Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 38

This is a Good Book Thursday, January 18, 2024

I’ve been digging deep into Georgette Heyer and I’m fascinated by her large casts of characters and the complex relationships between them. I’m reading some things now I haven’t read in years, so it’s almost like reading them new.

What did you reread this week or find new?

Working Wednesday, January 17, 2024

We’re still working on Very Nice Funerals, although it’s coming together nicely. We’re also looking at the last cover in the Rocky Start series. I think it needs to be more evil, so I changed the bee to be nastier. The designer probably hates me at this point, but the jolly little honey pot we had before was not evil enough. But bees, bees can kill you.

What did you work on this week?

Exploiting You: What Do You Want in a Newsletter From Me?

So we’re going to start the newsletter up again since we actually have new books to promote. Mollie will have very practical, useful content for it, but I want some fun stuff, too. What kind of thing would you want to see in a newsletter? (Mollie is culling the old newsletter list now, so you’ll have to sign up again. We do not spam.)

Happiness is Being Snug Inside with a Book While a Storm Rages Outside

Welp, that climate crisis that some people still think isn’t a problem is pounding most of the US right now in one way or another, and I am wrapped up warm in my bed with a dog beside me, eating chocolate and reading the book I’m writing, although I’m going to take a break fairly soon and read somebody else’s book. I do miss my fireplace, but otherwise, this is pretty much the good life.

What kept you warm and happy this week? (Or just happy. Whatever.)

This is a Good Book Thursday, January 11, 2024

I’ve been re-reading Georgette Heyer all week. It’s a nice break from writing a serial killer/retired spy book. Oddly enough, I don’t want to reread my favorites (The Grand Sophy, Cotillion, The Talisman Ring). I’ve read them so many times I can practically recite them, so I went back to rediscover some of the others. There’s a wealth of good times in that back list and reading them again after many years is almost like reading them new.

What did you read (or re-read) this week?

Working Wednesday

So it’s a new year and Mollie and Bob are all about marketing and PR. Up until a couple of months ago, my PR consisted of you guys. This blog was about all I did, and I’m not exactly giving you the hard sell. You come through anyway because you’re good people, but obviously I need to do more. So I went back to Facebook a couple of months ago and I had a nice little group on there going. And then Mollie resurrected my author page there and suddenly . . . there are a lot of people there. They’re all great, but I already felt like I was cheating on you with the first Facebook group and now all of a sudden I’m cheating on them with the author page . . .

Who knew PR came with so much guilt?

What did you work on this week?

The State of the Collaboration

This was a discussion this afternoon:

Okay, look, I don’t have my office set up yet, so this is how I work. Once my office is set up at one end of the living room, I can write on the couch there, but until then, my commute is pretty good. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check to make sure that Veronica is still breathing. She’s seventeen so I keep a good watch. Then I reach for my laptop and go on the internet. This works for me. Here’s my temporary office:

Bob can sneer, but I’m very comfortable.

Argh Author: Gin Jones’s My Old Kentucky Homicide

Our own Gin Jones has a book you should check out: My Old Kentucky Homicide (The Bourbon B&B Mysteries)

The back cover says:
From USA Today bestselling author Gin Jones comes three sisters, one corpse, and a whole lot of trouble…

Kentucky native Jess Walker’s big-city career has kept her too busy to visit her sisters and hometown. However, she relents when she’s invited to celebrate her nephew’s third birthday at the newly established Three Sisters B&B in the heart of bourbon country. The nostalgic bubble is quickly popped however when Jess realizes her family hasn’t been entirely honest with her. She was invited not so much for a family reunion, but to help them impress some VIP guests for inclusion in a tourism co-op on the bourbon trail.

Old resentments arise, and the sisters are at loggerheads immediately. But when one of the VIP guests is found dead, things only get worse. The sheriff is intent on treating the death as an accident, blaming it on unsafe conditions at the B&B. But the sisters know this was murder. Jess has always been the fixer of the family, so she jumps in to protect her sisters and their B&B’s reputation. With the remaining guests and the attractive—and single—owner of the nearby whiskey barrel factory all suspects, Jess has her work cut out for her. And it turns out, she can’t do it alone. All three sisters will need to work in perfect harmony in order to find the perpetrator of the Old Kentucky Homicide.

Learn more about Gin and Bourbon B&B series on her website.

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Happiness is Work That’s Going Well

You know what I love? I love it when I think, “What was that book I was reading? That was really good” and realize that it’s the book I’m writing.

What did you realize about happiness this week?

This is a Good Book Thursday

As Tammy requested, please list the best books you read in 2023.

[They don’t have to have been published in ’23, that’s just when you read them.]

[Also, no worries if they aren’t books with my name on them. You know me better than that.]

My 2023 was so chaotic that my best books would all be comfort rereads, so I’m leaving this up to you all.