Friday Reads 8.14.26
On The Joy Of Finishing, Some Great Reads, And Is It Time To Start Researching Again???
Hi, hello, happy Friday, and welcome back to another week of random thoughts on life and books. I hope your week was fabulous. A quick bit of business—these posts are always free, but for subscribers, so if you aren’t already, please join us!
Well, well, well. Something magnificent happened this week. Something ten months in the making. That’s right, peeps, I finished the first draft of my 2027 book!!! 🎉🥳🎉
This book has been kicking my butt all summer. If you are at all within my sphere, I have been moaning about it nonstop. (Hmm… there are a few friends I haven’t talked to forever. Wonder if this is why?) Some books feel like a breeze, and some are absolute bears. This one is a freaking grizzly. A 122k-word behemoth. Which is stupid, considering I was struggling to reach my 85k goal only a month ago. It’s wordy, and it’s still not right, so I have a lot of work ahead of me. But if there is anything I’ve said a million times, it is this—you cannot edit a blank page. I’ve already started my read, and I see places where I can tighten. But I’m not cutting anything on this go. It’s all about the vibes, and seeing if my conceit works, and then enjoying the landing, because it came out of NOWHERE and shoved itself in my face, and I’m excited to read it again.
This job doesn’t get easier. But this is when it gets fun. Revision is the art of writing. Barfing out a draft has its charms, but it’s knowing the entire story has been birthed, from start to finish, and that now you can massage it into what you want it to be…that’s my favorite moment.
We’ll see how I feel next week.
What’s also fun is that I’ve started making research notes in a file for my 2028 book. I’ve never looked forward to a book more. It’s the book I’d originally planned to write this year, but when I sat down post-surgery to start…it wasn’t there anymore. No matter what I did, it just would not allow me to penetrate its shell.
So I put it on hold, started something else, and now have finished that. And the story is absolutely there now, waiting. Champing at the bit, actually.
But I am not allowed to start working on it just yet. Let’s get this one finished first, yeah?
Onward.
The conversation with Jayne Ann Krentz last week was a lot of fun. If you missed it, here you go. We always have such a fun, far-ranging conversation, and I learn so much from her!
I am beside myself excited for John Grisham’s THE FRENCH ILLUSION, which is coming out September 29. Combine my favorite author with a spy thriller set in France? Come on. I started it last night and OMG.
I overheard a woman telling a friend about a book she was reading set during the pandemic, so I immediately tuned in and started eavesdropping. She couldn’t remember the name—”her titles never match the story”—but knew the author. I did a little digging, and it’s Jodi Picoult’s WISH YOU WERE HERE. I grabbed it immediately. Not sure how I missed it when it released.
I’m doing a gig at Poisoned Pen with Jennifer Herrera to talk about our new books, and hers, SIREN SAYS, is right up my alley. So excited to dive in this week.
TURNING TO BIRDS is my first research book for 2028’s title. So hey, why not share?
That’s the limit of my new reads this week, because I’m also doing the proofreads for the next five Taylor books this month. I’ve finished THE IMMORTALS and am halfway through SO CLOSE THE HAND OF DEATH. It’s fun to revisit these books, y’all. I can’t wait for them to release for you!
That’s it from me. How did your week go? Read anything great?
JTx
©️2026 J.T. Ellison. All rights reserved.
Woohoo for 1st draft and so happy you're thinking about the next book!
Your talk with Jayne Ann Krentz was great. It's fun listening to her.
I read DEADLY DOES IT by Abbi Waxman. This is the 2nd book in this series. The main characters are both recovering alcoholics...one is young and the other is an aging former movie star, turned lawyer. Its an interesting premise, there's great secondary characters and there's a VERY slow burn romance.
I just started THE LION AND THE DEATHLESS DARK (Crown of Nyaxia world) by Carissa Broadbent. This is dark fantasy and not for everyone. I love how she builds her series into a duology for each set of main characters. This is book 1 in the 3rd duology. Its dark, its violent, but its so good!
We'll be heading to Branson next Fri to see the grandkids down there before their school starts ( the kids asked if we could come down, which just melts my heart)....so I may be absent next week.
Congratulations on finishing the first draft!!! I hope you did a little something to celebrate it. I also hope that your proofreads go smoothly and quickly.
I read Leslie Wolfe's RANSOM. A quick, fun read about a woman who left her past behind when she was a teen and has been running since. She lands in Las Vegas and falls for a man that is murdered and she is the number one suspect for good reason. She is a sympathetic morally gray character. I, also, finished THE CALAMITY CLUB by Kathryn Stockett in 4 days. Boy, do I have a book hangover from it. It's a story set down in Mississippi in 1929 (I think) and told from two perspectives. A girl in an orphanage and a woman trying to save her family's house. It was AMAZING, but I did have a tiny problem with the ending besides not wanting the book to be over, which is saying something since it was over 600 pages. I highly recommend it.
I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend and week!!