Got any book lovers on your Christmas list?
If you do, check out the column I wrote about this topic:
If you’ve never seen those “invisible” book shelves, they are really cool. Here’s a photo of them being used in my house.
Can’t see the shelves, can you? That’s because they are “invisible.” Ha ha.
If you’ve never checked out the cool merchandise on litographs.com, you should at least do that. I’m not supporting the site or products at all, but I think they are really cool. The only thing I don’t like is the design they have for my favorite book, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” but I love the one for “Walden,” and I love that book, too, so that’s the design I would opt for if I were buying something for myself from there. I especially love the shower curtain.
The design for “On the Road” is really great, too, but I still haven’t read that book. Of course, if I got one of the products, I could read it — with a powerful magnifying glass. If you don’t know, the entire text of the books is printed onto each product. Here’s the one for “On the Road.”
Nifty, isn’t it?
Since I love puzzles, I’d like to try any of the puzzles — once again, I’d need that powerful magnifying glass to help me do it.
After Christmas, I will start to tackle my next novel. I’m currently trying to decide which of the three that are in progress that I want to devote the next lengthy stretch of time to writing. I also have a bunch of ideas in my idea notebook, and some of them are calling to me, so that’s my quandary.
What’s funny (and both touching and frustrating) is that many of the people who got “Her Ride or Die” from me (and which I just published in October) are now asking when the next book will be out. Uh, hopefully in a year. Maybe less. Maybe more. I don’t know.
I’m thrilled that they like my books so much that they can’t wait for the next one. However, I need time to decide which story will become my next book and then time to fully write, rewrite, edit, rewrite some more, edit some more, get feedback, change some things, get more feedback, edit and polish, perhaps rewrite more, etc.
Here are short summaries of the three that I have the most written on so far. Which do you think I should tackle next?
A fiction book about a comedy club and the people who inhabit it. Each chapter is written about a different person while weaving together a picture of the club as a whole and the intrigue as well as the humor that takes place in it. This one currently contains some naughty stuff and has the potential to turn a bit dark or stay on a more humorous road.
A suspense/thriller novel in which the last surviving person of the graduating class of 1960 from a town in Iowa will receive a lot of money. After that is announced, members of that class begin to die off in rapid succession. Is it all a hoax, a legitimate gift, or something more sinister?
A novel that could become suspenseful or could become more of a late-in-life romance about a song that is played as a distant dedication and that leads to complications in a couple’s marriage. The song was sent years ago but never heard by the recipient until one day while on a drive with her husband and listening to an oldies’ station.
Again, there are other ideas in my notebook that I may turn to instead, but I would really like to finish these three stories first. The question remains as to which one I should finish first. So, please leave a comment as to your choice and why.
Prior to devoting my writing time to the next book, I have to finish a story for a magazine and then finalize the comedy routine I plan to give at a women’s wellness retreat in January. Once those two things are behind me, I will devote all my writing time to the next novel.
If you’re a paying subscriber, look to be receiving in-progress sneak peeks of my next novel as I work to develop it. If you’re not yet a paying subscriber, would you consider becoming one? It could be a Christmas gift for yourself as well as one for me, and if you become a paying subscriber this month, I’ll send you one of my hand-painted bookmarks (each is unique — see photos below for some I recently painted) as a gift — once you subscribe, I’ll reach out via email to get your address.
Until next time.
Tammy Marshall
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