Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 14

Exploiting You: What’s On A Good Book Website?

So we’re FINALLY gearing up to fixing JennyCrusie.com. On my own, I would lard it with all kinds of miscellaneous stuff. On her own, Mollie would make it lean and mean and easy to find info. But your opinions, reader opinions, are what matter. What do you think is essential for an author website?

Happiness is Terry Pratchett

I had a meltdown this week, and Bob, in mopping up the mess, told me to take a long weekend off. So I started reading the Moist Von Lipwig books by Terry Pratchett, starting with Going Postal, one of the finest books ever written. (How good was Pratchett? Going Postal was published in 2004 and has this line it it: ““What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.”) I was cheered up considerably by Moist (“Hi, I’m Moist”) and the chain-smoking Adora Belle Dearhart, whom Moist courts with ““I’d like to commit hanky-panky with you, Miss Adora Belle Dearheart… well, certainly hanky, and possibly panky when we get to know one another better.” That’s a smooth talker.

After Postal, I kept going into Making Money, not as good as Going Postal, but still better than 99% of the novels in print, including Moby Dick and Anna Karenina. For one thing, the Moist novels have Lord Vetinari, the tyrant, who tells Moist, “The city bleeds, Mr. Lipwig, and you are the clot it needs.” For another, Money has a dog in it, the annoying Mr. Fusspot who owns a bank and who also owns Moist, who will be killed if Mr. Fusspot dies (Mr. Fusspot has many greedy enemies who will inherit if he goes down); in the meantime, Moist is in charge of finance for the entire city, which leads to thoughts like ““You get a wonderful view from the point of no return.”

But it also gave me perspective on my current conundrum, which is, in brief, “Bob’s doing great work here but my part sucks, I’ve lost it, why did I ever think I could write, I should just eat worms and die.” Yeah, depression is not a good muse. But then I hit a line in Money that made me think. I want every book I write to be better, swing wider, go deeper, even if it’s only in my imagination. I don’t ever want to write the same book twice. Kind of the way Moist feels about swindlers (he’s a con man which is why he could save the post office and the banking system and whatever it is he saves in the last Moist book):

“I wonder if it’s like this for mountain climbers, he thought. You climb bigger and bigger mountains and you know that one day one of them is going to be just that bit too steep. But you go on doing it, because it’s so-o good when you breathe the air up there. And you know you’ll die falling.”

And he’s right. Someday I’ll die falling from a fictional height I can’t reach. But today is not that day. I can do this. For one thing, I’m roped to Bob, and he’s not falling off of anything. For another, I have Terry Pratchett as a sherpa.

I have one more Moist book to read–Raising Steam–one I’ve never read because Pratchett is gone now and there won’t be any more new Pratchetts. I’ve been saving it, but the time to be happy is now. So thanks to Bob and Terry, I’m going to eat brownies and live. And read and write.

What made you happy this week?

This is a Good Book Thursday, January 9, 2025

This week, in an attempt to keep depression at bay, I read Terry Pratchett and Crusie-Mayer. It’s working.

What did you read this week?

Working Wednesday, January 8, 2025

This week I had an online marketing meeting with Bob and Mollie, worked on HPP, made stroganoff and stir fry, and started to dig out my old bedroom which is now the guest room/craft room. I am feeling very virtuous.

What did you work on this week?

Well, Hell.

I didn’t do a Happiness post yesterday. I was arguing with Bob and forgot. Entirely my fault. ARGH.

How were you happy this week?

(I, personally, am covered with guilt for forgetting to think about happy things, but I actually am happy, the book is moving right along (see excerpt from Spark below) and I made mustard chicken which was delicious. Nothing but good times, people.

So really, HOW WERE YOU HAPPY THIS WEEK?

This is a Good Book Thursday, January 2, 2024

Okay, it’s a new year, time to start fresh. Is there anything that would make GBT better? I know, don’t mess with success, but if there’s some way this weekly chat could be improved, please discuss in the comments.

Oh, and what did you read this week?

Working Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Welp, there went 2024, whooshing by. Lot of good work got done that year, so today let’s talk about the best thing you did/made/caused to happen this year. Celebrate the accomplishment and the joy it brought. The best work I did this year? Easy. Collaborating on the Rocky Start trilogy with Bob Mayer.

And then, even better, tell us the fun stuff you want to do this bright, shiny new year. The work you’re looking forward to, defining “fun” and “work” any way you want, as usual. Me? I want to start painting again, and definitely get back to collage. Sew this great pattern I’ve had for a couple of years because it calls for combining different fabrics, basically a collage dress. Maybe copy a mixed media jacket I saw online that had sold out. Maybe even try that in crochet. Oh and collaborate on three books about art crime, titles still to be determined.

For those of you wondering, we don’t do resolutions here. That just leads to guilt and despair and failure. The idea is to spend this year doing things we like that make us happy. Things we want to do because they bring us joy.

Okay, what are your joyful work plans for this year?

This is a Best Book of 2024 Tuesday

Some of you had asked (thank you, Tammy) for a best book of the year post for GBT. For those of you who can pick one (or your top five if that’s easier), this is your post. Open a bottle of champagne or Diet Coke and toast the book that made you happiest this year.

It’s the end of a great reading year (every year is a great year to read), so what was the best you ever had this year?

Also, Happy New Year! Nothing but interesting times ahead.

How to Negotiate a Murder (in Fiction)

We’ve been pedal to the metal here, but we’re finally getting to the end of the truck draft of The Honey Pot Plot, we just have to figure out the ending. Well, Bob has to. I figured out what I wanted to happen at the end, but he’s unconvinced. In the meantime I started a rewrite of the first twenty-three chapters, sent those to him, and then went out to lunch with a pal. When I got back late in the afternoon, we negotiated the death in the book. You know, like professionals. Please note that we both had the same idea at 3:27 and cross posted. That’s collaboration. Even more of a collaboration, we were both kidding. I think.

Happiness is Lunch

Most of the time I’m alone reading or typing which is pretty much paradise for me, but every now and then I go out for lunch. Sometimes I walk down to the Grille with my laptop and people come by my table and say hi, and that’s nice, but usually I’m meeting Pat Gaffney or Cathy Maxwell (on glorious days, both) and we laugh a lot and talk about writing and then go to the boutique or second hand store (Pat) or for lattes and to an art gallery (Cathy) and it’s just pure pleasure for two or three hours. Really, happiness is lunch.

How did you consume happiness this week?