J.T. Ellison's Blog, page 21
April 8, 2023
Some People Wear Their Scars on the Outside
“Some people wear their scars on the outside.
Some hide them deep, and never let anyone in to see them.”
It is going to be a month.
A month of joy. A month of good things. A month of celebrating with friends, a month of releases, a month of fear and vulnerability and excitement, all rolled up into a wild three-week book tour and release schedule, with two brand new stories and a reprint heading your way.
I, for one, am very, very, excited. It’s been a long time coming, this month.
You’ve heard me talk about the story behind It’s One of Us, my own infertility journey, and the splashy, ripped-from-the-headlines plot of an unethical company using a donor’s sperm indiscriminately, and how I’ve explored the concentric circles—the ripples from the stone thrown into the pond—those actions created.
But one of the aspects of It’s One of Us that I haven’t talked much about was my inspiration for Olivia Bender’s occupation. She is an architectural designer with a hugely successful career; a popular, sought-after fixture in the Nashville architectural renaissance. She’s even been approached to do a television show —and this is where life and art collide.
As a creator, watching others create is totally my jam. One of my favorite past times is watching people build and restore homes, and then make them pretty. Good design is an art form, and there are some amazing artists out there who I love.
Photo by Kam Idris on UnsplashKelly Wearstler was my inspiration for Olivia—I watched her Masterclass and took page upon page of notes. Kelly is an industrial designer, doing high-end hotels, and her work is remarkable. When I finished, I had such a strong basis for Olivia’s character: her style, her talents, her aesthetic.
I love, love, love The Established Home with Jean Stouffer and her daughter, Grace Start. I feel my blood pressure drops as they talk, and their British countryside aesthetic is totally me. (Says the girl who loves modern art and clean lines... I want to be classic, English countryside, but I’m more French country transitional modern contemporary with a touch of dorm room thrown in for good measure...) (yes, I am in a design identity crisis. Someone help.)
Another fave is Inspired Interiors with Sarah Sherman Samuel. Sarah designs furniture and makes art to go into the spaces she’s doing, and that’s both remarkable to me and inspirational.
Nate and Jeremiah’s Home Project is a current favorite. There’s something about their family, their ethos, their openness that makes me feel all the things.
Jennifer Todryk—the Rambling Redhead—has a fun show called No Demo Reno. Her enthusiasm is contagious and I find myself grinning through the whole thing.
And Joanna and Chip Gaines, the heart of Magnolia, just make me laugh. Chip’s goofy antics, Joanna’s savvy business sense, their journey, their family—it’s sweet and inspiring at the same time.
There are so many more, and this has gotten a bit long, but I think you get the idea.
There’s something all of these people have in common. Yes, they’re talented, and I love their finished work. Yes, they’re tops in their field. But what really attracts me is a more subtle, and more important, commonality.
They openly, freely, and joyously, celebrate their art.
Just watch Jean and Grace walk through a finished home. Their conversation is charming. They are thrilled with how well they’ve accomplished their goals for the space. They don’t shy away from saying: wow, we did a great job here. The clients are going to love this, we love this, the viewers are going to want to imitate this...
It is rare—*rare*—to see women happily celebrating their successes. We’re taught—no, conditioned—by society to see pride as a sin. Being proud of our work is bad, somehow. We’re encouraged to deflect, self-denigrate, to turn the compliments back on the giver. Modesty is to be rewarded. Be humble. Don’t draw attention to yourself.
Well, I think that’s nonsense. I think we should be proud of our hard work, and say that, openly. Move over to our industry, and look at Shonda Rhimes. She gets this. (Read Year of Yes. You’ll see. And talk about a Masterclass worth watching. Incredible!)
I’m excited that there seem to be more and more examples of this happening. It’s a Good Thing. (Said another kick-ass lady who owns her brilliance.)
This month, three items will appear in bookstores, libraries, and on your devices. A short story I am incredibly excited about, the mass-market paperback of the book that almost derailed my creative life, and the new novel, IT’S ONE OF US.
Which is my 25th published novel, by the way.
I busted butt for all three of these stories. For IOOU, I sifted through some of the most heartbreaking moments of any life, not just my own. I found a deep wellspring of emotion and vulnerability, tapped into it, bled onto the page, and
created something that is my best work yet. And yes, I am so freaking thrilled it’s almost here! I hope you love all of these stories as much as I do!
The quote at the beginning of this missive is from IT’S ONE OF US. I’ve mentioned before that certain lines present themselves to me when I’m thinking about a story—that was one. It’s very much me, in so many ways. But honestly, I think it’s many of us.
I see you. I’m giving you my scars this month. And I’m proud of that. What are you proud of this month?
March 30, 2023
THE CREATIVE EDGE, now on Substack
For years, I’ve been working behind the scenes on a project I’ve called jokingly Type, Drink, Loathe.
Type, Drink, Loathe has been a part of my lexicon for more than a decade. It is the former title of a writing book that started in my Murderati days. Yes, I’m debating writing a book about writing. About creativity. About the realities of publishing and my journey through the writing life.
Back then, TDL was a flip, cute title that examined the three sections of my writing life: Type = Writing. Drink = Creativity and Spirituality. Loathe = The Business of Publishing. But so much has changed over the past decade. The industry. My work, my approach, my process. My personal life.
And it has such negative connotations—as was pointed out by a smart friend recently. I am not a negative person, at all.
That joking title simply doesn’t fit anymore. Especially Loathe. Primarily because there is nothing I loathe about my job. I have a complicated relationship with social media and marketing, yes, but if I actually loathed it, I wouldn’t do it. Full stop. The rest of it? I kind of love. I enjoy working with my teams to find the best paths to get books out of my head and into your hands. I love being surrounded by the creativity that goes into modern marketing. I love the art, and the audio, and the planning, and the plotting.
And when I say a complicated relationship, it’s mostly because I am an introvert. Letting people in has always been difficult for me. So opening my heart and soul on the internet to people I don’t know intimately? Yes, that’s challenging.
But being challenged is different than loathing something.
For the middle, Drink: My creativity and spirituality are not driven by substances. It was a joke play on a Hemingway ethos—done by 12, drunk by 3—but I don’t know anyone who actually does that outside of vacation. I certainly don’t. Dealing with the after-effects of Long Covid, I barely drink at all anymore. As such, external forces do not drive my gifts, nor the gifts of any writer I know.
The opening moniker, Type, still works, because, obviously, writing is what I spend the majority of my time doing, but without the other facets, the whole thing falls apart.
TDL, though, has been entrenched in my world for so long that the idea of rebranding freaked me out. Then I listened to the awesome interview between Tim Ferris and James Clear. They were discussing how Clear titled his mega-bestseller Atomic Habits. He was going through the process of the usual formula if X then Y, and how deviations with juxtaposed concepts were more his speed. He used a huge favorite of mine, Deep Work by Cal Newport. Atomic Habits. Deep Work.
It came as suddenly as a meteor streaking across a darkened sky.
Galactic Creativity
That would be a super cool title for a book, right?
A few months ago, I was talking to a dear friend, who is my sounding board on all things, about this very project in addition to several others I was contemplating and working on. I was spinning a lot of plates, juggling two pen names in diametrically opposed genres, alongside a new release, a new novel underway, and multiple short stories. We were trying to figure out how I could basically stop time and do everything, which obviously isn’t possible. But she said something that stuck with me.
“Your creativity is galactic.”
I wrote that down. I posted it next to my desk. I thought about it, a lot. I took it as a compliment, even though it was said in a frame of “Slow down. Take a breath. You can’t do everything, nor should you. Your creativity is galactic. But...”
It’s been a great thought to meditate on, and I decided I wanted it front and center. It is both a reminder that I can’t do everything and that nothing is holding me back but me. It defines me in many ways, defines my writing life. I love what I do, and I want to do it with joy and excitement and gratitude. I have a hundred stories to tell, and good storytelling— capturing the essence on the page, turning it into a novel that readers will enjoy—that’s marathon-level work. It isn’t a sprint. It takes regular deep work on a daily basis to accrue the words. Day after day.
What she was telling me is: There’s time. It’s not like the galaxy was created overnight.
But it didn’t feel right as the name of a writing book. A personal ethos, yes. But for the project, I am moving forward with a different title.
And it’s available now on Substack. I’m going to be working on all aspects of the writing life, non-fiction essays as well as some early look at my fiction—that last will be for paid subscribers only. I’m also doing audio posts for the sight-impaired, so if you’d rather listen, you can do so there.
Fun times, friends! I hope you’ll give it a go!
Do We Ever Really Have Control of Our Lives?🎤
When I was in high school, a friend of mine committed suicide. It was shocking, terrifying, unexpected. No one knew what demons haunted him, though in the aftermath, at the funeral, there were whispers. Abuse. Depression. The corrosive power of over-expectation. He used a shotgun; there was an open-casket funeral. I was scarred for life. I still can’t fully imagine what it was like for his mother.
What I couldn’t conceptualize nor understand as a child, I am all too cognizant of as an adult. Many times on my failed journey to have children of my own, my friend came to mind. After every miscarriage, I would tell my husband God knows something. He knows that something might happen down the road that will break us, and he’s keeping us from that horror. An illness, a tragedy. Would we have made a child who eventually took their own life? Or worse, made one that took the lives of others? I’m a thriller writer; it is fundamental to my nature to ask these difficult questions of humanity. Why would I not query myself, too?
What is a villain, and why do they eventually act? This is a predominant theme in my work. What makes people do terrible things to one another? Is it something in their upbringing? Is it their own internal chaos? Is it genetic?
The marriage of my own curiosity to the reality of miscarriage aside, there has been a gene identified that is common in sociopaths and psychopaths—the MAOA gene, the warrior gene. In my novel IT’S ONE OF US, a self-actualized, well-therapied, formerly institutionalized killer questions his own nature and the possible presence of this gene that could be causing his twisted desires. He is a thinker; he wants to understand why he is the way he is. It doesn’t matter in the end; he is compelled and can’t help himself. Can’t stop himself. He must kill, or be killed. It is his only path. He has no ability to choose another. He is predestined to be this way.
Bullshit.
Choice is everything.
Photo by Caleb Jones on UnsplashIt would be enough to end the essay here, but so many more layers went into this story. The killer is the child of a sperm donor, who has—at the opening count—27 other children. Is it possible only one of them is a killer? Are there more? What genes were passed down from this stranger to his many progenies? It begs the question: Where does the darkness inside truly begin?
I was deeply affected by two real-life stories while planning and writing IT’S ONE OF US. The first was Robert Kolker’s fascinating HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD: Inside The Mind of an American Family, a deep dive into the Galvin family. Of their twelve children, six of the ten boys were diagnosed with schizophrenia. It’s a mind-boggling statistic, and finding out the Galvins were not alone in their situation was even more shocking. Kolker brings the family’s struggles to life against a backdrop of psychiatric failures and possible solutions, and I was lucky enough to interview him about the book. A key takeaway—the humble supplement Choline in utero may have preventative properties for a host of mental illnesses. The doctors running the study will be long dead before they are able to prove this, but the early results look promising.
The use of marijuana in the teen years is also a possible trigger of schizophrenia in those who carry the gene (because as it’s now been proven, this is a genetic disorder), which is explored more fully in the book and podcast DONOR 9623. In an incredible expose, Dov Fox shows the sperm donation industry as murky, ungoverned, unregulated, and oftentimes, completely unethical. Donor 9623 was a liar and charlatan, mentally ill, full of grandiosity and pompousness: and despite knowing that he failed the stringent psychological tests required of all donors, the clinic used his sperm dozens of times, possibly exposing the multitudes of children he sired to a host of medical and psychological issues.
I should make it very clear—my killer does not suffer from schizophrenia or any other mental illness. He is simply a monster, a sociopath who wants to understand his own pathology as the product of a sperm donation handled by an unethical firm. His mother does everything right. He is not a product of abuse. Nature versus nurture is a long-held dichotomous argument about psychopaths; his nature was just that. He was born this way, not made. The darkness inside him comes from a long line of darkness, some exploited, some hidden away.
But these two stories of genetics gone awry planted so many seeds of thought into my already fraught experience with the creation of life. When I did my own genetic testing to see if something in my background might explain my infertility, there was a small discovery of a certain mutation that resulted in meetings with a geneticist and them encouraging me to have my entire family tested.
Though it was a relatively benign mutation regarding folic acid uptake, I couldn’t help but wonder—why did everyone related to me need to be tested? Was there something more they weren’t saying? Something they weren’t telling me? Is this the path forward, in many ways—a blood test will tell if someone is predisposed to kill?
Again, the fantastical nature of my imagination ran with it. The result is IT’S ONE OF US, an intense thriller that explores nature, nurture, motherhood, family, and lies.
(this essay first appeared on Crimereads in 2023)
March 21, 2023
A New Short Story For You - LOUCHE 49!
the cover of the infinity anthology
I’m so excited to share that my new short story, LOUCHE 49, in the Infinity Anthology, edited by Catherine Coulter and published by Suspense Magazine, is available today!
LOUCHE 49 is a thrilling tale of revenge and redemption, following a female assassin—Tempeste Ranier—who goes undercover to investigate her mother’s murder in Paris in the early ‘80s. Inspired by the classic French noir thriller film ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS, the story is a dark and atmospheric exploration of the seedy underbelly of both the City of Lights and Nashville and deep dives into how the actions of our past reverberate in the present.
The prompt — a story with a number in the title — was fun, as this title, LOUCHE 49, quite literally leaped into my mind the moment I saw the description. I’ve learned not to mess with those kinds of intense moments, and I’m excited for you to see what the title really means.
I’m thrilled to have my work included alongside so many talented authors. I mean, just look at this lineup!!!
Thank you to Catherine Coulter for editing, and the team at Suspense Magazine, especially John Raab, for pulling us all together into this incredible opportunity, and of course, to all of you for your support and encouragement. I can’t wait for you to experience the twists and turns of LOUCHE 49, and I hope it will leave you on the edge of your seats until the very end.
March 8, 2023
It's One Of Us Media Roundup
This is an ongoing listing of the amazing conversations I’ve been having about IT’S ONE OF US, the reviews, the blurbs from some of the world’s finest authors. I hope you enjoy!
RecognitionGlobe and Mail Bestseller List
★ Library Journal starred review
Amazon Editors' Pick - Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Apple Books’ Best Book of March
Goodreads 2023's Most Anticipated Mysteries & Thrillers
Paste Magazine: The Most Anticipated Mystery and Thriller Books of 2023
POPSUGAR: 28 New Mystery Books That'll Have You on the Edge of Your Seat in March
SheReads: Top Thrillers on Booktok & Bookstagram: February 2023
CrimeReads: 10 New Books Coming Out This Week
Interviews, Podcasts, and Essays🖥 Bookreporter Talks To... with Carol Fitzgerald
🖥 Facebook Live with Jayne Ann Krentz
🖥 Ampstigator Podcast with Lauren Lowrey
🖥 The Poisoned Pen: J.T. in conversation with Nick Petrie
🖥 Emily Booked Up Instagram Live
🖥 Local on 2 with Larissa Wohl
🖥 Mystery Maven with Sara DiVello
🖥 Killer Women Podcast with Danielle Girard | Authors on the Air
🖥️ Sonica Soares, The Reading Beauty Instagram Live
🎤 Authors on the Air with Allison Brennan ( Soundcloud | Anchor )
🎤 Simplified Podcast with Emily Ley: When Your Life Becomes a Thriller Novel (with J.T. Ellison)
🎤 The Inside Flap Podcase: The Trouble With Sperm Donors
ReviewsLibrary Journal: “Ellison spotlights the issue of infertility, based on her own experiences, then adds betrayal, obsession, and familial ties that bind to create a tension-filled story with an intriguing theme. Readers will race through the pages to an end they didn’t see coming.” ⭐️
Apple: “Long-held secrets become a matter of life and death in J.T. Ellison’s taut, edgy thriller.”
Bookreporter: “The eerily titled IT’S ONE OF US opens with a scene that will creep out even the staunchest reader…”
BookTrib: “J.T. Ellison’s scintillating “It’s One of Us” is an early contender for best psychological thriller for 2023.”
And more…
Chapter 16: Heartbreak and Betrayal
Praise“A heart-stoppingly tense thriller about the price of secrets and the layers behind every marriage.”
—Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author of THE IT GIRL
“It’s One of Us brings all the twists, chills, and thrills I expect from the preternaturally gifted Ellison, and it’s also an emotionally resonant read that I can’t wait to recommend to my book club. The secrets snarled in the threads of an unraveling marriage and a heroine who wholly won me over put this one on my keeper shelf—you are going to love it!”
—Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of WITH MY LITTLE EYE
“J.T. Ellison has done the impossible in IT’S ONE OF US, by crafting a riveting domestic thriller full of twists and turns, but also heart and emotion. You’ll root for her heroine Olivia Bender every step of the way, as soon as a knock on the door brings shocking news that threatens her marriage and her world. You won’t be able to put this novel down!”
—Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author of LOYALTY
“A smart, taut, mind-blowing thriller full of heartbreak and betrayal that moves along at breakneck speed. IT’S ONE OF US is a force to be reckoned with. I’ve always been a fan, but Ellison has outdone herself with this one. Readers will be obsessed!”
—Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of LOCAL WOMAN MISSING
“Without ever once sacrificing narrative grace, J.T. Ellison hits every bumper in her newest novel: IT’S ONE OF US — a husband and wife who are both troubled and troubling, murky medical ethics targeting people desperate for babies, the thicket of surprise families through DNA testing and the murders of two young women, twenty years apart. It might sound like a whirlpool of social-media fodder, but it’s anything but: It’s one of the most compelling psychological suspense stories I’ve read in years.”
—Jacquelyn Mitchard, New York Times bestselling author of THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN and THE GOOD SON
"Beautifully written and impossible to put down, master storyteller J.T. Ellison will have you spellbound with this deeply layered psychological thriller. Immersive and propulsive, IT’S ONE OF US, keeps you turning pages with an ending you’ll never see coming. I loved it!”
—Liv Constantine, bestselling author of THE LAST MRS. PARRISH
“IT’S ONE OF US is an emotional and thrilling psychological journey through the shadows of the human heart. Just when you think you know what’s coming, prepare to gasp with each new revelation. Through multiple fascinating points of view, layers of secrets, lies, love and loss are revealed. I did not put this book down until the last unexpected and breathless page. Unpredictable, intense and riveting, J. T. Ellison is at her heart-stopping best.”
—Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of THE SECRET BOOK OF FLORA LEA
“IT'S ONE OF US sets a stunning new gold standard in psychological suspense. At once an extraordinary, unpredictable, absolutely riveting thriller and a fiercely insightful, emotional journey, this is psychological suspense at its most enthralling and intense.”
—Jayne Ann Krentz, New York Times bestselling author of SLEEP NO MORE
“In IT’S ONE OF US, J.T. Ellison pulls no punches as she expertly explores the intensely complex emotions surrounding infertility, loss, and marriage. Throw in murder, a vivid cast of characters, and shocking secrets, Ellison masterfully mines the human heart in this treasure of a thriller that will keep readers turning the pages long into the night.”
—Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Overnight Guest
“J.T. Ellison is one of my absolute favorite authors and with IT’S ONE OF US, she brings things to a whole other level. Ellison takes her trademark gripping, breathless thriller, adds an incredibly unique premise and delivers a novel that’s also a deeply poignant story about our deepest desire for love, family and happiness. Brimming with tension and raw emotion, it’s the perfect book club pick. I’ll be thinking about this book for a very long time.”
— Hannah Mary McKinnon, internationally bestselling author of NEVER COMING HOME
“Secrets and lies abound, relationships are tested, and the twists keep coming. A signature J.T. Ellison thriller told from multiple points of view with an added layer of emotional depth that held me captive until the end. This read is wild, going from 0-60 mph on the first page, and doesn’t stop until the last. I’m pretty good at guessing whodunit. Not this one, which made this book that much more gripping. Ellison outdid herself, a master storyteller. This is a must read, especially the author’s note at the end, which gutted me.”
—Kerry Lonsdale, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post & Amazon Charts Bestselling Author of NO MORE WORDS
“J.T. Ellison is one of my favorite authors. I eagerly await everything she writes. And in IT’S ONE OF US she is at the very top of her formidable game. Don’t miss this layered, emotional, and twisting thrill ride.”
—Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of SECLUDED CABIN SLEEPS SIX
“The perfect mix of edge-of-your-seat tension, deep emotion, and impeccably developed characters, J.T. Ellison’s latest is a masterclass in storytelling. Secrets and lies, love and loss mix flawlessly to create a novel that touches every single emotion. Fans of Lisa Jewell and Ruth Ware will flock to IT’S ONE OF US, and book clubs won’t be able to stop talking about it. Five dazzling stars.”
—Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times Bestselling author of THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS
"A tense and propulsive thriller, IT’S ONE OF US explores the dark truths of marriage, the lengths we go to hide our deepest secrets and the ways in which they find their way to the light. J.T. Ellison knows how to grab readers and hold them on their edge of their seats to the final pages, and IT’S ONE OF US proves this writer is at the top of her game."
—Danielle Girard, USA Today and Amazon #1 Bestseller of THE EX
“Raw, layered and full of stunning revelations, IT’S ONE OF US is the most original thriller we’ve read in years. With a richly drawn cast of characters, an emotionally charged plot and a jaw-dropping ending, IT’S ONE OF US should be your next read!”
—Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke, authors of How to Save a Life
J.T. Ellison is at the top of her game with IT’S ONE OF US, an extremely compelling thriller shot through with twists and turns, a strong emotional pulse, and heartfelt exploration of the pressures of marriage and starting a family. Impressive and gripping.
—Gilly Macmillan, internationally bestselling author of THE LONG WEEKEND
February 21, 2023
Release Day for It's One of Us!
IT’S ONE OF US is here at last!
The germs of this story have been floating around in my brain for over a decade, sparked by one of those tragic-comedic life moments: my husband and I were in the middle of some rather grueling fertility treatments. One fateful day, he was locked alone in a room in the clinic with a magazine and Sweet Home Alabama blasting out of the speakers (not his first choice). That evening, as we laughed at the absurdity of our situation, he told me this had the makings of a novel... but I’m a thriller writer, and fertility is more of a women’s fiction story. I didn’t know how to marry the two until recently. Enter the complicated forensics of sibling DNA, the moral ambiguity of the sperm donation industry, and a killer on the loose, and poof, the story came together.
My protagonist, Olivia Bender, was such a dream character to write. She came to my mind fully formed one day: a sad, lonely woman with sable hair in a cream cable knit sweater and rolled-up chinos, walking barefoot down a chilly beach, having just suffered a miscarriage. I had to know who she was. It turns out, she’s a dynamic architectural designer who owns her own firm, shares her gifts with the community, and is struggling with the same fertility issues my husband and I went through.
And then... twist. That’s what I do, I take the story and turn it into a pretzel.
Olivia is placed in an absolutely untenable position by the circumstances of the novel, and all I could think was: What would I do in this situation? How would I react? I think this book has a great philosophical core of uncertainty that I hope many, many readers will connect with. What would YOU do? How would YOU react? What would be YOUR path forward? Do you agree with how Olivia handles the situation, especially as it spins out of control? And what about the rest of the characters? We hear from all the people affected: The Husband. The Mother. The Daughter. The Brother. The Cops. The Murderer. I love books that force you to examine your own motivations and morality, while exploring the same in the characters, and this one will, for sure.
This story is certainly identifiable as one of mine, from the creepy opening to the high-stakes life and death struggle, the push and pull of a police investigation against the domestic backdrop, characters you want to root for, and characters you’ll love to hate. And of course, the Nashville setting. But I think this story has a different kind of nuance and tackles questions that are much closer to our realities than the more fantastical world of some of my other psychological thrillers. I think readers will see themselves reflected more in these characters than anything I’ve done previously. It’s not a scary, leave the lights on kind of thriller. It’s scary in a different kind of way. It’s quiet and insidious and morally complicated. And, if I’ve done my job correctly, completely addictive.
And there’s no denying this is, at its heart, a story of loss, specifically, the kind of loss that comes from infertility and miscarriage. When you’re in the throes of trying, and not succeeding, to have children, it feels like the world is caving in around your ears. I couldn’t write a book about what it’s like to have children, but I can write with some authenticity about what it’s like to lose them. And even more importantly, to survive those losses. Survive, and thrive. I am hoping to normalize the conversation around infertility and send a clear message that there is life on the other side of these tragedies. A joyful, wonderful, complete life.
I hope you love IT’S ONE OF US! It’s available now wherever you like to buy books, and the audio is read magnificently by the one and only Julia Whelan.
eBookKINDLE | NOOK | APPLE BOOKS | GOOGLE PLAY | KOBO
HardcoverAMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | TARGET | BOOKS-A-MILLION | INDIGO | BOOKSHOP
AudiobookAUDIBLE | LIBRO.FM | HARLEQUIN AUDIO | KOBO
If you’d like a personalized copy, please check in with Parnassus books, where there are goodies to go along with your order!
And please come see me on tour!
February 7, 2023
These Cold Strangers...out today!
THESE COLD STRANGERS BOOK COVERS ON A TREELINED FOGGY BACKGROUNDI could not be more excited to share that my short story, THESE COLD STRANGERS, is now available from Amazon Originals! What’s so fun is this is a part of a themed collection called We Could Be Heroes, which digs into what it really means to be a hero. Do you need a cape and the ability to fly? Or is it something deeper, smaller, but no less extraordinary?
The collection features five original short stories written by a couple of folks you might know... Lisa Scottoline, Lisa Unger, Janelle Brown, Victor Methos, and me! They’re all available today—the full collection or as individual stories—and in both digital and audio!
Here’s more about THESE COLD STRANGERS, which is read by Brittany Presley, who beautifully narrated Her Dark Lies, too.
From New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison comes a chilling tale about how a reporter’s deep dive into a viral video challenges her preconceived notions of what being a hero really means.
When she recognizes the heroic stranger in a sensationalized news video, Addison Blake plans to use the information to her career’s advantage. That means returning to the hometown she left behind ten years ago, but her ambitions are more important than the ghosts of her past. She’s focused on breaking this story—as long as it doesn’t break her first.
J.T. Ellison’s These Cold Strangers is part of We Could Be Heroes, a darkly inquisitive collection of short stories that examines heroic intentions versus their real-life consequences. Read or listen to each in a single sitting.
This story was inspired by the news of a man who died after being left alone, incapacitated, for hours, on a Parisian street. The story broke my heart and went directly into my ideas file. How could we be so callous? How could we let someone lie there, dying, and not stop to help?
Part of my job as a thriller writer is to shine a light on injustice when I see it — and maybe find a path to redemption. I hope that’s the case with this story. I had a lot of thoughtful moments mentally debating what it means to be a hero. I hope this challenges you, too.
And some background for you about this cool program:
Amazon Original Stories is Amazon Publishing’s imprint dedicated to short nonfiction and fiction by bestselling authors and new voices. AOS stories are intended to be read—or listened to—in a single sitting (5,000 to 20,000 words). Each story is available free to Prime members and Kindle Unlimited subscribers, and $1.99 for non-subscribers. Every download includes a free Audible edition as well.
Amazon Original Stories has published stories by Pulitzer and National Book Award winners and international bestsellers, in categories ranging from memoir to suspense to true crime to literary fiction. AOS stories have won the Hugo, Audie, and O. Henry awards and have been nominated for the Edgar, Locus, and Thriller Awards. They have been selected for the Best American anthology series four times and optioned for film and television. An overview of all published titles can be found here.
Release Day for These Cold Strangers
These Cold Strangers book covers on a treelined foggy background
I could not be more excited to share that my short story, THESE COLD STRANGERS, is now available from Amazon Originals! What’s so fun is this is a part of a themed collection called We Could Be Heroes, which digs into what it really means to be a hero. Do you need a cape and the ability to fly? Or is it something deeper, smaller, but no less extraordinary?
The collection features five original short stories written by a couple of folks you might know... Lisa Scottoline, Lisa Unger, Janelle Brown, Victor Methos, and me! They’re all available today—the full collection or as individual stories—and in both digital and audio!
Here’s more about THESE COLD STRANGERS, which is read by Brittany Presley, who beautifully narrated Her Dark Lies, too.
From New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison comes a chilling tale about how a reporter’s deep dive into a viral video challenges her preconceived notions of what being a hero really means.
When she recognizes the heroic stranger in a sensationalized news video, Addison Blake plans to use the information to her career’s advantage. That means returning to the hometown she left behind ten years ago, but her ambitions are more important than the ghosts of her past. She’s focused on breaking this story—as long as it doesn’t break her first.
J.T. Ellison’s These Cold Strangers is part of We Could Be Heroes, a darkly inquisitive collection of short stories that examines heroic intentions versus their real-life consequences. Read or listen to each in a single sitting.
Get yours today!
And some background for you about this cool program:
Amazon Original Stories is Amazon Publishing’s imprint dedicated to short nonfiction and fiction by bestselling authors and new voices. AOS stories are intended to be read—or listened to—in a single sitting (5,000 to 20,000 words). Each story is available free to Prime members and Kindle Unlimited subscribers, and $1.99 for non-subscribers. Every download includes a free Audible edition as well.
Amazon Original Stories has published stories by Pulitzer and National Book Award winners and international bestsellers, in categories ranging from memoir to suspense to true crime to literary fiction. AOS stories have won the Hugo, Audie, and O. Henry awards and have been nominated for the Edgar, Locus, and Thriller Awards. They have been selected for the Best American anthology series four times and optioned for film and television. An overview of all published titles can be found here.
January 31, 2023
Galactic Creativity and THE CREATIVE EDGE 🎤
Some news for you today: I have changed the name of this project (again*) to THE CREATIVE EDGE.
I don’t do this lightly. The previous name–Type, Drink, Loathe–has been a part of my lexicon for more than a decade. It is the former title of a writing book I’ve been working on since my Murderati days. Yes, I’m writing a book about writing. About creativity. About the realities of publishing.
Back then, TDL was a flip, cute title that examined the three sections of my writing life: Type = Writing. Drink = Creativity and Spirituality. Loathe = The Business of Publishing. But so much has changed over the past decade. The industry. My work, my approach, my process. My personal life.
And it has such negative connotations - as was pointed out by a smart friend recently. I am not a negative person, at all.
So the title simply doesn’t fit anymore. Especially Loathe. Primarily, because there is nothing I loathe about my job. I have a complicated relationship with social media and marketing, yes, but if I actually loathed it, I wouldn’t do it. Full stop. The rest of it? I kind of love. I enjoy working with my teams to find the best paths to get books out of my head and into your hands. I love being surrounded by the creativity that goes into modern marketing. I love the art, and the audio, and the planning, and the plotting.
And when I say a complicated relationship, it’s mostly because I am an introvert. Letting people in has always been difficult for me. So opening my heart and soul on the internet to people I don’t know intimately? Yes, that’s challenging.
But being challenged is different than loathing something.
For the middle, Drink: My creativity and spirituality are not driven by substances. It was a joke play on a Hemingway ethos - done by 12, drunk by 3 - but I don’t know anyone who actually does that. I certainly don’t. I barely drink at all. As such, external forces do not drive my gifts, nor the gifts of any writer I know.
The opening moniker, Type, still works, because, obviously, writing is what I spend the majority of my time doing, but without the other facets, the whole thing falls apart.
TDL, though, has been entrenched in my world for so long that the idea of rebranding freaked me out. Then I listened to the awesome interview between Tim Ferris and James Clear. They were discussing how Clear titled his mega-bestseller, Atomic Habits. As he was going through the process of the usual formula if X then Y, and how deviations with juxtaposed concepts were more his speed. He used a huge favorite of mine, Deep Work by Cal Newport. Atomic Habits. Deep Work.
It came as suddenly as a meteor streaking across a darkened sky.
Galactic Creativity
So why Galactic Creativity?
A few months ago, I was talking to a dear friend, who is my sounding board on all things, about this very project, in addition to several others I was contemplating and working on. I was spinning a lot of plates, juggling two pen names in diametrically opposed genres, alongside a new release, a new novel underway, and multiple short stories. We were trying to figure out how I could basically stop time and do everything, which obviously isn’t possible. But she said something that stuck with me.
“Your creativity is galactic.”
I wrote that down. I posted it next to my desk. I thought about it, a lot. I took it as a compliment, even though it was said in a frame of “Slow down. Take a breath. You can’t do everything, nor should you. Your creativity is galactic. But...”
It’s been a great thought to meditate on, and I decided I wanted it front and center. In retrospect, it seems the perfect name for this project. It is both a reminder that I can’t do everything and that nothing is holding me back but me. It defines me in many ways, defines my writing life. I love what I do, and I want to do it with joy and excitement and gratitude. I have a hundred stories to tell, and good storytelling— capturing the essence on the page, turning it into a novel that readers will enjoy—that’s marathon-level work. It isn’t a sprint. It takes regular deep work on a daily basis to accrue the words. Day after day.
What she was telling me is: There’s time. It’s not like the galaxy was created overnight.
So there you have it. Galactic creativity is now my path, and I’m embracing it fully. Starting with a new name for this project - THE CREATIVE EDGE. I’m so glad you’ve joined me for a walk.
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January 20, 2023
The Joy of Ritual 🎤
Happy New Year!
I’ve been so excited for 2023, for the clean slate of a fresh calendar and the mental reset that comes every January. And we are finally here! It’s silly to many, I know, the idea that there’s a specific date when we will suddenly change, and become better versions of ourselves—stronger, faster, sleeker, smarter. That bad habits will be shed and positive ones will take their place. (Anyone who’s been in the gym the first few weeks of the year will see this in action. The attrition by week 4 is both remarkable and sad.)
And yet, I, like many of you, am driven to try.
Photo by Content Pixie on UnsplashI am glad to see 2022 in the rearview. It was a weird year, with too many unscheduled interruptions and personal health issues for my liking. COVID (twice), a shoulder surgery, months of rehab, a sick cat, the continued adverse effects of the booster mRNA vaccine and COVID on my poor heart (improving now with medication and a strict no salt, no alcohol diet) and a very sick kitten all kept me busy. I was shocked to find out how many of my friends have suffered from the same health issues this year. I pray that it’s all temporary, for all of us.
This new reality affects my planning for 2023 and beyond. I can’t do as much as I’d like while I continue to heal. And that’s okay. This enforced rest gives me time to reset.
My annual review goes into all of this in greater detail but my word for 2023 is Ritual.
Type, Drink, Loathe2022 Annual ReviewWelcome to my Annual Review! My year is not complete with giving myself a performance review, examining what went right, what went wrong, how well I lived up to my themes and goals. These reviews have morphed for me, something to do with the pandemic, no doubt, into a more general positive or negative view, examining my level of satisfaction with my per…Read more4 months ago · 1 like · 2 comments · J.T. EllisonIt’s something I feel we lost during the pandemic, those small but important, memorable activities that defined our lives. I know I did, at least. So this year, I am working hard to reestablish my rituals, from when I write fiction to how I schedule my days to how I approach my annual planning to how and when I read, exercise, eat, play, rest—everything. I’m bringing back the tried-and-true methods that I leaned upon for so long. There are Pomodoros and specific writing hours and a more normal sequence to my days, and that makes me happy. These keystone habits build upon themselves. And they make the celebration of their achievement all the richer and sweeter.
The annual review also has an entire section of upcoming 2023 releases, both novels, and short stories. There’s a lot to come this year, the result of my enforced sabbatical from events. It worked so well that I’m planning to repeat this in the second half of the year, so I can become a hermit again and fill the pipeline even more. But the first half is chock full of events.
The IT’S ONE OF US tour is shaping up nicely. I am thrilled that I will be out on the road doing a few in-person events at bookstores across the country, including the launch party at Parnassus on February 20, where I will be in conversation with Rea Frey (Nashville, represent, please!). In addition, there will be some of the tried and true online forums we’ve all grown to love. I’m looking at my calendar with a bit of side-eye because it’s now so filled I’m feeling my inner introvert scream a little. I’m excited to see you out there, though. I hope you’ll come out and visit with me for a while.
Here’s to a beautiful CALM 2023 for us all!
Type, Drink, Loathe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
