7.3.16 - Sunday Smatterings

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

Amy here, pleasantly surprised that I'm not drowning in Tennessee humidity this July weekend. I actually want to go outside instead of huddle under the A/C and pray for winter (I run a little hot—I really should live in Alaska). 

American friends, I hope you have a lovely time celebrating the 4th tomorrow!

hardly anything rattles toby, but he's not a big fan of loud noises that disturb his slumber

Mother of Greyhounds PSA: If you've got pets who are going to be frightened of fireworks, don't forget to make the holiday a little easier for them, make sure they're secure, and give them a little extra love. 

Here's what happened on the Internets this week:
 

Dick Van Dyke led a sing-along of "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins in front of Walt Disney's childhood home (because why not?), and I got all the feels. LOOK AT HIM. He is 90. I daresay he looks (and moves) 30 years younger than that. I'll have what he's having.

This is why our Nashville indie Parnassus Books is my favorite: a shop-dog scavenger hunt and Harry Potter celebrations. I mean, come on.

Have you heard about people making fancy new cast-iron pans? I was this close from contributing to a Kickstarter for a company trying to make lighter pans...but why would I do that, when my $16 Lodge skillet does just fine and will last me forever? I could put that money toward adding new spices to my collection. (Confession: I have a Penzey's Spices addiction. And I don't care.)
 

Speaking of food, I can't stop eating this chicken. I'm really glad my boyfriend will eat whatever I put in front of him, because I've made this no less than four times in the past ten days. I omit the pita, because I'm lazy and always have rice in my pantry to pair it with instead. Seriously. You have to make this chicken.

As of July 1, we Tennesseans can finally buy wine in grocery stores, and everybody lost their minds. See the actual headline in The Tennessean as proof. No longer will broke college students commission their out-of-state friends to bring them cases of Two-Buck Chuck.

And closer to home:
 

Guys. If you've finished FIELD OF GRAVES, now's the time to move on to the next book (chronologically) in the series: ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS. You J.T. Ellison vets will no doubt remember this is her first book. But! It's being put back in print with a pretty new cover. Hooray! You can check out the details here.

J.T.'s July Newsletter went out this week! Did you get yours? Have you tried that pickle recipe yet!? (you should!) Not on the list yet? You can sign up here. Spoiler alert: there's a great contest coming to newsletter subscribers in the next couple of weeks, so now's the time to join! 

My love for Riesling is not a secret. I love that varietal because it has such range, and you never know what you're going to get. I tried a new bottle this week, and was blown away by it. If you've got spicy food or Asian dishes on your menu soon, this is the perfect one to pair it with!

That's it from me, you guys! Have a lovely week, be safe tomorrow, and I'll talk to you later!
 

–Assistant Amy

6.30.16 - If you've finished FIELD OF GRAVES, it's time for the next Taylor book...

Hi, guys!

Amy here, taking the reins from J.T. so she can, you know, write stuff for all of us to devour. 

If you've finished FIELD OF GRAVES (congrats, by the way!), now's the time to move on to the next book in the Lt. Taylor Jackson series: ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS. It's got a new cover, a creepy killer who likes to leave unconventional bread crumbs at the scenes of his crimes, and more Taylor/Baldwin goodness. You don't wanna miss this book (or, if you've read it, take a walk down Memory Lane and revisit this one!).

Here's a bit more about it:
 

Book #1 in the heart-racing Taylor Jackson series chronicles a serial killer who leaves a gruesome memento at each crime scene—his prior victim's severed hand. As the killer spirals out of control, Taylor and Baldwin must face a horrible truth: the purest evil is born of private lies.
 

Pre-Order the $9.99 Paperback!

AMAZON
BARNES & NOBLE
BOOKS-A-MILLION
INDIEBOUND

6.26.16 - Sunday Smatterings

Hello, chickens. Welcome to Sunday.

I hope you're keeping cool and your summer has officially kicked off to a good start. I spent most of last week in Colorado visiting family, enjoying weather a bit more arid than the muggy heat of Tennessee. Though I'm not complaining—after a couple weeks in a suitcase, there really is no place like home. 

Here's what happened on the Internets this week:

This owl melted my heart. I literally tear up every time I see the pictures, and the story behind them is just as heartwarming. It makes me think that staring into the great unknown isn't perhaps as scary as it once was. 

One of our favorite book sites, BookRiot, listed 10 thrillers & mysteries to read this summer (spoiler alert: you may recognize one of them!).

On Cartography & Comparison—aka the difference between Google Maps and Apple Maps. This is one of the coolest stories you'll read all summer. Really great for those of you who love maps and like to argue about directions. 

How many notebooks do you really need? (if you're me: a bunch) I'm always on the lookout for a perfect physical system, but I've settled pretty well into my Habanas lately. Though true confession: I bought a Midori travel notebook system last night. Sigh.

This bookish jewelry is all kinds of adorable. Want!

Food for thought: "Why following your passion isn't always the best advice." This video was interesting to me for a numbers of reasons, possibly because I did put my passion on hold for so long and simply pulled down a paycheck. I think it's important to have pride in your work, and teach kids a trade. Because if the world collapses, someone's going to have to rebuild it...

And closer to home:

On The Wine Vixen, I talked about my go-to red when it's summer and it's scorching and you want something boozy and cold.

Want an omniscient view of how FIELD OF GRAVES came into being? Here you go!

It's been quite a past few weeks in the headlines, hasn't it? That, coupled with lots of tour travel, had me pensive about traveling and made a few things clear: like what I need to be doing for the rest of the summer (hint: I'm taking a big online break from social media, blogging, the works.) Assistant Amy will be running things, and I'll bet you don't even miss me. 😘 

That's all from me, lovelies. Enjoy your day, and hug on your people. You both deserve a little love today.
 

xoxo,
J.T.

6.23.16 - On Tours, Fear, and Everything in Between

Tonight I will return home after ten days on the road. There is one more airport to conquer, one more flight to take, and then I can collapse. I’ve been in Colorado for the past few days, finishing up the FIELD OF GRAVES tours, seeing my family, hanging with some friends. It’s been a nice mini-break, though I’ve worked every day. And though there have been times of silence and contemplation, I can’t seem to truly relax. 

Something is bothering me.

Well, many things are bothering me. I’m furious and heartbroken over Orlando. I’ve had to stay off social media for the most part because seeing my friends yell at each other upsets me. From the vagaries of presidential politics to the excess of cilantro in guacamole, everything is up for debate now, for judgement, for all-out shout-fests and insults. It makes me lose faith in humanity. 

I went out on the road the day after the attack. Was I nervous? Yes. But the moment I stepped through the doors of my airport, something shifted in me. It shifted in everyone, I think. Everyone who stepped away from their screens and actually interacted with the world.

People were quieter than normal, but the smiles were genuine. The airport is always a frenetic, intense place (one I love, but I’m odd) and this was no different… and yet it was. The people who were looking out for our safety, TSA and the police, seemed more engaged. The travelers were more patient. There was kindness: offers to help with bags, pleasant small talk, compliments, no complaining or bitching. 

For a moment, I thought, Wow, everyone’s on their best behavior. And then I realized, no, that’s not it. 

We are standing together.
 

We are standing together.
 

We are standing together.
 

Any lingering nerves disappeared. I felt brave and strong. 

I saw this togetherness all week long. I was in five airports. I spoke in five bookstores. I was in four hotels. And in each place, this vein of kindness, of courage and selflessness, was open and overflowing. I had so much fun being with readers and booksellers. These are my people, yes, but it was a stellar trip on all fronts. 

Fact is, there was something special about being with people this week.

We all know people will say things online they would never say to someone’s face. Likewise, great kindnesses abound. But the perpetual outrage that I see online was blessedly missing from my life as I shook hands, hugged, signed books, accepted drinks and food, keys and pens and soaps. 

Everyone was just a little gentler with their strangers. 

I try very hard to conduct myself online in a manner that’s not confrontational, not alienating. I respect that we all have our own thoughts about pretty much everything, and realize there might be 5 people on this earth that actually agree on all these things. And I rarely, if ever, discuss hot button topics, because as a regular Joe, my opinion on these matters are irrelevant. 

But as an author, I do have a responsibility. And I try to live up to that responsibility in a slightly different way than many. My tool of communication is my novels. My social commentary is through my novels. My job is to tell a story. My job is to make you think, make you wonder, make you happy and sad, and do it in all the right places. My job is to entertain you, to help you escape, to give you a respite from the barrage of reality we’re all faced with, day in and day out. To (hopefully) make you lose sleep because you’re engrossed. To educate, to illuminate, to enrage. My job is to give you something you’ve never seen before, something that will linger with you long after the cover is closed.

I do my best. 

The past few months have been rough, I won’t lie. It’s been a long few months for us all out in the real world, and it’s been a long few months at home, too. Launching two books and doing two tours in the span of three months has taken a lot out of me. I’ve put a lot into these two babies. I haven’t been writing nearly enough. (Though don’t worry, I have been. Without the writing, the tours don’t happen, after all.) But even with the copious amounts of help I receive from Amazing Amy and my husband and my publishers, the juggling of turning an introvert into a temporary extrovert named Author Girl has me pretty much whipped.

And so. Call it a social experiment, call it a battery recharge, call it a finding of oneself, but I’m going to take a small sabbatical from the interwebs. It’s well overdue. Normally I leave for Lent, but because of the release timing for NO ONE KNOWS, I had to come back early, and trust me, the time off that I did have was consumed with PR. And the machine didn’t stop spinning from then on.

But it’s more than wanting a little break from the online world. I’ve been very affected by the interactions I’ve had IRL—in real life—over the past couple of weeks. It reminds me that I spend much too much time staring at my screens, and not enough time in the living world. 

What will I be doing on my enforced break? Well, I found my yoga practice again on the road—thank heavens!—so there will be lots of yoga. There will be some golf. There will be hugging, and drinking, and eating with friends. 

And most importantly, there will be hours upon hours of deep work. 

Amazing Amy will be running things whilst I’m away. Should an emergency occur, I will be reachable. But I won’t be checking in. I encourage you to join me in this summer sabbatical. Because we all need to be alone sometimes. 

6.20.16 - Welcome, Summer! Let's get some Summer Reads, shall we?

Helloooooo, Summer!

'Tis the season for lazy reading by the pool. Or in a hammock. Or on the couch. Or wherever you can catch some Z's. 

To celebrate summer and the release of FIELD OF GRAVES, I'm giving away a gift card to every store* who hosted me on tour.

*This includes Parnassus Books in Nashville, Murder by the Book in Houston, Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, and Barnes and Noble Lone Tree. They all ship, so don't worry about geography! And they all have signed copies of FIELD OF GRAVES, too!

See below for ways to enter. Good luck, chickens!

a Rafflecopter giveaway