports itself with compassion and grace, doesn’t get drunk and fall down and skin its knee, but you never know what’s going to happen.

So I was incredibly excited when I saw the review. And then I opened my laptop and wrote, because the only way to deal with good news is to remember the way the good news came about, which is hard work. But all day, I kept looking at that star with a secret smile. I put myself out there with this one. It's the book of my heart, and to have this recognition means everything to me. 

Later, we celebrated as we do, with GF pizza and excellent champagne, and the last episodes of House of Cards and The Handmaid’s Tale. All in all, it was a perfect day. 

So all is right in my world at the moment. 

Now, I have a favor. There’s an incredible book about to make its debut in the world tomorrow. It’s called BLAME, and it’s by a good friend of mine, Jeff Abbott. I would have been sharing this news with you regardless, but I’m banging the drum a bit harder than usual because the Abbotts lost their house to a terrible fire last week, and the only thing I can do to help is spread the word. Supporting an artist in his time of need is the most worthy cause. You can get BLAME everywhere fine books are sold. Jeff's signing at Book People tomorrow night, so you can even get one personalized and shipped. Click here for more info!

Here’s what I had to say about it -- I give it 5 Stars!

“BLAME is a masterful suspense novel, full of dread, lies, and deceptions. Abbott is one of our finest writers, and BLAME takes his talents to new levels. Sinister and twisting, this is hands-down the best book you’ll read — and re-read — this year. Absolutely top-notch.”

Have a fabulous evening, chickens! It's good to be back.