Sunday Smatterings

Hi, chickens, welcome to Sunday. Happy Father's Day to my Daddy, and my friends who are dads, and you, too! If you didn't know, Father's Day originated as a day of remembrance for fathers who were gone. I'm so thankful I have mine to celebrate with.

What a week it has been, a hard one, a sobering one. The attack in Washington, intensive work, and a bevy of life's little things that need my attention have drained me physically and emotionally. Time and again, I have gone back to the words of my friend, Rev. Katie Ladd, who shared how to begin to cope with tragedy and grief, and how we work for a better world after. Her words are still bringing me comfort and love in this hard week. I hope you find some light in them, too.

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Here are a few other things that happened on the Internets this week:
 

BookExpo: Females as Strong as Hell Edition. Thank you, BookRiot, for rounding up the books with strong heroines we need to look for soon. We need more badass heroines, in fiction and real life.
 

2017 Gale/Library Journal Library of the Year: Nashville Public Library, TN. From sports to books to libraries, Nashville rules. Yay, NPL!
 

James Michener’s Nomadic Pursuit of Depth. Author of DEEP WORK (one of my favorite books ), Cal Newport, profiles the author's great lengths to pursue his art. "If you want to produce big things, you need to be willing to go big with your work habits." So true.
 

How Deep Work Can Change Your Life Forever: 3 Strategies to Overcome the Distractions. Speaking of Deep Work, productivity and publishing guru Michael Hyatt is a fan of Cal Newport, too. This is why.
 

Pain, satin and paper towels: What it takes for ballerinas to dance on their toes. It is amazing to see the lengths people will go, the sacrifices they will make, in pursuit of their art. Ballerinas sacrifice so much. Talk about true grit.
 

7 Books to Devour on a Plane. A fabulous reading list for your summer travel.

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And closer to home:
 

Review: Lie to Me. I've seen reviews of LIE TO ME begin to trickle in, and I'm so pleased to find readers are enjoying it! I particularly enjoyed this review from Stacy Camp. Thank you, Stacy! (PS click here to read the first three chapters of LIE TO ME!)

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That's it from me, y'all. I hope you have a great week, drink plenty of water, pick some flowers for your Dad or a friend, and we'll talk again soon.

xo,
J.T.

Daily Tao ☯ 6.16.17

Last pass pages of LIE TO ME. Ergo: this is really all there is to say today:

Have a fabulous weekend, lovelies!

Daily Tao ☯ 6.15.17

I have a friend who signs off his emails “As you were, busy but happy…”

I love that, because that’s pretty much my life, busy but happy.

Though the busy overwhelmed today.

My page proofs are in for LIE TO ME, so it’s all stop on the new book to get them into shape. I missed most of the day working on them, though, because I had a luncheon commitment, at which I was the emcee. (I was a nervous wreck but managed to get through without either falling down or fainting, or even putting my foot too far down my throat. We call this a success.)

The air conditioning went out upstairs, and we’ve so far entertained two repairmen in two days. And the renovations chug along… the new bathroom floor is in and it’s divine, we have a new mantel, and I have SHELVES in my master bathroom — OMG, y’all, my linen closet is literally 10 inches deep and is out in the hall, so a place to have towels in my bathroom is mega-exciting! Plus, a new rug sample arrived — so far, the minions have given it the cold shoulder, though I think that’s just because of the scent, and not the look or feel. I hope.

Plus, two other smaller projects in the works needed attention, and… and… and…

I did stop and take a few nice, deep breaths this afternoon. I’ll do some yoga later on tonight, to ease myself out of the day, and all will be well in the world. 

So a short one from me today as I work on my juggling skills! Hope you had a good day, and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Sweet dreams!

Daily Tao ☯ 6.14.17

Another rough day. Another terror attack. In our backyards, this time. Or at least, my old backyard. Maybe that's why it hit me so hard. 

I was feeling (understandably) bleak this morning. Though I stayed away from most of social media, I did post about the shooting early on FB, and a pastor friend of mine, Rev. Katie Ladd, with whom I went to college (yes, we've been friends a very long time) commented back. In turn, I asked her for spiritual guidance, which she graciously gave. I asked if I could share it because it is so beautiful, and gave me a more than a small measure of peace. I hope it helps you this evening, too.

Sometimes feeling bleak, as difficult as it is, is the only thing to do in the face of overwhelming sorrow and heartbrokenness. The spiritual challenge is not to linger there too long. Mourn today - for those wounded, for those compelled to see violence as an answer for anything, for our country, for the already hard hearted and hateful sentiments springing up online. Mourn. Our country needs to pause and mourn for so much. 

Here's the spiritually challenging part. And (or "then" - it's up to each of us is we can do this at the same time as mourning or if we need to wait) reach deep inside and reach out to community that serves as a reminder of the goodness in life. There is also that at work in our lives and in our world. I mean, look at us. We haven't seen each other in a long time. Our politics are pretty different. I still love you and value our connection. I give thanks to God for you. Love and community can exist in this world - in the midst of difference and distance, in the midst of mourning and brokenness, in the midst of it all. 

And then work. Work for a better world. 

The best resistance to the powers of violence, death, and despair is laughter. Evil is prepared to fight righteousness. It has no idea what to do with joy. So laugh along the way. 

You already know all of this. I hope these little reminders don't come across as trite. Mostly I want to say that I understand why you would feel bleak. It is normal. And I care.

"Evil is prepared to fight righteousness. It has no idea what to do with joy."

These are words to live by. 

Sweet dreams.  

Daily Tao ☯ 6.13.17

I got upset with Facebook this morning for the ridiculous way they “serve” me to the people who have liked and follow my official J.T. Ellison page. I don’t normally pop off but it’s been really bad this past week, literally a fraction of people being served the posts, so I complained—and more than quadrupled the past few post's engagement. 

It made me wonder… yes, Facebook wants me to advertise, but on a more personal level, I see this happen elsewhere. I post something happy and inspirational, and get a lovely, but intimate response. I lose my temper or bitch about something, and it’s like opening the floodgates.

Are we all so dissatisfied with our worlds right now? Or is it something else entirely—people are so ready to comfort, to jump in and say hey, you’re going to be okay, it’s all good? 

I prefer the latter, and it certainly feels that way to me. 

I loved that the majority of the comments today were “I see you.” In a fast-paced world with a ton of distractions, it was very cool to not only have people comment, but to use that particular phraseology.

Sometimes, it does feel like we aren’t seen. We’re talked to, we’re preached to, we’re forgotten. To be seen, to really be top of mind to a virtual friend—it takes effort, on both sides. 

I see you. I see all the comment, the likes, the messages. I am glad to hear you see me, too.

Fun writing day today — great progress on THE BLOOD CABAL, the outline is officially submitted and the story is working well—and edits on a new short story I will have in your hands pretty soon! (How’s that for a tease???)

Sweet, non-grumpy dreams!