J.T. Ellison's Blog, page 9

Step Ten: The Alpha/Beta Reads

I’ve been very blessed over the course of my career to talk to a LOT of people. Readers of all stripes, many of whom are professionals in their fields. And the research I’ve done also means I have a cadre of people who have expertise in areas I am sorely lacking. It is from this pool of people that I pull my alpha and beta readers.

What’s the difference?

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

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Friday Reads 8.22.24

Howdy, friends. My apologies for missing last week. We had a family emergency, and I was busy crisscrossing the country and completely spaced. I suppose that is a good thing, right? For every one of you who’s encouraged me not to be grinding so hard, I listened, even if it was inadvertent.

Also, a heads up: I have to take the next few weeks away from Friday Reads. Bouchercon is coming up this week, and I have many duties to fulfill as one of the Guests of Honor; and we’re leaving right after the conference on a vacation/research trip. I will go so far as to say I’ll be taking a social media sabbatical, but do not be surprised if pictures from the trip start cropping up on Instagram—it’s the easiest way to share with family and the best way for me to mark the journey. I won’t be on email or working in any capacity. This is a true “be where your feet are” kind of trip, and I can’t wait to get there!

I knew these last few weeks of summer were going to be frantic; I didn’t know they were also going to be filled to the brim with fear and joy and hospitals and tests and vet appointments and rushing all over the world in addition to all the peopling. I’ve sadly had to cancel a couple of events and appearances, but you know how it goes. My people need me, and I have to stay healthy for them.

I do have a couple of 22 Steps posts in the queue for you paid folk, and I should be back in the saddle here on September 20. That week, I’ll be gearing up for an appearance at the Huntsville Vive le Livre on September 25, so all you folks in Bama, get thee tickets! I am giving — GASP! — a speech.

It will be a very casual speech, as I am a casual speaker, but it should be a lot of fun.

Can you believe I’ve been reading? Well, I have. I DNF’d a book I thought I was going to love, and you know what? It happens! Life is too short not to connect with a book. So I picked up another, the latest from Rachel Howzell Hall. It’s called WHAT FIRE BRINGS and it is bonkers. Wildly entertaining. Smart, sharp, sassy, and twisted. You will love it.

I also have a galley of her new fantasy novel THE LAST ONE, and I am so darn excited to read it, and have a conversation at Bouchercon with another thriller/fantasy crossover writer!

I’ll be starting that as soon as I finish my current read, S.A. Cosby’s ALL THE SINNERS BLEED. It is devastatingly good so far, and I hope we see a lot more of Titus Crown. He’s an awesome franchise lead.

So, what’s happening in your world? I’d love to hear what you’re reading this weekend! Any recommendations?

Step Nine: The First Revision

Life moves pretty fast.

It was literally only a week ago that I was finishing the first draft of the book. Once a book is drafted, things start moving. The drafting takes several months, as you well know. Looking back, I started tracking my word counts the first week of February, but I’d been working on it for three months before that.

The revising, though? Weeks, sometimes days. I think part of that is the excitement of realizing there’s really a book now, after all the months of work and thought and prayer and frustration, that a story exists, start to finish, that someone can actually sit down and read. It is a moment of longing and of fear. It’s both celebratory and scary. Reading the manuscript through the first time after you type the end is fraught. But it’s good fraught. It’s hopeful fraught.

So, how do I go about this meaningful step in the process?

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Interim Step Five: How to Handle Creative Exhaustion

There is a wonderful phenomenon in the creative life that every artist hits at some point or another, a day when you wake up and look at all of the irons you have in the fire and ask…why? Why have you done this to yourself? Why are you trying to work on so many things at once? Why have you agreed to so many obligations? Why is this story not working and the other idea so shiny and clear? Ooooh, cake.

It’s not uncommon to experience a creative collapse in these moments. A sudden need to recalibrate. To look deep into your creative soul and honor the fact that it needs nourishing. Whatever accomplishes that for you, do it. Take a break. Breathe. Find some water—water is well-proven as a restorative. Pay some attention to the people/things that you’ve been ignoring because of the crushing weight of your obligations.

And then you can come back to your work, and prioritize what has to happen.

But is there a way to avoid this in the first place?

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How to Handle Creative Exhaustion

There is a wonderful phenomenon in the creative life that every artist hits at some point or another, a day when you wake up and look at all of the irons you have in the fire and ask…why? Why have you done this to yourself? Why are you trying to work on so many things at once? Why have you agreed to so many obligations? Why is this story not working and the other idea so shiny and clear? Ooooh, cake.

It’s not uncommon to experience a creative collapse in these moments. A sudden need to recalibrate. To look deep into your creative soul and honor the fact that it needs nourishing. Whatever accomplishes that for you, do it. And then you can come back to your work, and prioritize what has to happen.

But is there a way to avoid this in the first place?

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Friday Reads 8.9.24

Hello to another Friday! I hope this finds you well, not too bedraggled by another weeks of BREAKING alerts. We got through Debby, and wrapped our summer retreat, and made it home safe and sound. It was a good break—a working vacation. Sadly, more work than vacation, but once I turned in the book, I did take an ENTIRE week off. I did not touch work in any way, shape, or form, physically or mentally. My laptop stayed closed, my iPad was open to my reading apps, and I spent a LOT of time on my Kindle. It was… so nice. Like, I need another few weeks of that, so nice.

But it’s not meant to be. I’m home. The mail has been sorted, my office is (sort of) tamed, and I’m heavy into the planning of all the things that are coming up over the next few months. There’s so much, as a matter of fact, that I’m looking at what I can conceivably cut. I have a hellaciously busy 4th quarter, and looking at it all, I know there’s simply no way to do everything I need to and stay healthy and sane. I’ve already come to the realization that 2025 is going to look VERY different for me. My priorities are shifting, and that’s going to benefit everyone. My No Gnome is going to get a lot of consultation.

I’m a big fan of getting all the projects and To Dos out of my head and onto paper, and when I do, sometimes it feels so overwhelming that I want to run screaming. So instead I’m here, writing my weekly post, because consistency and routine are the only way to manage all of this. I think I’ll do a post on all the projects I’ve found myself facing down, how I got here, and how I plan to get myself out of it, but that’s not for today. Today is for books!

I’ve gotten deep into Deborah Harkness’s BLACK BIRD ORACLE, the 5th book in her Discovery of Magic series. I love these books. I love Diana Bishop. I love Matthew de Clermont. I love the life they’ve built together, breaking all the conventions for a true star-crossed lovers romance. I love how smart and chock full of history and science and magic these books are. I even love the adaptation, with Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode in the titular roles. The show was especially fun because of the way adaptation can broaden a story and we can see the machinations of other characters. Anyway, the book is great, and I’m really enjoying it.

I’m also still reading EDEN UNDONE by Abbott Kahler. Just an amazing, bonkers story, so incredibly well done.

And that’s the end of my “pleasure” reading for a while. I’m shifting back to “work” reads for the forseeable future. Not that all reading isn’t fun reading, of course it is, but some books I read for different purposes, and they take a different kind of attention. It takes a bit of planning, too, to intersperse the work books with the work projects. Essentially, all I do every day is put words on a page, and read them, and read other people’s words. It’s not such a bad gig. But it can pile up, and prioritizing is key.

I spent yesterday building out my fall TBR list. We’re gearing up for AWOW season 10 (actually having that planning meeting today) which means a whole bunch of books coming down the pike. And I have my own books that I’m working on reading, too. (oh, man, here I go again… cue the panic.)

So how to manage the busting TBR? I am going to use this column to plan my reading for the coming week. It’s the only way to stay in control.

So! My next up are Alyssa Cole’s WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING, which I’m including on a PR listicle I’m writing, and Rachel Howzell Hall’s WHAT FIRE BRINGS, for an upcoming interview. I’m super excited to read both!

In other book news:

A big shoutout to Emma Dues, whose debut novel RETURN TO MIDNIGHT is coming out in a couple of weeks! It has a very Idaho murders vibe, and is super creepy.

A finished copy of A STRANGER AT THE WEDDING, a debut by A.E. Gauntlett, was waiting in the mail when I got home. Y’all. I loved this book so much. It comes out next week.

And also in my mail call was an ARC of Paige Crutcher’s newest, A CIRCLE OF UNCOMMON WITCHES, which comes out in February. Yay - 2025 books already!

So tell me, how are you faring this lovely Friday? How do you manage your TBR list???

I’d love to hear what you’re reading this weekend! Any recommendations?

Friday Reads 8.2.24

It is a truth known to all readers that an impending hurricane means it’s time to stock up on all the best books, charge your Kindle, put batteries in your book light, and otherwise prepare to hunker down and ride it out.

Well, and maybe a few other things, as well.

Between deadlines, summer colds, and afternoon storms, we haven’t gotten much beach time on our retreat. And now, a tropical storm is swirling to our west, which will probably bring rain and storms for the remainder of our time here.

I’m sad, but I’m also much more rested than I’ve been in months. Getting ahead of schedule with the book meant I got to take the week off. And that means I parked my tush on the porch swing and read. Or in a beach chair and read. And when it rained, I hit the couch and read. I threw in some bike rides, walked our invisible dog, and did some yoga, too. Actual, bonafide, rest.

So much of my reading is for work, so I try to intersperse that with books that I want to read—and to reward myself for finishing the draft (and force myself to get some altitude on the story) that meant revisiting a favorite that I knew would truly take me away.

You guessed it. I reread FOURTH WING. Spent my downtime with Violet and Xaden and Tairn and Sgaeyl and Basgaith War College and {{{insert happy sighs here}}}.

And the second I finished it, I dove directly into IRON FLAME.

(And you better believe I’ve already blocked off January 21-23 to read ONYX STORM when it releases.)

Yes, I am obsessed. I really do adore these books, and it’s been such a lovely break from the hard work and obligations of the past several months. Characters are everything to me, but the setting, the plot, and the hot, hot, hot romance are great, too. I absolutely love Violet Sorrengail. She is exactly the kind of hero who embodies my own thematic link throughout my work: A woman finding her power. In her case, literal POWER.

I am also about halfway through one of my own, 14, the second Taylor Jackson novel. I am putting three of the backlist books back into print (hurrah!), and they need a quick copyedit while I run through the formatting. I’m shocked—shocked!—at how many typos I’m finding. It’s like they found friends and procreated while I was away. We finalized the new cover for it today, and I am over the moon. More on all of that soon.

Big congrats to the brilliant Yasmin Angloe on the release of her new thriller, NOT WHAT SHE SEEMS. It goes atop my teetering pile…

And the fabulous Lauren Thoman, fellow Nashvillian, has a great book out this week that I loved and blurbed called YOU SHOULDN’T BE HERE.

“A hip, fresh, mind-bending mystery with characters you’ll love to pieces. Madelyn is incredibly real, and her clever sleuthing skills bring to mind a modern-day paranormal Nancy Drew—righting serious wrongs and bringing justice to the land. Not to mention she’s the perfect foil to the jaw-droppingly yummy Alex. Loved it!”

I managed another step forward in the 22 Steps series, too! Though we’re only on step eight out of twenty-two, it is possibly the most important of all the steps needed to get a book from my brain into your hands.

Now, dragons are calling. So tell me, how are you faring this lovely Friday? I’d love to hear what you’re reading this weekend! Any recommendations? Do you love the dragons as much as I do???

Step Eight: The Finished Draft

We’ve arrived at what is possibly the most crucial and important step in writing a novel. I say this without hesitation or hyperbole because there is a simple truth in the fact that without reaching this step, you will never go any further in the process. The finished draft. Why do I say this?

Finishing is everything.

Finishing is how I measure success. Not bestseller lists or sales or reviews. Those parts of the process are important, yes. And don’t think for a minute they don’t matter to me, of course they do. But I can control only one thing in my creative life, and that’s how often I finish my projects.

If you want to be a writer, you gotta finish. Because finishing means you now have something to work with. You can’t leave a trail of half-eaten sandwiches all over the house, or you’ll draw ants and vermin. Writing is the same. Without the finished product, you’ll never be able to learn the art of revision, which is where the craft of writing shows itself.

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Friday Reads 7.26.24

Happy Friday—are you as relieved as I am to hit the weekend? I’m deep deep deep into the revision of my 2025 standalone, and about to get it wrapped for my first readers to take a pass. Then it’s getting submitted—early, I might add (she says, smugly.) Merely three weeks ago I was stressing my brains out that Aigist was approaching and I wasn’t yet done, but suddenly, the book revealed itself and the story flowed out of me.

I like being early because just in case my team isn’t as wild about it as I am, we have time to get it fixed. It’s holding together so far, though. Fingers crossed that stays true. it’s funny how the momentum builds to a crescendo, both in the story and in the writing process.

I’ve needed some good escapes in the evening. Lots of TV watching and reading before bed. I’m so close to being able to read some of the huge stack of books waiting for me.

What keeps you from reading? Anything? I admit I have really fallen behind, simply because I just can’t let any other voices in at the moment.

But! I have an early copy of Abbott Kahler's fascinating new book, Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II. It’s the true story of a group of exiles looking to form a new utopia on the Galapagos Island—and of course, things go dreadfully wrong. I was sucked in from the first page and can’t recommend this highly enough!

I also snagged a copy of Kristy Woodson Harvey’s A HAPPIER LIFE. Kristy is such a favorite of mine, just lovely, heartfelt work.

We’ve also been watching the absolutely adorable adaptation of MY LADY JANE, which is a lot of fun. Imagine if Lady Jayne Grey hadn’t been executed after 9 days, and there was a whole species called Ethians who shift into animals at a moment’s notice, and are, of course, feared and loathed. Shifter romance, arranged marriages, alternate history, good themes of acceptance and unity, true love, and the acting/narration is so over-the-top fun and delicious. Really great.

Speaking of great TV… I am also absolutely in love with House of Dragons. Are you watching? The opening credits are magnificent, plus…dragons! I love how the characters are wrestling with the morality of war.

Also got this post and running… I’m so excited to move to the next stage of writing this new book!

And some awesome news: our short story collection from Amazon Publishing, WE COULD BE HEROES, has been nominated for a Silver Falchion from the fine folks at Killer Nashville! The collection features Lisa Scottoline, Lisa Unger, Janelle Brown, Victor Methos, and yours truly. They’re all great stories, and mine, THESE COLD STRANGERS, is on sale this week for just .99!

So tell me, how are you faring this lovely Friday? I’d love to hear what you’re reading this weekend! Any recommendations?

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Step Seven: The Daily Grind (100k And OMG Is That The End I See?!)

Incredibly, this is the last post of the Daily Grind, the largest part of the book-writing process, the one that is obviously the most drawn out because of the very nature of writing. It represents the end of the butt-in-chair grind that gets us to the initial finish line. It means the surprising yet inevitable has happened. Somehow, some way, because of daily diligence and unshakeable belief in the process over the screaming naysayers in my brain, the first draft is done.

I joked on Threads last week that I have a terrible time writing short books. My latest, A VERY BAD THING, clocked in at a hefty 120k. This one’s looking like at least 105k after some very judicious editing. This is not unusual for me. I’m a wordy, atmospheric, and character-driven writer; I want you to be able to *see* the book along with me. To get you inside my head takes more than a staccato description. (Unless that’s needed. Whatever.)

What a lot of readers don’t realize is writing short books is probably as much of a challenge as writing long books.

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