Necessary Preparations! And a Giveaway

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What am I doing this week? It might surprise you. Dusting. Filing. And putting stuff away. What can you deduce from this? I’m getting ready to write my next book.

the timeline--made as I go, not before

But before I start, somehow I always need to clear the office decks.

I take all the scribbles and notes from the book that's in the works--THE MURDER LIST comes out in August, as you will hear endlessly--all the charts and lists and maps and drawings. All the super-critical but grubby little late-night notes to myself, written on random scraps of paper.


And of course my words-per-day chart. And my notebooks, tabbed

words per day--or the reason why!

with colored sticks and containing notes to myself like: Who was on the phone? Where did the dog go? Where was she born? And the ultra-important "loose ends" list, where I check them off one by one until each element is nicely braided into the story.

So what do you do to begin the new year? Do feel the need to clean? To go through stacks of papers, or throw away magazines, or sort out your freezer?

((Seriously, I ALMOST cleaned out our freezer, which is now so ridiculously full (because it's like Fibber McGee's closet--anyone else remember?)--but happily I stopped myself before I tackled such a terrible job. I do wonder how many pounds of butter and random bagels and half-full bags of frozen peas and unlabeled aluminum foil packages are in there. I fear we will never know.))

I did clean out my top dresser drawer, and found a true bonanza of unused gift cards. I always never use them, you know, because somehow I am saving them for something. Which "something" never happens. But this year, I'm gonna use them. Promise.

I also cleaned out the junk drawer in the kitchen, ahhhh, and now I could start a second (or third) business re-selling plastic utensils. I can never throw them out, because they are in little packets, right, and so convenient? But we never use them.

How many cans are in YOUR pantry? I decided to be creative and make beef noodle soup from leftover prime rib, and needed beef broth to underpin it. I found a can of it, hurray, but it said "Best by Nov 2004." I was too terrified to use it. The soup turned out wonderfully, anyway. I was very proud of myself for making up the recipe. I am also too terrified to look at the dates on the rest of the cans.

And its time to donate books to the library! Yay. And that means there has to be something to carry the books in. Which means I can use all the big shopping bags I've been hoarding--I have such a hard time throwing those away, because they are so usable! So it'll be very satisfying to use them in service of something else. And I can check off TWO projects.

And look look look! Just in time to start this gotta-be-fantastic year, TRUST ME has come out in trade paperback!


I am in love with the eerie and evocative paperback cover, and so thrilled that this edition will be featured in stores like Target, Walmart, and other major retailers. Truly, the book is a treasure..they have done an incredibly gorgeous job with it--it's very special, and very beautiful.

Which is exciting enough in itself, right? If you see it, take a photo, okay? And oooh, you might want to take it home with you, just saying. But soon--I'll be typing my next Chapter One. And you'll be the first to hear about it. (And you might be very surprised....)

So how about you, Reds and readers? What projects do you feel compelled to complete before the new year gets underway?

A copy of the brand new edition of TRUST ME to one lucky commenter!

Calendar Confusion?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: You'd think it would be the easiest question in the world:  what day of the week is it?

But whoa. when the holiday eve is on a Monday, and the holiday itself is Tuesday, every single marker of "what day is this" vanishes. Doesn't it?

I had the most impossible time last week figuring out what day it was. NO idea.  As someone on Facebook wrote: How can today be Wednesday when the last four days were Saturday?


I posted this on Facebook last Thursday...

"Trying to figure out what day it is. Yesterday felt like Monday, because Sunday was a holiday. But OK, not Monday, because it wasn't. Christmas was actually Wednesday, so that meant yesterday was Thursday. But actually it wasn’t, so it isn’t. Yesterday also kind of felt like Friday, because something was over. So today I'm like, YAY, FRIDAY! But it isn't.. AH. This is the most Friday-ish Thursday ever."

...and got hundreds of responses!

Some brilliant cartoonist captured it this way:

And I really needed that place in the Milwaukee airport that allows travelers to regroup--is there a way to recombobulate the TIME?

And now we're heading into another week of calendar confusion.

Can you feel it? How are you handling it?

HALLIE EPHRON: This year it's particularly bad because Thanksgiving was SO EARLY! And because the holidays are in the middle of the week. The rest of the year it feels as if I'm speeding along, trying to hit deadlines, and for the last three weeks of December it's like slo-mo. It's nice. It's a good time to change calendars (I still use a paper datebook) and create new financial spreadsheets for 2019, so essential when spring has sprung and tax-time comes around.

I LOVE the Milwaukee airport's recombobulation area -- cracked up the first time I saw that sign. And what better time to be cracking up than when you're coming OFF or getting ON a plane?

LUCY BURDETTE: I can't remember a week where I felt more confused. Every day, more than once, I'd ask: Is today Wednesday? (or Thursday, etc.) I'm pretty sure our grown kids think it's the beginning of dementia...

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I've been confused since I came back from England on the 15th of November! I haven't done much of anything but work, so one day has just bled into another, with an "Oh, it Christmas already?" thrown in. I suspect it will be the second week in January before we get ourselves sorted out.

JENN McKINLAY: I have no idea what day it is but that's awesome. Because if you don't know what day it is, you can't be held accountable for your deadlines, right? RIGHT???

RHYS BOWEN:  Usually I know what day it is but holidays throw me off. Christmas Day confused with weekend! But we're heading back to AZ this week so I need to get my act together and take care of business.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING:  I'm also deeply unmoored from what day it is. I've been going over the calendar multiple times a day because today Youngest and I are attending the swearing in of Maine's first woman governor, tomorrow Youngest is having her wisdom teeth out (yikes!) and Friday, she has a doctor's appointment AND she's attending the Inaugural Ball in Augusta (thankfully, the boy she's going with has a car.) Why is all this happening when I'm still making dinner from Christmas leftovers?

HANK: Right, right, right! But it truly feels as if we've got some extra days, and that's nice. Or, psst. Do we never know what day it is anyway, and this just gives us an excuse?

How about you, readers...does it feel weird to you? Have you confused appointments, shown up on the wrong day,  awakened confused--or are you simply enjoying being baffled? (And doesn't this look like a fun life?) 

It's New Year's Check In Day! And pick a word!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  HAPPY NEW YEAR darling ones!

We are so thrilled and delighted to begin another year with you--and cannot wait to see what unfolds. Just a quick post today, since we know you're all resting and recovering or out at the movies or watching football or making chili or cozily reading.

So instead of making resolutions, let's pick a ...word!

My word for the year is: well, I can't decide. OPTIMISM? GRATITUDE? PERSEVERANCE? GROWTH? What do you all think?

Tell us, Reds, what's your one word for the year?

HALLIE EPHRON: My word for the new year: EMPATHY Because in my opinion we need less shouting, blaming, and blathering without listening.

JENN McKINLAY: I got nothing. It usually takes me through January to figure out what word I want to guide my year. I do have some contenders: ABIDE (because that seems proper). HORSESHIT (that 's cranky me annoyed with the world at large). LISTEN (because I need to learn to do that). SIMPLIFY (because my brain way overcomplicates things). I'll let you know what I choose but I'm kind of leaning towards the cuss word.

RHYS BOWEN: Can it be three words? Because LET IT GO was what came into my head. Telling myself I don't have to say yes to everything, be perfect in everything, worry about everything, make everything right for everyone. Allow myself time to just be, to enjoy, to daydream and not feel guilty.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I would agree with everyone's words! (Especially Jenn's...) But I think I'll go with KINDNESS. Just remembering to be a little more kind, whether it's on the page (or the  screen or ESPECIALLY on social media), or to the people we come across in our everyday lives and work, to our friends and families, and to ourselves. . 

LUCY BURDETTE: I think I’ll choose HOPE, because we need some of that these days. And otherwise the world looks too bleak. And it also stretches to cover any writing projects that are in the works. Hoping you all have a wonderful year!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I love everyone's words! Mine come as a pair: TIME MANAGEMENT. I'm close to finishing the ninth book in my series, so I'll be starting, and hopefully finishing, the tenth book next year. I'm also taking on a new job - I'll be teaching two sections of Technical Writing at our local community college, which will involve prepping for class, responding to students, grading work, etc. Add on top of that keeping up with the vast outdoors that is my property between May - October and my usual obligations to family and friends, and I feel focusing on getting things done in a timely fashion will be job number one in 2019.

HANK: I am still thinking! RELAX?  LET-IT-BE?  What's the opposite of "worry"?  There's got to be a word that doesn't mean "forget about it" in the sense of "lah-dee-dah, I give up" but that means, "Well, things happen but you never know so let's wait and  see and oh, yeah, be happy along the way." Is there one word for that? Wait--is that hakuna matata? But that's two words, anyway. 

Reds and readers--what's your word for the year? 

And hey, check in! Let's do a roll call! 

Just tell us where you are--especially if we never hear from you in the comments--it's a new year, after all!