HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What we're writing? Everything but what I'm supposed to be. I have NEVER been in so many live and taped events, reading and teaching and talking and interviewing, and it's fabulous. But as a result, all the things on my to do list get nicely crossed off-- except the one that says "Write."
The good news? Look at THIS!!
THE MURDER LIST hit NUMBER ONE legal thriller on Amazon. I am--floating, crazy, and fell off my chair. Honestly? I just sat and stared at the screen, gasping with delight. (It got that lovely green Barnes & Noble bestseller banner, too! Number 9 in ALL Nooks!)
And then look at this: how awesomely awesome to be on the same page with Anatomy of a Murder? Amazing. (And look: it says "Your best e-book deals this week." Got to love it.)
(If you don't have THE MURDER LIST, might I prevail on you to check it out for $1.99? Maybe as a Mothers Day gift? Every sale matters, it really does.)
And yeah, all that proved to me that sometimes it can work. I just have to DO it. (Are you having troubles like this?) And try to peel off the weird veneer of terror that I understand is throwing me off my writing game. But I will persevere! I was going to show you a bit of my 15,000 words that should be 30,000 words, but next time, okay?
So. The response to the new book, THE FIRST TO LIE, is beginning to tickle in, and it's a dearly lovely trickle.
For instance:
"Hank Phillippi Ryan is one of my favorite authors of suspense. Her latest, featuring the colliding worlds of a cast of intriguing female characters, is tailor-made for readers who are drawn to taut, propulsive plots with twists that do more than just surprise - they take your breath away. Book clubs will gobble up THE FIRST TO LIE." --Sarah Pekkanen, internationally bestselling author of The Wife Between Us and You Are Not Alone
Ooh. That's pretty darn reassuring.
Without any sneaky fine print and totally knowing everything you know now, if you could start your adult life over as someone else, would you do it?
Say you could choose the person. Where they live and what they do. You could choose what parts of your prior knowledge to retain, and what parts to “forget.” Family baggage? Discard it. Friends and lovers and commitments? Erased, along with your vanished past. Obsessions? Obsessions could stay.
How you look and how you sound, your goals and motivations and deepest desires. Whatever you want, you could do it, be it, love it, lose it.
Sound good?
I fibbed. There is one bit of fine print. You. Every time you’d look in the mirror, you’d remember.
Mirrors make such false promises. They tell you: look here, and you’ll see yourself.
But that’s the first lie. You see a face and a body, sure. But a mirror doesn’t show your true self.
That you have to find on your own. By looking inside. And no seductive piece of silvered glass can help you.
Still. I know all it takes is a tweak here and a twist there to become someone else. So, would you do it? To get what you always wanted? Sure you would.
All you have to do is lie.
HANK: It's so funny, reading that. I wonder where it came from in my head.
(Did I tell you THE MURDER LIST is--briefly--just $1.99? And Lucy's DEATH ON THE MENU is, too! (We are relying on you, loyal and trusted readers!)
Reds and readers--how are YOU doing? Are you accomplishing what you're supposed to accomplish?
