Friday Reads 7.17.26

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!

It was a big writing week here. My writing coven had a 10,000 word day challenge on Tuesday. It was a crazy day, with everyone hitting record numbers. I was more than happy to stop at 5k, but it was only 3pm, and something kept me in the chair. I crossed 10,000 words at hour 11.5. I’m going to do a whole craft post on the act of writing and staying focused long enough to lay down a massive word count, but trust me when I say it takes preparation, dedication, and a whole lot of luck. And it’s much more fun to do it with a group. (In case you’re wondering, that equates to 100 double spaced pages…no wonder my wrist is bruised.)

It’s very freeing, writing like this. Though I did slow down a couple of times to do a quick bit of research, which is technically against the rules, the story moved forward so much there’s hope in the land again.

This took me to a grand total of 44k for the month. I’ve said it before—it’s takes me 6-7 months to write the first 1/3 of a book, and 1-2 to write the rest. It’s a weird process, but it’s mine.

I’m excited to get back into the book today. There’s just so much new work, and honestly, still so much left to do. I was shooting for 85k and barely had a shot at it, and suddenly we’re looking at a 100k+ book like I normally write. I promise I’m going to cut some. Promise.

I’m reading a superb book this week, Jenny Jackson’s THE SHAMPOO EFFECT. I’ve always been fascinated with the whole northeast beach culture—that's been going on since I was in junior high in Colorado and a friend of mine went to the Vineyard every summer. It seemed so…glamorous. She’d come home with that nasty white rope bracelet that shrinks to your wrist and smells like muck and I wanted to experience the act of mucking up that bracelet so badly. So any book that takes place in the NE, I am there. This one’s really great. Clever, funny, heartfelt. I fear someone might die but that might be my thriller brain kicking in.

And I’m still listening to the fabulous DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL. I laugh so much, it’s a sheer joy.

And I will be honest. I’m reading the Empyrean FOURTH WING series again. I accidentally started it in Florida, having picked it up to put on another shelf, and fondly reread the first page, and then…I was reading again. I was so excited to see the new book, THRESHING DAY, is coming and I always like reminding myself of the previous stories for context.

I grabbed Brian Jay Jones THE CAPITOL for research. The new book has a DC component. And that’s all the hints you get.

I chose Leslie Wolf’s RANSOM for First Reads.

And I am so stoked to read May Cobb’s ALL THE LITTLE HOUSES! Love the cover, too.

And new this week, the amazing Ashley Winstead is back with HOT GIRL MURDER CLUB, which I can’t wait to gobble down.

And Kathleen Barber and Amayah Shaienne have a #rushtok book called SISTERHOOD ABOVE ALL out, and I can’t wait. I have my own rush stories gone wrong, so love seeing others.

Lastly, just for fun, if you like Billy Joel his interview on Rick Beato’s show is INSANE. Listen to him play Rachmaninoff’s 2nd by ear…awe-inspiring. But hearing him talk about how artists set the bar higher and become more critical of their own work really hit home for me.

So how did your week go? Read anything great?

JTx