Rich Rennicks

Review: The Creative Ambush by Matteo di Pascale The Creative Ambush: How to Unleash Your Creative Fire Into the World is a book designed to shake up your creative process, kickstart creative projects you’ve been keeping on the back burner,…

If you, like me, are a creative feeling stalked by ads for Matteo di Pascale's The Creative Ambush, I offer some thoughts: wordhoarder.wordpress.com/2025/08/01/r... TLDR: it's interesting, potentially useful. Mileage may vary.

Sometimes, pondering why a book didn't work teaches you more about writing than thinking about a book that does.

Alchemy and a Cup of Tea Launch Event! Join us to celebrate the book release of the final book in the tomes and tea series! we're hosting rebecca thorne in conversation with bestselling author Sonora Reyes. QA and Book signing to take place after the conversation! August 12, 2025, 6:30pm - 8:30pm, Gilbert historical museum, 10 S Gilbert Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85296

Just a reminder that my launch event is in Gilbert, Arizona, and we'd LOVE for you to join us!! I'm genuinely so excited to wrap up the series at my hometown bookstore! The awesome @sonorareyes.bsky.social will be moderating!

www.literallybookshop.com/events/32278...

#gilbert #arizona

Pages, text edit, or a notebook. Fade In for scripts. Tried Scrivener for a while, but it felt like learning to use a Palm Pilot back in the day.

Yes, indeed!

OMG, so scientific! He fed form rejections into AI to somehow divine whether the person had read his manuscript completely before sending the form rejection? Why not employ a clairvoyant?

Sounds fab!

Totally! I will buy books with only a vague sense of the plot if the author seems cool/smart/etc. I actually prefer to know less about the book going in, anyway.

I feel that in my bones! Second only to boiling the kettle, coming back an hour later, boiling it again, still forgetting to come back & fill the pot... Hang in there!

In terms of BlueSky alone (& limited to this year b/c last year feels like a lifetime ago), then just Lindz McLeod's The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet. But, if you include books I've heard about multiple times on BlueSky & Insta, then I've bought books by Rebecca Thorne, Piper CJ, & Wren Jones.

Ditto. Deleted everything.

Oh, torture! I got the first one from the library, but they didn’t have the next… now, however, they have all of them available!

The next 2 are just as good!

Good to hear! Can’t wait for that one!

Yes. I guess I should have imported the site before I deleted it...

I'm largely on the usual suspects (ACOTAR, Fourth Wing, etc.) But, Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett is one that struck me as charmingly vibe-driven, but really turns out to be traditionally plotted. Rebecca Thorne's Tomes & Tea series is another low-stakes, high vibes winner!

Looking forward to this!

While I've only been going down the romantasy rabbit hole for a few months, I find it interesting how successful books feel like pure vibes on the surface, but when you look at the structure, they are carefully and traditionally plotted. (Sure I'll find exceptions as I read more...)

Right now, just using wordpress' built-in import function. File is too large however. Their help AI bot says you can just import certain posts, but I can't find any way to narrow down what to import. Seems to be the whole file or nothing.

Beginning to regret deleting my old websites/blogs, as importing content from the WordPress backup file is proving difficult. Not sure I have the time to make this work.

I guess a difference would be whether you are building name awareness in general (early career, w/ short story links to publicize or self-pubbed books) or supporting a new/trad book, where sales within a short time frame are the metric of success. Small cons are kinda like house concerts, in a way.

For sure! Cons are a great way to meet cool people who read! Look forward to reading your blog!

More Purring, More Buying? Why Bookstores Showcase Their Pets.

Fluffy article from the NYT about bookstore pets. Would that we lived in a world where this could be the story of the day...

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/b...

I feel so lazy when I get an email from my library notifying me that the book I just put on hold 20 minutes ago has actually been on the shelf in my local branch all along!

That’s how many trad pubbed author tours work. Other authors agree to interview the author or do a joint event at their local store. The others reciprocate when they have the new book. Works as long as everyone is friendly with their local store.

Yes! If you have a vocal, connected local champion, that could open doors. Maybe try to get connected with a local book group: offer to zoom in to one of their meetings? Build on that and explore if an event could work next time you’re in town?

You certainly could, but... stores want a reason your event would do well for them (are you from the area?; does your family live there?; is the book set there? What is the reason your book will bring out a crowd in XYZ town?) "It's a good book & I'm gonna be in the area" doesn't usually cut it.

Yep, the more-famous an author is the more people bring the books they already own to get signed at the reading. So the new book may not sell many.

I used to have so many notebooks for so many topics, and now have a shelf of quarter-filled notebooks I no longer remember which were used for what...

Yes, it a powerful piece. I feel for traditional authors. Pubs are placing the burden of marketing on authors, but without changing the financing.