Friday Reads 10.18.24

Navigating Your Reading Time During A Busy Week

Happy Friday, friends! I hope you’ve had a calm week and had lots of time to enjoy the first cold snap of Fall. My sweet little pumpkin already gave up the ghost and melted; it was just too warm for him. I got another and am keeping it inside until I’m sure it’s chilly enough to go out on the porch. 🎃

I've had my publisher hat on this week. The fifth Jayne Thorne, CIA Librarian book is finished, so it was time to actually make the physical books, turning the Word document into both an epub for digital download and a hardcover and trade paperback edition. Once they were perfect, I got them into the Ingram Spark system, ordered a box of hardcovers, and updated the Two Tales Press catalog on Edelweiss, which is the system I use to get the word out to booksellers and librarians about the book’s ordering details. It was a lot of work, but it went relatively smoothly (once I gave my artist the correct page numbers and ISBNs.)

I think this fifth and penultimate book is the best yet. For booksellers and librarians, the catalog is live for the searching. And readers, you can preorder the digital, and the print should be online in the stores shortly! My passion project is drawing to a close...but not yet. Not yet.

I also have Step 12 almost ready and Step 13 underway because next year’s book is done! The developmental edit went incredibly smoothly, and the next time I see it will be the copyedit.

I did some selfish reading this week. Do you remember my book TEAR ME APART, about Mindy Wright, the downhill skiing phenom who finds out her whole life is a lie? It came out before the pandemic and is one of my favorites. I’m working on the next, next book idea, and I wanted to revisit the messy family aspect of this one. It’s been long enough that I forgot many of the finer details, which was a lot of fun, actually. I don’t usually reread my books, like, EVER, but I am far enough removed from this one that I read it for pleasure and truly enjoyed it.

Then I started Gillian McAllister’s WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME, which has a banger of an opening, and also stuck my nose into THE PERFECT COUPLE by Elin Hildenbrand because I’m really interested in how the adaptation was done. I’ll be dipping in and out of several books over the next week or two as I write up my nascent idea. Inspiration comes from all sorts of quarters; seeing how the uber-successful kick off their books is very important.

I also have Sloane Crosley’s GRIEF IS FOR PEOPLE on the weekend’s agenda. It is both homework and research.

It’s a good thing the Dodgers are in the pennant hunt because it’s giving me loads of evening reading time. There’s nothing I like better than a cozy fire, a baseball game, and a good book.

That’s it from me. How about you? Reading anything fabulous this weekend? I’d love to hear your recommendations!

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