Weekly Glimmer

Jan 1-12, 2025

This has been a tough week. Watching the fires from afar has been heartbreaking and shocking. It’s hard to fathom that one half of the country is covered in ice and snow and on the other, it’s dry enough for everything to be kindling. Every few hours I have been obsessively checking the maps and measuring how far away the fires are from my friends’ homes—which is probably nothing to compared to what the residents of LA have been doing.

On the next episode of Thrillers by the Bookclub Podcast, we share a list of places you can donate relief funds to. My personal donations have gone to the Pasadena Humane Society who has taken in more than 400 displaced animals.

Things here in my neck of the woods have been up and down but generally still in the direction of flourishing. I made significant progress on the revision for my novel this week, and I’m feeling good about the story. I complain about writing a lot. Like…a lot. Mostly because I’m a perfectionist and have been training myself out of that for the last three years, and it’s been painful.

But this week, I feel good. I wish I could capture this feeling in a bottle and take a big gulp of it whenever Mean Olivia shows up. Mean Olivia says things that aren’t very nice about me and my writing. Her voice can be loud sometimes, but luckily, I have earmuffs.

I also started working on my book coaching certification from Author Accelerator. I love talking about books so much that I not only want to read them and write them, I want to help other writers bring their stories to life. The program takes 6-9 months to complete so I’ve got lots of time.

Meanwhile, I also signed up for ITW’s BizFest course all about the business of publishing. As a book coach (and aspiring-to-be-published author), I believe it’s vital to understand not only how books work—but how the book industry works. Knowing what to expect—the rejections, the process, the heartache, the joy—helps to keep my anxiety at bay and my mind focused. The course runs for 8 weeks and is presented by a variety of incredible authors, agents, and editors. If you’re in my shoes, or maybe just recently signed for your debut, I suspect it’s going to be a good use of time.

Speaking of ITW…I’m going to ThrillerFest! I did not know if it would happen this year since I left my corporate job last year and finances are tight. Luckily, I have an incredible husband who believes in me and is willing to invest in my dream. I signed up for everything this year. FBI Day? You’ve got to be kidding, of course I’ll be there. MasterClass? I’ve done this twice before and find it incredibly useful. This year I’ll be paying attention to more than the details of writing—I’m excited to pick up on how the instructor facilitates.

One day, I’ll lead one of those classes.

What’s Keeping Me Entertained

This was a rare week where I didn’t read anything. I suspect it’s because of where I am in my own work—I don’t want to have anyone else’s voices in my head right now. I have several books on tap for the coming week though:

YOU ARE FATALLY INVITED by Ande Pliego – Ande will be a guest on an upcoming episode of TBTBC Pod. I hear nothing but good things about this book and I’m excited to dig into it. The illustration on the first pages is amazing—it’s a Clue board. So cool.

THE BEST LIES by David Ellis – This is my local TBTBC chapter’s January book. We are meeting on Saturday for linner, then heading over to The Poisoned Pen to meet Alice Feeney. Aaah!!

My husband and I take turns choosing a show for us to watch. At the moment, we are splitting time between Schitt’s Creek (me) and an anime called Black Clover (him). Schitt’s Creek is obviously incredible—if you haven’t seen it, are you living under a rock? Go watch it for feel good laughs.

Black Clover (Netflix) is fantastic. It follows the standard anime ninja-fighting style tropes; a poor kid that everyone laughs at, determined to be the leader of his village, who never stops believing in themselves—even when no one else does.

I may be a pebble. But I’m a pebble that shatters diamonds. - Asta, Black Clover

The messaging in this show is so positive that I have looked for supercuts on YouTube of the main character’s most inspiring moments. Every time Asta battles a new enemy he starts confident, looks like he’s about to lose, and then comes out of the rubble to say – “Not yet. I’m not giving up yet. I’m pushing past my limits to achieve my dream.” It’s a little hokey…but applicable. I highly recommend this anime (which you won’t hear me say very often because why do they always have to scream so much!?).

That’s all from here—tell me what’s going on in your world. What are you reading this week? Watching? How’s your WIP going?

I don’t know how to end these posts. So here is my awkward good-bye.

Bye.