Joani Elliott: "My condolences on your death - now who's going to finish your book?"

And the winner of Debra H. Goldstein's FOUR CUTS TOO MANY is: Pat D! Contact Debra at dhg@debrahgoldstein.com.
 

HALLIE EPHRON: As authors (particularly of crime fiction), we're wont to say something to the effect: Writing this book is going to kill me. Especially as we wade through writing the mushy middle.

Joani Elliott goes one step further and imagines it happening, because if you die in the middle of a book, who's going to finish it? Say the word "literary executor" to one of your colleagues or offspring and they're likely to run screaming from the room.

Today we're happy to welcome Joani talking about the inspiration for her brand new debut novel, THE AUDACITY OF SARAH GRAYSON. Joani is giving away a signed copy of her new book to one lucky commenter. (Don't you love that cover?!)

JOANI ELLIOTT: THE AUDACITY OF SARA GRAYSON centers around the death of a literary icon and her dying wish that her daughter finish the final volume in her wildly popular best-selling series. There are plenty of missteps and mysteries along the way for Sara who is horrified at the prospect of stepping into her mother’s shoes.

My book’s premise has also generated some interesting conversations with my own daughter, Lexa, who happens to love writing, but still looked at me one day with pleading eyes and said, “Please swear that you will never do that to me, Mom.”

“Do what?” I asked.

“Go and die and then ask me to finish your book.”

I smiled at her. I believe she can do anything. “Define swear,” I said.

At age twenty-one, Lexa is still a master of the eye roll.

I have made no promises about unfinished manuscripts to my daughter, but it does raise interesting questions as writers. Who would you trust to finish one of your books? Is there anyone? And if so, who would that be?

The beloved fantasy writer Robert Jordan died before he could finish his epic Wheel of Time series. With awareness of his coming demise, he asked his wife and editor, Harriet McDougal, to choose someone to finish his series after his death.

(Photo by Jeanne Collins, licensed under CC BY 3.00

McDougal kept her promise and chose author Brandon Sanderson. He was young and accomplished, but he had never even met Jordan. Sanderson was so overwhelmed by the task that he almost didn’t do it. When it came down to making the final decision, Sanderson explained in a 2010 interview with “Fast Forward: Contemporary Science Fiction,” that of “all the people out there…I would screw it up the least.”

Sanderson had read his first Jordan book when he was fourteen. Can you imagine taking on the task of finishing the series of someone you idolized? Would you do it? Sanderson did finish the task, breaking up the last book into three successful volumes.

Michael Crichton died of cancer with more than one unfinished manuscript. His widow and his assistant chose Richard Preston to finish a book that was already one third complete, but Preston had to write a proposal first and then he had to closely follow Crichton’s voice and style to make Micro a success.

Stieg Larsson, author of the famous Millenium trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc.) died suddenly of a heart attack at age fifty with no will, so his longtime partner was left out of the decision making all together while his family chose another Swedish writer, David Lagercrantz, to continue the series. Despite the initial uproar among Swedish fans and the press, the series sold millions of copies.

Then there is the beloved author Sue Grafton who died before she could finish her final book, Z is for Zero, in her famous Kinsey Millhone Alphabet series. So close! In a post on Grafton’s website after her death, her daughter explained that Grafton was adamant that a ghost writer would never complete her work.

With Grafton’s last published work, Y IS FOR YESTERDAY, her daughter wrote, “As far as we in the family are concerned, the alphabet now ends at Y.”

Even as I neared completion of my first Sara Grayson draft, I found myself asking, would her mother, Cassandra Bond, have a back-up plan? Since Bond had cancer and a little time to plan, would she have stashed a draft of the book somewhere just in case her daughter didn’t come through? Would she really trust Sara to finish her work? I’ve asked myself how I would feel about placing my own unfinished work in someone else’s hands.

I’d love to know your thoughts and I’m giving away a signed copy of my novel to a lucky commenter. Would you ask someone to finish one of your stories or would you prefer your unfinished projects to remain that way?

ABOUT The Audacity of Sara Grayson What happens when the world's greatest literary icon dies before she finishes the final book in her best-selling series?

And what happens when she leaves that book in the hands of her unstable, neurotic daughter, who swears she's not a real writer? Sara Grayson is a thirty-two-year-old greeting card writer about to land the toughest assignment of her life. Three weeks after the death of her mother--a world-famous suspense novelist--Sara learns that her mother's dying wish is for her to write the final book in her bestselling series.

Sara has lived alone with her dog, Gatsby, ever since her husband walked out with their Pro Double Waffle Maker and her last shred of confidence. She can't fathom writing a book for thirty million fans--not when last week's big win was resetting the microwave clock.

  But in a bold move that surprises even herself, Sara takes it on. Against an impossible deadline and a publisher intent on sabotaging her every move, Sara discovers that stepping into her mother's shoes means stumbling on family secrets she was never meant to find--secrets that threaten her mother's legacy and the very book she's trying to create.

ABOUT Joani Elliott: Joani grew up with six sisters which means that she can shower fast and do her makeup using the kitchen toaster as a mirror. You should never pick her for your dodgeball team or any team sport—but she does have a rather excellent cartwheel. Joani has taught writing at the University of Maryland and Brigham Young University. She is the mother of two adult daughters who feel sorry for Sara Grayson and believe authors should finish their own damn books.

Christmas in Key West @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Key West at Christmastime is wonderfully festive. One of our favorite events is taking a Conch Train tour around the island to look at the best of the lighted displays. There is a contest that our mayor's home won last year. Here's what it looks like:

And here's the house two doors down:

And this is the home of our friends Kathy and Michael, whom I think are giving the mayor a run for her money:

Blow-up figurines are always popular too:

Last year, I was searching for plot ideas for what has become THE KEY LIME CRIME. Now that I'm working on the final edits, of course I know what's going to happen and how. Here's the smallest snippet to show you how I used the lights:

We drove by small concrete block houses decked out with lights of all colors, blow-up Christmas figures from The Grinch, Charlie Brown, The Polar Express. We saw fake-snow machines, homeowners having cocktails in lawn chairs and enjoying our enjoyment, and finally the first-place home, which we’d heard through the grapevine belonged to our brand-new mayor. She and her wife had decorated the front of the house as the North Pole, with enough lights to power every home on the Keys all the way up to Miami.

And this final home we didn't see this year, but I saved the photo a few years back:

And one more snippet:

“Only in Key West,” the driver sang out as he navigated down a small one-way street near the cemetery. “Santa may be a little late this year,” he announced, pointing to a blow-up Santa Claus splayed out on the front porch of a small home. Santa had an empty bottle of booze clutched in his right hand. “I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus” thrumming in the background completed the tacky picture.

In the new book, you may see a body buried in one of these photos...you can probably guess which one it is...

Hoping you are all enjoying your local lights in the lead-up to the holidays. How does your town decorate? Do you have a favorite display?


THE KEY LIME CRIME (July 2020) is available for pre-order!

You can order it at an independent bookstore, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and anywhere books are sold!

Crime fiction channeling true crime with Eileen Rendahl #bookgiveaway

HALLIE EPHRON: Ages ago, when I gave one of my first radio interviews, the interviewer asked me if I thought that all of the terrible things that were happening in the world were caused by mystery writers putting ideas into people's heads. I told her, IF ONLY the real world were as safe as the world we mystery writers put in our books. In our make-believe universe, villains are captured and justice is served.

Today we're happy to welcome Eileen Rendahl who's picking up another part of the question, dissecting the intersection of true crime and crime fiction. Food for thought!

AND Eileen is giving away copies of her fabulous new book, COVER ME IN DARKNESS, to THREE lucky commenters...

EILEEN RENDAHL: At a dinner party the other night, several of the women were talking about true crime books and shows. One of the men asked why the women were all so interested in true crime. His tone made it clear he didn’t think it was a good thing and that maybe there was a little something wrong with us for being so interested. 

It’s something I’ve thought about. Why would I want to read about or watch horrible things happening to someone? What did that say about me that I wanted to have that stuff in my head?

Women walk through the world differently than men do. That became very clear to me when my then-teenaged son complained that the key fob for our car only opened the drivers’ door when you clicked it once. A petty complaint, but he was sixteen and still a bit teenagerific. He’s better now. At any rate, I explained I liked that feature because I knew if someone was making me uncomfortable in a parking lot or garage, I could get into my side of the car without giving the other person access through the other doors. I got blank looks from all the men in my house. That had never occurred to them. They were even more surprised when I told them how often that was a factor for me. 

I don’t know a single woman who doesn’t have a story or stories about times they were followed or threatened or attacked. True crime stories often make it very clear that a woman’s best weapon is her brain. Understanding the situation and the person who is attacking you can literally be the difference between life and death. It’s not just that we want to know how someone got away from an attacker. We want to understand the underlying motivations so we can maybe avoid being in the situation at all, so we can recognize the signs that something isn’t quite right, so we have some options. 

Honestly -- and what I told the gentleman at the dinner party -- it comes down to anxiety. True crime stories help me feel less anxious because I feel better prepared to face the world.  

I don’t write true crime. I write novels. I’ve written romance, urban fantasy, cozy mystery, and thrillers. My first book with a big publisher, Do Me, Do My Roots was a fictionalized account of what happened after my husband died. Getting to take my personal story apart and look at it from different angles helped me process what I was feeling and was a major factor in helping me through the survivor’s guilt I felt. 

The idea for Cover Me in Darkness came from something that happened in my childhood. A mother in my hometown killed her child. I was about ten at the time and it had never occurred to me that a mother would hurt a child. My whole experience with motherhood was based on my family. I’m not saying my mother was perfect or that her mother was either. I can tell you neither of them would have ever intentionally hurt any of us, though.

That event was the beginning of my interest in true crime. I needed to understand what had happened so it could stop frightening me. Over the years, I twisted that story around in my head dozens of ways, trying to understand it from all the different perspectives involved. 

Coming at it as a novel let me process the very complicated feelings I had about what had happened and even how it could have been avoided. 

What about you? Does true crime help you feel less anxious? Does fiction give you a place to process your feelings? 

Giveaway: Eileen is giving away 3 e-copies of “Cover Me In Darkness” for randomly chosen commenters.

About Cover Me in Darkness:

Tagline: Old Wounds Run Deep

Short blurb: Amanda escaped the cult that killed her brother, but troubling events force her to dig into the secrets of her past.

Starred review:

"... a hard-to-put-down psychological thriller that also offers a nuanced look at a damaged woman."

-Library Journal

Description:

Amanda Sinclair has to fight harder than most for everything she has after fleeing the cult that left her brother dead at her mother's hand. Amanda works a quiet job in quality control for a small cosmetics company, trying to leave her past behind her―until she learns that her mother has committed suicide in the mental ward where she's been locked away for the past ten years.

But when Amanda receives her mother's personal belongings, she finds a troubling connection to the upcoming parole hearing for cult leader Patrick Collier. And then troubling things begin happening to Amanda herself. Teaming up with her mother's psychologist, Amanda starts to peel away the layers of secrets that she's built between herself and her own past, and what she finds is a truth that's almost too big to believe.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YF98ZFW/

About the author:

Eileen Rendahl is the national-bestselling and award-winning author of the Messenger series and four Chick Lit novels. Her alter ego, Eileen Carr, writes romantic suspense.

Both Eileens were born in Dayton, Ohio. She moved when she was four and only remembers that she was born across the street from Baskin-Robbins. Eileen remembers anything that has to do with ice cream. Or chocolate. Or champagne.

She has had many jobs and lived in many cities and feels unbelievably lucky to be where she is now and to be doing what she's doing.

Links: www.eileenrendahl.com

Newsletter sign up to receive a free short story “New Shoes” & a free preview of “Cover Me in Darkness”:

https://www.subscribepage.com/subscribe_eileenrendahl

Mystery & romance: Oil and water? Maybe not...

HALLIE EPHRON: Mystery and romance. They occupy two very different niches, though we know some of our favorite authors :-) write both. 

Today I'm happy to welcome Katlyn Duncan to Jungle Red. The author of romance and young adult novels, she calls herself an author, a dreamer, a storyteller, and a ghostwriter. Today we're thrilled to host her as she talks about her twelfth novel, Wrapped Up For Christmas, and about the elements of mystery that are just as at home in a romance.

KATLYN DUNCAN: Thank you so much to the Jungle Red Writers for hosting me today! Wrapped Up for Christmas, my twelfth published novel released this Tuesday, and I’m thrilled for it to be out in the world.

As this blog is made up of some fantastic mystery writers, I wanted to delve into how mystery can fuel a romance novel. Most of the time, when we meet someone new, there is a lot of mystery surrounding that person. We want to know what this person’s passion is, or what makes them tick.

We’re drawn to it.

We’re captivated by it.

We create this image in our minds of this person and who we want them to be. Usually, they disappoint us; shattering the impression we had of them.

I love this moment in a book. No matter if you’re writing a mystery novel where the detective or sleuth has underestimated a suspect, or in a romance novel where the heroine reveals a big secret about her past, there is always that shock value when the truth finally reveals itself. It’s a big moment of conflict. The will-they/won’t-they catch the killer/be together for the rest of their lives.

That conflict is delicious and sweet, and it makes us grip the pages (or our eReader) in anticipation of how the story is going to turn out. Romance as a genre usually leans toward the happily ever after side of things, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make our characters work for it. That’s the thing about mystery. We’re drawn to the unknown while creating our version of the truth.

The mystery and the unknown was how I wanted to challenge my two leads in Wrapped Up for Christmas. My heroine, Angie, just got out of a terrible relationship where her boyfriend lied to her, then she lost her job (he was her boss, yikes!), and had to move back home. While that was the lowest of the low for her, she then met a guy who seemed to be the perfect pick-me-up. But he was hiding a significant part of his life from her. He encompassed the one thing she never wanted to trust again.

When adding the mystery element into my women’s fiction/romance novels, my number one tip would be not to reveal all too soon. Leaving those little breadcrumbs (as you do with a mystery novel as well) ramps up the tension. If the reveal comes too fast, there’s not enough stake in the relationship to have a payoff. If the reveal comes too late, then the reader may put the book down with frustration without waiting for the payoff. Or worse, it doesn’t leave enough time for a satisfying ending.

The mystery can be a part of the attraction and the fun, but it can also threaten to tear everything apart. And once that mystery reveals itself, we beg the question…Can they make it work?

I would love to know what you think about mystery and romance working together in books!

HALLIE: It's a great question. I'd say romance is front and center in a many of our books. Lucy's Haley Snow has a main squeeze, Detective Nathan Bransford, and will they/won't they is a major subplot. We love to watch the dynamics of Hank's Jane/Jake and Deb's Duncan/Gemma and the drama of Lady Georgie and her Darcy (guess what: Rhys wrote a series of YA novels called The Boyfriend Club... romance, anyone?); and Julia kept us panting as Claire and Russ overcame the obstacles between them; and Jenn writes brilliant romance and romantic comedy as well as mystery novels with a juicy romance tucked in.

My books tend to be more about women who aren't sure if they can trust the man in their life, so I'm an outlier. But my take on it: as mystery writers we need to know our audience and adjust the heat accordingly.

What do you think? Romance and mystery: oil and water or pepper and salt?

Katlyn is doing a book giveaway THIS WEEK! Best of luck! 

ABOUT KATLYN DUNCAN: Coming from a small town in Western Massachusetts, Katlyn Duncan always had her head in the clouds. Working as a scientist for most of her adult life, she enjoyed breaking down the hows and whys of life. This translated into her love of stories and getting into the minds of her characters. When she’s not writing, she’s obsessing over many (many) television series’. She currently resides in Connecticut with her family. SCBWI & RWA Member.

ABOUT Wrapped Up For Christmas 

 It’s the most wonderful time of the year… but not for Angie Martinelli…

Having lost her boyfriend, job, and apartment all in the space of a week, Angie has no choice but to leave California and return to her family in New England.
Determined not to let life weigh her down, Angie finds work at the local mall where she worked as a teenager. After an embarrassing run-in with a handsome stranger, Nick, she’s convinced her luck is about to change.
But Nick has secrets of his own… and as the first flakes of snow begin to fall, Angie can’t help but wonder if she’ll ever find love.

David Bell's REAL writing life #bookgiveaway

HANK PHILLIPI RYAN:  How often have you taken your seat on an airplane, and stolen a look at the person in the seat beside you..and wondered? Who they are and where they’re going, and whether just ever, you have anything in common? And then you turn back to your book,  because yeesh, no time to talk to anyone, and you fly to your destination with pretzels and a diet coke, and you never see them again?

That’s my usual flight. But sometimes, someone will say something to me, and it turns  out to be life-changing. It happened, absolutely, once. But that’s another blog.

In David Bell’s new book,  LAYOVER, the coolest airplane story ever:

Joshua Fields takes the same flights every week for work, his life a series of departures and arrivals, hotels and airports. During yet another layover, he meets Morgan, a beautiful stranger with whom he feels an immediate connection. When it’s time for their respective flights, Morgan kisses Joshua passionately, lamenting that they’ll never see each other again.

As soon as Morgan disappears in the crowd, Joshua is shocked to see her face on a nearby TV. The reason: Morgan is a missing person.

Ahhh. Brilliant! And we asked David to roust himself from the champagne and limos and general acclaim that every writer experiences to …wait. What? No champagne? No glamour? We’ll let the amazing David explain. 

The Real Writing Life

   By David Bell

Most writers I know have day jobs. While it’s certainly possible to make a decent amount of money as a writer that income is hardly guaranteed.. One book that sells poorly, one editor who loses their job, and the writer may find their income decreasing dramatically or disappearing altogether. This isn’t exactly the glamorous side of writing. This isn’t the thing people think about when they picture writers flying on private jets or sipping cocktails outside their beach villas.

I’ve been a professional writer for the past twelve years. And what I mean by professional is that people have been paying me for my work. (Let’s not count all the years that went before when no one was paying me.) And during every one of those twelve years I’ve had a full-time job. Why have I kept my job while writing a new book every year? It turns out that health insurance and a retirement plan are nice things to have. Sure, it’s glamorous to think of F. Scott Fitzgerald drinking it up all over Europe and Hollywood. He also keeled over in his forties, negating the necessity for long-term planning. Most writers live in the real world. They have families, spouses, aging parents, kids who need braces, and dogs that need food.

But my day job may seem somewhat unusual for a thriller writer. I’m an English professor at Western Kentucky University where I direct the MFA program. Does it seem odd to find someone who writes thrillers about kidnappers and murderers sharing the hallways with professors who are teaching Milton and Shakespeare and Morrison? Perhaps. But, then again, think about the content of some of those classics. As I recall there are a lot of murders, poisonings, thefts, and unfaithful spouses in those stories. 

And other thriller writers have come from the halls of academia before me. Most notably one of my writing heroes, David Morrell, who was a college professor before becoming a full-time writer. In fact, David and I have a lot in common. Our first names. Our careers in academia. Our PhDs. And the fact that we’ve both sold millions of books by creating an iconic character that  spawned a film franchise. (Okay, we don’t have that last part in common.)

But what are the advantages to my life as a college professor? Why does this job work alongside my writing career? For one, I have summers “off.” I don’t have to teach in the summer, and except for the occasional meeting or thesis defense I’m free to use my time for writing and revising. 

During the academic year, I’m not stuck in a cubicle with someone looking over my shoulder from 9 until 5. Academics like their independence, and they’re used to working on their own, qualities most writers have as well. So even though I’m busy with my teaching job during the semester, I can find the occasional stolen moment to write between classes. 

It’s also part of my job to write and publish. I wouldn’t have earned tenure without publishing books, so the university has an expectation that I will be writing and publishing. Maybe not as much as I have, but that expectation is still there. Finally, I get to spend my days talking about books and writing. So even when I’m at my day job I’m thinking about the writing life by sharing my knowledge with my students. And oftentimes I’m learning things from them. 

I often tell my students that if they want to have careers as writers they have to structure their lives so that as much as possible writing comes first. My day job has allowed me a decent amount of time to put writing first while also providing a steady paycheck, benefits, and the opportunity to make people call me “Doctor” if I want to. All in all, not a bad deal for a writer. And much better than drinking myself to death to avoid old age.

HANK: Well, yeah. True. Reds and readers, if you’re writing, do you still keep a day job? Why? And if you’re a reader—or a writer—who’s the most interesting person you’ve ever met on a plane?

A copy of LAYOVER to one lucky commenter!

About LAYOVER

In this high concept psychological suspense novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter, a chance meeting with a woman in an airport sends a man on a pulse-pounding quest for the truth.
Joshua Fields takes the same flights every week for work, his life a series of departures and arrivals, hotels and airports. During yet another layover, he meets Morgan, a beautiful stranger with whom he feels an immediate connection. When it’s time for their respective flights, Morgan kisses Joshua passionately, lamenting that they’ll never see each other again.

As soon as Morgan disappears in the crowd, Joshua is shocked to see her face on a nearby TV. The reason: Morgan is a missing person.

What follows is a whirlwind, fast-paced journey filled with lies, deceit, and secrets as Joshua tries to discover why Morgan has vanished from her own life. Every time he thinks one mystery is solved, another rears its head—and his worst enemy might be his own assumptions about those around him.

About David Bell 

David Bell is the USA Todaybestselling and award-winning author of nine novels from Berkley/Penguin: LAYOVER, SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER, BRING HER HOME, SINCE SHE WENT AWAY, SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW, THE FORGOTTEN GIRL, NEVER COME BACK, THE HIDING PLACE, and CEMETERY GIRL. He is an Associate Professor of English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky and can be reached through his website davidbellnovels.com.

What we're writing week! Hallie's churning out press releases...

HALLIE EPHRON: It's' WHAT WE'RE WRITING WEEK, and boy howdy do I wish I could tell you I'm working on a new book. But instead I'm churning out press releases and guest blogs and generally flailing about in an effort to promote CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR which I finished almost a year ago and which comes out next week. 

It's very gratifying when a press release actually gets picked up in a local paper. Yes, there are still local papers. Lucy submitted this to her local Shoreline paper, humping my event at RJ Julia with Lucy on August 8, and voila...

Then there are the 37 other press releases I sent out to local media, talking up my event at Brookline Booksmith on August 7 in conversation with professional organizer, Kathy Vines (Clever Girl Organizing). So far, bupkes.

And I apologize if you're on my newsletter list. Though I promised you not more than a few newsletters a YEAR, last month alone I sent two.  (If you're NOT on my newsletter list, by all means go to my web sign and for heavens sake, sign up!)

I know, all of this smacks of desperation. But such is the world I live in.

As everyone knows by now, the main character (Emily) in CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR is a professional organizer who's married to a packrat. This is something with which I have firsthand experience since I'm happily married to a man who’s happily wedded to his stuff and spends his Saturday mornings yard sale-ing.

Here are my very own tips for decluttering your spouse:

- Pick your battles: If his bureau drawers and closet doors shut, what’s inside them is not your problem. Your challenge is to stop thinking about it.

- Catch him unawares: At a quiet time, say, “Honey.” Pause and wait. “I need to ask you something.” Pause. “You know that pile on the basement stairs…”

- Bring in reinforcements: Got any grown children up your sleeve? Enlist them to help execute whatever plan to which you get Honey to agree. Your help will probably not be welcomed.

- Bribe, barter: The promise of homemade lobster bisque or a back massage can be a powerful incentive.

- Sublimate: It will be much easier to write a book about his clutter than to get him to change.
- And finally, if he speaks to your heart, keep him.

My good news is the book got a full page review in TIME. Yup, that TIME. The review was written by (drumroll) Jamie Lee Curtis. Click here to read it! 

I am over the moon. I am such a fan of JLC. Adored her in A Fish Called Wanda. I was in wildly applauding when (in 2002) she posed in her skivvies in an unretouched photograph for MORE Magazine looking normal--aka not perfect! That went viral before there was such a thing as going viral. Then she made waves when she let her hair go gray. And she became a WRITER! 

She is, in short, a girl after my own heart. And she loved my book. SHE LOVED MY BOOK! I am over the moon.

More good news: A STARRED review in PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY. The reviewer called it. “Outstanding… may be the first domestic thriller to weave in Marie Kondo’s decluttering theory about discarding things that don’t spark joy.”

Please forgive me my frenzy of shameless self-promotion. It will pass.

In the meantime, please check out my brand new web site (another reason I've not written anything) to see where I'll be speaking (Brookline Booksmith August 7, RJ Julia in Madison CT (with Lucy!) August 8.  And if you can stand to hear more about me me me and my book book book, go to my web site and sign up for my newsletter.

If you want to read the first two chapters gratis, go here. And here.

Okay. Now I'll shut up.

Or not...

Are you a neatnik? Organized in the extreme? A saver? A collector? A packrat? Do you live with someone who has, let us say, different priorities when it comes to keeping stuff. Any tips for negotiating those differences?  

GIVING AWAY MY LAST advance reader's copy to one lucky commenter.