Social Media and Me and You + An Update

So, it’s been a while. I had a newsletter drafted and ready to go for June when my latest book was published, but that got caught in TinyLetter’s security net and was never sent. I moved everything over to MailChimp, but my life got insane, then fell apart a bit, after that. Also, the interface at MailChimp is much more complicated than at TinyLetter, so I never got around to resending.

And that might have been the end of my effort to reach out to you all here until whenever I publish my next book, except 2/3 of social media crashed the other day and got me thinking about 1) how I interact with social media and 2) how I use it to communicate with you all. I’ve been very blessed by social media both through actual writing and publishing opportunities as well as a connection to folks that I desperately need working from home. It’s great for short day-to-day communication, but lately I’ve been missing a place for longer, deeper thoughts.

I still have my blog on my website, but I’m less inclined to use that than I used to be because I get anxiety if I don’t post regularly. And maybe I need to post regularly, but what I really like it a platform that lets me reach out to you in long form once in a while when I have something interesting to say. Authors such as Jordan Harper and Jamie Attenberg have such great newsletter with useful and inspiring content for writers. Maybe I can do that here too. I had a Twitter thread recently about struggling to get back to work after a massive career setback that seemed to resonate well with folks. Maybe I’ll do that stuff here too.

So I just wanted to say hello and let you know I was thinking of you. And here are some highlights from the email I meant to send in June:

June brought the launch of Jackpot, my collaboration with #1 New York Times-bestselling author Stuart Woods. This book is my first hardcover novel, my first major label novel, and, possibly most exciting to me since so many in my family are not readers, my first audio book. It also ended up being my first bestseller, debuting at #13 on the New York Times bestseller list.

You can read an excerpt of it here, and the publisher’s site has links to all of your favorite retailers for purchase.

That’s not all I’ve been up to either. Back in March, Trigger Switch, the final book in my Dominick Prince trilogy, was published by All Due Respect/Down & Out Books. This was a tough one to write, and for a while I debated even trying to publish it, but I like how it wraps up the series and I hope you all love it.

In April my short story “Howard’s Heart” was published in the Mystery Writers of America anthology When a Stranger Comes to Town. This represents a career high, both with the quality of the story and the prestige of the publication. I haven’t been doing as many short stories as I used to, so it’s nice when they turn out this great and end up in such a fine publication.I hope you’re all communicating well with yourself and with your friends.