September 2024
Vol. 266

Dear Ones,

Greetings, salutations, and warm hellos! I’ve missed you! It’s been a nutty summer, full of deadlines and travel, and I decided to take a couple of months off newslettering in favor of being in the moment. That was a great plan, and I come to you rested and ready to dive into all the things. So here we go!

My favorite new saying is, “Be where your feet are.” Yes, I’m aware that logistically this is unavoidable (🙃), but metaphorically speaking, it’s a mantra to help me remember to stay in the moment, to allow myself to stay grounded and genuinely experience whatever it is I’m doing. You all know how much I juggle, and sometimes, it’s hard not to be worrying about all the things that need to be done instead of enjoying myself. Going into August, I was feeling completely overwhelmed by all the upcoming events this fall, from Killer Nashville and Bouchercon, our trip to Scotland, an exciting event I’m doing next week in Huntsville, to the PR for A VERY BAD THING, and oh, yes, finishing up both the new JT thriller and the new Joss book. Plus AWOW reading and shoots, and a million other things. All of this piled up because I went into the year with a plan to only do one thing at a time—and that “thing” was to write a new suspense novel, which will be my 2025 book. I accomplished that goal, turned the book in a month early (amazing what focused time on a single project will do), and then promptly fell to pieces when I took a hard look at everything I’d been shunting off till that amorphous later.

And then I remembered planning is my superpower (along with travel logistics—more on that below) and did a full-blown mind dump. Everything on my plate, on my schedule, on my mind, all of it, from the littlest (laundry) to the biggest (proposals for new books) went onto this list. And guess what? There was no chance I was going to be able to do it all. Like, none. Cue the panic.

You’ve heard this old saw: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. 🥁🥁

Once I finished freaking out, I broke things into the months they were due, then the weeks inside that month, and voilà, my 4th quarter was built!

Now that we’re midway through September, and many line items have been crossed off, the panic is gone (or at least back down to a dull roar), and I can see clearly to the end of the year. That is a long-winded apology for slacking off on the newsletter. I promise to do better—and by better, I mean not having as much on my plate going forward. ‌

So what’s coming up next, you might ask? First, let me look back for a moment, and explain my travel logistics comment. Bouchercon was an astoundingly good time. I was the local guest of honor, and they had me hopping from event to event. It was loads of fun. My bestie Laura Benedict was in town, and we got to do a panel together, and my fellow GOHs were a great mix of fun friends and new ones made. Had so much fun seeing so many of you!!!

Then, we decamped for the UK! We were in Scotland the first two weeks of the month, and it was utterly glorious. I’m talking about weather I’ve never seen there before and a couple of days actually made it into the 70s, with abundant sunshine and very little rain. We took full advantage, driving all over the highlands, visiting Oban, the Isle of Mull, Duart Castle, the Great Glen, Eilean Donan, the Isle of Skye, Dunvegan Castle, Loch Ness, Inverness, Blair Castle, Dalwhinnie Distillery, and wrapping the trip in Edinburgh, where Guillermo Del Toro was wrapping filming Frankenstein. There was no castle (nor whisky tasting) left behind. We had a mix of hotels, flats, and houses, and ironically ended up staying on the ancestral estate of Randy’s clan, MacBean, on the River Ness, which was a perfect midpoint to crash for a beautiful day in the misty rain. We hiked partway to the Old Man of Storr, wandered along the River Ness, got lost in a wet forest on the grounds of Dunvegan Castle, stood on parapets and cliffsides, ate a metric ton of gluten-free fish and chips, and in general made merry. Our travel buddies are so much fun, and we work so seamlessly together that it makes the travel woes that inevitably appear amusing. Trust me, I will be telling the story of the Great Midge Attack of 2024 forever. (We found Skyfall...but were chased off by a swarm of biting bugs that managed to get in the van...) I even got to see a couple of buddies for tea. Scotland is a beautiful, haunting place, and we feel so at home there. It was amazing to share it with dear friends, and I was grateful that they allowed me to be Julie the cruise director. I think I might have been a travel agent in a past life. You can see some of the pics we took here.

With Scotland in the rear view, I’m looking ahead to the Vive le Livre fundraiser in Huntsville on September 25. I will be giving a speech. You know how much I love giving speeches. But this is a brilliant cause supporting all of the libraries in Alabama, and the people behind the event are fantastic, so I am leaning in! I’ll be talking about my love affair with libraries and the new book, which will be super fun.

PR has begun for A VERY BAD THING, which releases November 1! The online tour has begun with an amazing line-up of bloggers, reviewers, instagrammers, tiktokkers, etc. I’ve been over here writing essays and doing interviews and, in general, talking all things Columbia Jones for months now, and I’m excited to finally begin sharing her story with you. My east coast launch  party will be at Parnassus on the 1st—if you’re in Nashville I hope you’ll come! And the west coast launch party will be in Scottsdale, at the Poisoned Pen, on November 2nd. 

I was so thrilled to get a wonderful review from Library Journal, plus The Real Book Spy, the Montecito Journal, and several others. It’s really happening! The big pink book is almost here!

I also have a short story that was inspired by last year’s trip to Ireland appearing in a new anthology, DEATH COMES AT CHRISTMAS, edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane, which will be released on October 22. It is a gorgeous book, chock full of dark holiday-themed mysteries, and my story is called O Murder Night. It’s set in Westport, Ireland, in the 1930s, and features a young entrepreneur named Yeats O’Malley who buys a grand old manor house previously owned by a missing mystery writer. Things go dreadfully awry. 

It’s been a great couple of months for reading! Here are my tops:

Rachel Howzell Hall - WHAT FIRE BRINGS

An utterly bonkers twisty thriller that was too much fun to put down.

S.A. Cosby - ALL THE SINNERS BLEED

Dark, reminiscent of the serial killer books of my early career, Sean Cosby is a generational talent.

Deborah Harkness - BLACKBIRD ORACLE

Yay for another entry in the Diana Boship and Matthew Claremont series!

Liz Moore - THE GOD OF THE WOODS

Utterly gorgeous writing and a deep, dark tale—perfect to start fall with a bang.

Aside from the fact that I’m working on edits for my 2025 book, you mean? 

My 22 Steps creative writing series is halfway done! The latest entries discuss finishing the first draft, revision, beta reads, creative exhaustion, and I’m about to dive into the dreaded editorial letter. (Spoiler: wasn’t dreadful at all.) The Creative Edge also has a free component, Friday Reads, which is a weekly blog that gives some insight into what I’m doing and reading during the week. It’s a more immediate version of this newsletter and allows you to join in the conversation with your fellow readers! 

And for my fantasy lovers, the 5th Jayne Thorne novel, THE BOOK OF SPIRITS, is in copyedits! This book sees Jayne facing down a worldwide magical war, and will be out November 28.

Ummm.... gluten-free fish and chips and sticky toffee pudding for the win!!! I've found Europe to be 100,000 times easier to eat safely than the US, which is pretty amazing. They take Celiac very seriously, and almost all restaurants have safe options, which meant I was able to indulge. I’ve been doing a rather strict keto diet for the past six months, but I adopted a when in Rome (Edinburgh?) attitude and enjoyed myself. And now that I need to find a way to make this keto (hello, allulose and almond flour), I thought I’d share the very best recipe for it with you.

You can find all of my recipes here, and if you want some wine to go with the meals, The Wine Vixen has you covered.

Every month, I draw a name from those of you who open the newsletter and send that lovely person a $30 gift card to the bookstore of their choice. It’s my way of saying thanks for being here. Enter below! 

Last month's winner: Congratulations to judithnelson3333! Check your email...

This month, I'll be giving away a copy of A Very Bad Thing in place of the gift card. That's right, you'll be among the first to receive a copy! Simply click the button below to be automatically entered. 

That’s it from me! I’ll be back soon with all kinds of good news, and in the meantime, enjoy the most beautiful season of the year from wherever you are.

xo,

Are you still here? 

Here’s a kitten for your troubles!