Friday Reads
Well, hey there. Long time no Friday.
If you read my newsletter last month, you’ll know why I’ve taken a step back from the online world. But also, January was a good time for a small social sabbatical. It’s been nice to lurk every now and again, and not worry about content creation. But I’ve missed you!
And of course, Nashville was hit with an ice storm that will take months to recover from. There are still families displaced because they have no power or trees fell on their houses. Driving around is like moving through a war zone—we’ve lost hundreds of thousands of trees. It’s devastating.
The good news, I turned in my copyedits for YOU KNOW WHY yesterday. I love this moment in the book’s lifecycle, for a few reasons. One, I’ve done it! The book is finished and going through the editorial process. YOU KNOW WHY is complicated, and intense, and deeply moving as well as shocking. I am still close enough to it to remember when I decided to make a shift in the plot, or a reveal presented itself. It’s very satisfying. The little notes from my copyeditor—the inside jokes, the silly mistakes, the serious decisions—all of it is fun and exciting.
Two, and possibly more important, the next book is underway. It is only a few chapters old. The story is still amorphous, the characters finding themselves, the plot unsure. I am a bit psyched out, to be honest. Reading the finished product that’s come before always makes me feel like I can’t ever possibly write another book that is as good as the last.
And this is the trick. I ALWAYS feel like this. Every time I start a copyedit, it’s always the same. I’ve written a bit of the next book and it feels weak in comparison. I have to remind myself that a year from now, what I’m about to work on will also be strong and complicated and intense. That the book I just copyedited was also weak in comparison to its predecessor.
You can’t write the finished product in a day. It takes weeks, months, sometimes years of diligent, careful writing. We are not sprinting, you and I. We are training for the big race. Working on it day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, that’s how we finish strong.
So as I wrap up this stage of the edits, I promise myself to keep plugging away at the new story. It will morph several times over the next few months as it grows into being. And that is exactly how it’s meant to be.
There have been a BEVY of amazing books releasing the past few weeks. I hardly know where to start, so I’ll go with Kaira Rouda (rhymes with Gouda). We did an event last night at Parnassus for her stellar new title WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS, and it’s a delicious mix of grown up sorority sisters who aren’t really friends anymore getting together for a weekend to celebrate the engagement of two of their children, with shades of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. Lots of fun.
Mary Kubica’s standout novel IT’S NOT HER also came out. I always enjoy Mary’s books but this one is truly stellar. So good that it’s already been optioned, and let me tell you, it will make a great show.
Wendy Walker is hitting it big with a perfectly timed novel (hello, winter olympics!) BLADE, which is taken from her time as a competitive figure skater. How cool is that? I am a HUGE fan of the winter Olympics. Can’t wait for the skating and the skiing! Go Lindsey Vonn!
I’m totally invested in Colleen Hoover’s WOMAN DOWN. Colleen does know how to create characters with depth and nuance, and this story feels like a lived experience.
Ashley Winstead’s luminous THE FUTURE SAINTS has been a smash hit—I am here for all the music books.
Speaking off, my sweet friend Lisa Patton has a First Reads selection this month with her amazing Woodstock-era novel, KISSING THE SKY. I read this one early, and it lives up to its promise.
And the illustrious Kate White ALSO has a first reads selection with I CAME BACK FOR YOU, a book I loved and blurbed. Great thriller.
Kristy Woodson Harvey has a lovely short story in the FR program this month, too—LEAVE IT UP TO LOVE. If you haven’t read Kristy before, she’s always a good read.
Ashley Elston’s ANATOMY OF AN ALIBI is out now, too. I’m anxious to read—and it too was just optioned! Also, gorgeous cover.
And since it’s been option news galore, my dear has just announced that THE FROZEN RIVER is getting the Hollywood treatment. Y’all. I absolutely cannot wait.
PHEW! That’s a lot. Fill me in on your worlds, friends. What have you been up to? What are you reading this weekend? What did I miss while I was healing?
