ANOTHER BLOG ABOUT WRITING?

I love words. Long ones, short ones, even made-up-ones. I love writing words, putting them together in new and different ways that make people think, feel or do something. I love the words in songs, the words in movies, books and TV shows. And much to the dismay of every art director I’ve ever worked with, I also love a good em-dash—they’re seriously great.

I spend most of my days writing ads and many nights and weekends working on the novel I FINALLY finished writing—so why add a blog to the list?

Because like most writers, I have many opinions about many different things. And over the years of taking creative writing classes at the University of Florida, studying copywriting at The Creative Circus, attending writing workshops at Story Studio Chicago, writing a novel and working in the advertising industry for almost 15 years, I’ve learned a thing or two. And what good is knowledge if you keep it to yourself.

So follow me here to read my thoughts and advice when it comes to writing for ads and for fiction. The two aren’t as different as you might think. I’ll also invite other writers—copywriters, novelists, songwriters, poets, comedians, even agents—to share their wisdom. And last, but certainly not least, I’m going to play along with  #WordCrushWednesday and share the words I’m crushing on each and every Wednesday.

Now, who’s with me?

Best Books of 2022

It’s still January, so I’m not that late in sharing my list of favorite books for last year! As an author, I have complicated feelings with these best of lists, and I debated sharing mine. But I love looking back at the stats of what I read, and I know there are some people who look to this list for recommendations (which I love!) I read more than 60 books this year, and these were my top 24!

Here’s the breakdown of what I read this year by the numbers (this is as mathy as I get!) 

Total Books Read: 65 (three more than last year!) 

Books by Women: 62 

Books by Men: 1 

Books by POC Authors: 6 

Women’s Fiction: 6 

Romance: 12

Women’s Fiction / Romance:15

Suspense / Thriller: 13

General Fiction: 11

Non-Fiction: 3

Historical Fiction: 3

YA: 0 

Poetry: 1

Once again, Women’s Fiction and Romance were my most read genre—and there were several books that I felt crossed the line between women’s fiction and romance. That’s how I think about The Beach Trap (the book I co-wrote with my BFF Bradeigh Godfrey) so it makes sense that I’d gravitate toward books like that—where there is definitely a romance involved, but it might not be the central plot of the book. 

This coming year, I want to read more non-fiction, more books by POC authors, more historical fiction (there are some good ones coming out!!) and also more YA. It’s a genre that I used to love (despite my age) but haven’t read much of in the last few years. 

Now, without further ado, here are some of the best books I’ve read this year, mostly in no particular order. 🙂 

MY TOP BOOK OF THE YEAR

Without a doubt, the best book I read this year was The Midnight Library by Matthew Haig. I’d been hearing about this book for ages, but something kept me from picking it up. Maybe because I thought it was going to be too literary for my taste. But after hearing both Tony Lucca and Stephen Kellogg rave about it, I knew I had to give it a chance. And I am SO glad I did!

This was one of those books that captured me within the very first line, and didn’t let me go until the last word. A beautiful story of love and loss that bends time and space, it features a woman, Nora Seed, who has a chance to explore other lives that she could have lived if she had made a different choice or if she’d gone a different direction. It’s brilliant. All the stars, can not recommend enough. 

OTHER TOP CONTENDERS

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams was the first book I read in 2022, and I knew from the first chapter that it would be on my top list for the year. It’s one of the few books that I might read again, just to admire the prose. It’s beautiful. But the story is just as lovely. There’s a second chance romance involved (and who doesn’t love that?!) 

The book is about two Black authors, Shane, who writes literary fiction and Eva, who writes erotic fiction featuring vampires (yes, really!). The two had seven magical days together (in June, obviously!) when they were teenagers and lost touch until they’re reunited at a literary festival for Black authors. While they haven’t spoken in 15 years, they each influence the others’ work. And it’s just all so beautiful. Highly, highly recommend!

Another book that I wish I could read again for the first time is The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith. The writing, the story, the characters, it all worked together so perfectly. It’s an emotional story of a musician who is reeling from the recent death of her mother, and recovering from an incident that went viral of her “losing it” on stage at a concert. The woman, Greta, gets talked into joining her father and some of their couple friends on the Alaskan cruise that her mother had planned and dreamed of. The whole thing is just so beautiful. 

One more book that vied for the top spot was Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (another local Chicago author, who is also repped by the Nelson Agency!). This book got a LOT of hype, and let me tell you, it was so deserved. This is one book (like the Guncle last year) that I highly highly highly suggest listening to on audio. One of the characters is Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus who is imprisoned (according to him) in a Seattle-area aquarium. The actor who narrates this character is just brilliant. It’s so good. 

Through the story, the octopus develops an unlikely friendship with an older woman and helps her solve a mystery, uncovering the truth of something tragic in her past. The writing, the characters, the story. It was all pitch perfect in this beautiful book.

CELEBRITIES ARE PEOPLE, TOO!

An update of sorts…

“The only thing harder than getting published is staying published.”

– Barbara Claypole White

Hello, friends!

If you subscribe to my newsletter, this won’t be anything new for you. I’m sharing it here to make it easier for people to find since my story seemed to strike a chord with other writers.

It’s been more than six months since my last update because…well, there hasn’t been much news. And there might not be any new news to share here for a while.

For the foreseeable future, most of my book news will be connected to another email list—one for Ali Brady, the pen name for the book I co-wrote with my writing BFF Bradeigh Godfrey. Our first book—The Beach Trap—is coming out on June 14th. If you want to stay up to date on that, sign up for our newsletter or reply to this email and I’ll add you to the list!

But back to the non-news…

I was inspired by a series of podcast episodes my friend Liz Fenton and her co-author Lisa Steinke recently put out, starting with “Coming Out of the Rejection Closet” where they talk about a taboo topic—the rejection many writers experience after they’ve already been published. Their honesty was so refreshing, and it helped me feel not so alone in my struggles.

Since I just passed the two-year anniversary of the day You and Me and Us came out (04/07/20) and the one-year anniversary of the day Little Pieces of Me came out (04/13/21), it seemed like the perfect time to share my story.

Let’s go back to the beginning…

I won’t dwell too much on the pandemic part of my publishing journey—we all lived through it. But if you want to read what it was like, you can check out this essay I wrote for Writer Unboxed.

Needless to say, it wasn’t the launch experience I had dreamed of and worked so hard for.

While publishing as a whole did surprisingly well during the pandemic, most debut authors did not. People were buying books from authors they already knew—and since most bookstores were closed, it wasn’t as easy for booksellers to share new recommendations with their customers.

I still get sad when I think about the day I found out that Hudson cancelled their order of my debut for their airport bookstores (an author dream of mine) because people weren’t flying. But I tried to stay focused on the silver linings, using Zoom and Instagram to connect with readers and book clubs around the country—and one in Haiti!

I did my best in a difficult situation, and I’m proud of what I accomplished. But admittedly, there’s not much one person can do to move the needle when it comes to sales.

Here, the story jumps from book one to book three. And that’s because publishing is SLOOOOOW. It’s not uncommon for an author to be promoting one book, drafting or editing another book and planning the proposal for the next book, all at the same time.

That’s where I was in January, 2021. My second book, Little Pieces of Me, was coming out in April, so my amazing agent, Joanna, was getting ready to submit the option material for what we hoped was going to be another two-book deal.

While I did have a complete draft of the book, The Auntourage (my 2019 NaNoWriMo project), I was in middle of some pretty hefty edits.

Once you have a relationship with an editor, it’s normal to submit a book proposal instead of a complete manuscript. So Joanna submitted 13 complete chapters and a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline of the rest.

I felt really good about where the book was headed. I’d already run the idea past my editor (before the pandemic) and she agreed that the story would make a great third book. Even though sales for my first book hadn’t been great, I was feeling confident—and honestly, I was proud of the sales. Especially because there was a pandemic going on. Surely, they would take that into consideration, right?!?

Best Books of 2021

Yes, I’m very late in sharing this list of my favorite books that I read in 2021. But at least it’s still January—and I’m hoping that I can still use having Covid over the holidays as an excuse! With that said, here is my list!

As a writer, I have mixed feelings about these best of year lists. It is SUCH a thrill to be included on one, and there’s always a tiny pinch of sadness when you see a list that you aren’t on. (And it’s not always logical—I swear, one time I got really sad when I wasn’t on a list of most anticipated sci-fi books and I don’t even write sci-fi!) 

But as a reader, I read and loved so many books this year, and I love having the opportunity to shout about and share some of my favorites. 

I will say that there is one trend I am not a fan of and can’t get behind—and that’s the “biggest disappointments” list. I get it—there have been books that I have been looking forward to for MONTHS only to read them and have them not meet my expectations. But I won’t share what they were, because what didn’t work for me might work for another reader. Plus, it just doesn’t feel good—and life is too short to put negativity out in the world.  

But I digress. Here are the stats of the books I read in 2021. My goal this year was 52 books, and I read ten beyond that for a total of 62. There might have been a few more, but I stopped tracking in February (I made a resolution to be better this year!). But I think I got most of them. 

Total Books Read: 62 

Books by Women: 57

Books by Men: 5 

Books by POC Authors: 12 

Women’s Fiction: 11 

Romance: 11 

Women’s Fiction / Romance: 7 

Suspense/Thriller: 10 

Fiction: 9 

Non-Fiction: 5 

Historical Fiction: 3 

YA: 1 

Poetry: 2 

(And yes, the math doesn’t add up. I can’t explain that, except to say that I’m better with letters than numbers.) 

I’m not surprised that Women’s Fiction and Romance were my most read genre—there were some AMAZING Romance novels out this year! Mystery/Suspense is in the number two spot, it’s a genre I love to read but don’t think I could ever write! 

I usually read more historical fiction and I used to read a lot of YA (which I love), so I’ll have to make up for that this year! 

If you’ve seen my lists before, you know that I don’t organize them by order of favorite to least favorite of the bunch, I group them by elements they have in common. It makes it more fun if you ask me! And with that, take a closer look at the books I read and loved in 2021!

Valentine’s Day Challenge: Fiction Edition, You and Me and Us

Happy Valentine’s Day, friends! 

The last few weeks, I’ve seen so many cute posts with couples sharing their stories with the #ValentinesDayChallenge hashtag. While I’ve loved reading every single one, my single-status meant I couldn’t participate. 

But then I realized I could share my character’s love story! So here’s a little more about Tommy and Alexis—two of the main characters in my debut novel, You and Me and Us. 

Time together: Fifteen years 

How’d they meet: They met as kids on the beach in Destin, Florida where Tommy grew up and Alexis spent summers visiting her grandparents. They lost touch for over twenty years, but reconnected fifteen-ish years ago when Alexis finally came back to Destin. 

First date: There’s some debate about that since they were still friends at the time, but Tommy thinks it’s the time they went out for breakfast at The Donut Hole and stayed so long that the waitress asked them to leave so she could get another table. 

Married?: Not legally. But Tommy has proposed more than seventy times. Alexis loves him and their life together, but she doesn’t see the need to make it legally official.

Age difference: Tommy’s older by just a few months.

Who Was Interested First: Definitely Tommy. He had a crush on Alexis when they were both kids. She didn’t think of him as anything more than friends until years later when they reconnected. And even then, it took her a while. 

Who is taller: Tommy, but just by a few inches. 

Who said I love you first: Tommy said it first, but Alexis said it right back to him. 

Most Impatient: Definitely Alexis. She doesn’t have a patient bone in her body, while Tommy has the patience of a saint. 

Most Sensitive: That would be Alexis. She feels things deeply and is quick to have her feelings hurt, but that comes with wearing her heart on her sleeve. Tommy is also very sensitive, but he doesn’t let his feelings show quite as freely. 

Loudest: Alexis by far. As a shrink and a really good listener, Tommy is quiet by nature. 

Most Stubborn: Again, Alexis. I promise she does have some redeeming qualities! But when she sets her mind on something, it’s hard for her to change it. 

TOP READS OF 2020

This is the first year I’ve been on the receiving end of these ‘best of year’ book lists. And as big of a thrill as it is to see a book you wrote on a list of someone’s favorite reads, it can be crushing when you don’t.

I considered not sharing my list of favorites this year because I didn’t want anyone to feel that way, but I love looking back on the books I read over the year—and there were so many books I loved that I want to help celebrate and spread the word about.

So in no particular order, here are some of my favorite reads of 2020, organized by category-ish. 🙂

 

BOOKS THAT MADE ME LAUGH AND CRY

BEACH READ BY EMILY HENRY 

This book is showing up on a lot of the ‘best of’ lists for a very good reason. One of my top reads this year, it’s about January and Gus—both authors who are struggling to write their next novels. January is a romance author who no longer believes in love, and Gus is an Important Writer of Literary Fiction and feels the pressure of living up to his past success. 

To help get out of their respective creative ruts, they come up with a bet. Gus will spend the summer writing something happy, while January will write the next Great American Novel. 

This friends to lovers story is so beautifully written. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll cheer for January and Gus to find success—and love. Couldn’t recommend this great book more! 

28 SUMMERS BY ELIN HILDEBRAND

Oh my heart. I loved this beautiful book from the first page. It opens on the twenty-eighth summer as Mallory Blessing is on her death-bed. Her son, Link, follows his mom’s instructions to dial a number that’s written on a slip of paper in her desk drawer. The number, it turns out, belongs to Jake McCloud—who is on his way to becoming the first First Husband of the United States. 

What follows is a story that spans three decades of the relationship between a man and a woman who are perfect for each other, but life keeps getting in the way. I loved the way each chapter opened with a snapshot of that moment in time and “what we are talking about” in that year. I listened to the audio version of this book, and the staccato style of the list that went into the pop culture trends and historical moments were a delight. I honestly loved these little intros as much as the story itself. 

This book made me laugh, it made me cry and I can’t recommend it enough. 

WHAT YOU WISH FOR BY KATHERINE CENTER 

Last year, I had two of Katherine Center’s books on my ‘Best of’ list, so I wasn’t surprised that I loved her latest book, too. 

What You Wish For is a literal “joy bomb” and it came into my life at just the right moment. I read this book when I was pretty down with the state of the world, and it would have been impossible not to smile while reading about Samantha Casey, a quirky librarian who lives to bring joy to the world, and Duncan Carpenter—the straight-edge-follow-the-rules-stick-in-the-mud principal who didn’t always used to be that way. 

As Sam tries to find out what stole Duncan’s joy—he used to be a silly, crazy-sock-wearing teacher at Sam’s old school—the two discover what really matters, and that life can be scary and bad things might happen, but you have to choose joy. The cast of characters including the pun-loving math teacher, the matriarch of the school and her miserable, uptight daughter made this book a true delight. Can’t recommend it enough. 

ONE TO WATCH BY KATE STAYMAN-LONDON

One to Watch is on the top of my ‘one to read’ list—especially if you’re a fan of The Bachelorette. I loved everything about this book that features Bea Schumacher, a plus-size fashion blogger.  

At the start of the book, Bea is in love with her best friend who has been stringing her along for years. She finally closes that chapter of her life and decides to stop dating all together when she gets a call about being the star of Main Squeeze—a Bachelorette-esque show.

I found Bea to be so real and relatable, not to mention funny. I rooted for her to find love through the ups and downs of her personal life, on and off the air. I binge listened to this book and was so sad when it was over, although I was very happy with the ending! I can’t wait to see what Kate Stayman-London writes next! 

BOOKS THAT TOOK ME BACK IN TIME

LOOKING BACK ON 2020

On this first day of 2021, I can’t help but think back to this time last year. I was SO excited—I had a feeling 2020 was going to be my best year yet. Look at that smile on my face. Poor girl had no idea that in a few short months, the world would come to a complete stop. 

While last year was marked by so much loss and sadness, there were more than a few silver linings. 2020 will always be the year that my dream of becoming a published author came true—even though it looked a little different than I imagined. 

The launch parties I had planned in Chicago, St Louis, Atlanta and Destin were all cancelled. Family and friends had trips booked to celebrate the moment with me—and my sister and one of my BFFs had plans to come and surprise me. It would have been epic. 

But I turned lemons into lemonade and had an incredible virtual launch party where my friend, singer-songwriter, Stephen Kellogg interviewed me and played a few songs. In spite of all the technical difficulties (there were a LOT!) the night was incredible. It didn’t feel like a Plan B, and I’m grateful to everyone who helped me celebrate. 

There is one thing I’m still pretty sad about. You and Me and Us was supposed to be for sale at Hudson Airport Bookstores. That was a personal author dream, and it was so close to coming true—but when travel stopped, the bookstores decided not to swap out the books they already had on display.

But back to the silver linings, since so many things went virtual, I was able to join book clubs across the country—even one in Haiti! Connecting with readers in book clubs and on bookstagram was one of the biggest highlights of my year. 

It took three months to see my book in a bookstore (and Target!) but the moment was still special even if a little delayed. And in what other world would I have signed my first autograph in the Whole Foods produce department? (Thanks for that, John Billo!)

The book has been doing pretty well—it was a Daily Deal on Audible and made it to the #3 spot on the audio book chart, and got an orange “best-seller” flag in five different categories! And it has been a thrill to see it show up on a handful of “best books of the year” lists from readers on Instagram.

The Amazon Situation

 

Hey, everyone!

As many of you have heard, it looks like book orders from Amazon are going to be delayed. I know it’s a frustrating—but they are playing a very important role right now, prioritizing essential household items.

It sounds like they are taking an under-promise/over-deliver approach, so the delay might be just a few days depending on where you live in relation to one of their warehouses. I’m sorry this happened, but really do appreciate the pre-orders—and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on the book!

If you haven’t ordered YOU AND ME AND US yet but are planning to—don’t use Amazon right now! They’ve got their hands full and there’s a better way to order and support your local bookstores.

Here’s what you can do:

Order directly from your local bookstore or your local Barnes & Noble. They might have books in stock or they can ship directly from the distributer so there won’t be a delay. (And you won’t be competing with orders of toilet paper or hand sanitizer! )

A lot of bookstores are offering free or discounted shipping, and several still have curb-side-pickup options.

If you don’t have a local bookstore, there’s a great website, www.Bookshop.org that’s super easy to use and benefits indie bookstores. They’ve raised almost $300,000 for bookstores since launching in the last few months. (Fun fact: a few people who pre-ordered from them already have their books!)

If you’re the instant gratification type and don’t want to worry about delivery, you can also consider ordering an ebook or audio book (the narrators did a really great job with the story, I can’t wait for people to hear it!!!)

If you do audio, I highly recommend giving Libro.FM a try. They are just like audible, but your money goes to benefit a local bookstore of your choice. And if you use the promo code SHOPBOOKSTORESNOW, you’ll get two audio books for the price of one—and they are giving the entire price to local bookstores. It doesn’t get better than that!

Thank you again to everyone for your support over the past few years and especially the past few weeks and days. This is just one more hurdle I wasn’t expecting, but I’m trying to make Arnold Palmers out of all these lemons life keeps throwing my way! (If you’ve read the book, you know why it’s not just lemonade!)

All of the links to order are up on my website, www.alisonhammer.com/books.

And in case you haven’t already heard, you are all invited to my virtual launch party next Tuesday, April 7th at 7pm central where I’ll be in conversation with singer-songwriter Stephen Kellogg. There will be stories, a few songs and some giveaways.

RSVP and find more information here.

xo!

Alison

 

BEST BOOKS OF 2019

By the end of this year, I will have read 65 books—and there are at least 65 more on my TBR list that I didn’t get around to. The only way I was able to read that many books was by listening to them—and yes, that counts as reading.

It wasn’t easy to pick my top ten…so I’m including more than ten. But when I looked back my Goodreads Reading Challenge list, these were the ones that particularly stood out:

 

 

 

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid 

If I had to pick one favorite book of the year, this would be it. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend listening to it on audio. Each of the characters are played by different narrators and they do such an amazing job of bringing the story to life.

The book is a fictional biopic of the rise and fall of a band—Daisy Jones & The Six—in the 1970s. The print book is written in an unusual format, as if it’s the transcript of interviews with people in and around the band.

I can’t say enough amazing things about this book—the writing, the story, the characters and the little twist at the end that might have made me gasp out loud. As I said on my Goodreads review of this novel—if I could give it six stars, I would.

 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid 

It appears I might have a new favorite author to add to my list. Told in two timelines, this beautiful book tells us the story of Evelyn Hugo in present day, as she has finally decided to tell her life story, and in ‘real-time’ as she’s living her glamorous, heartbreaking life from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Through Evelyn’s eyes, the book offers a glimpse into the glamour and the less-than-glamorous parts of Old Hollywood. There are moments of love and loss and betrayal. Of guilt and greed, of secrets and surviving. I can’t say enough good things about this book.

In the writing world, so much pressure is given on the first line of a novel—but in this book, it’s the last line that stands out. I don’t want to reveal it because it will give the story away, but it was the most perfect last line of any book I’ve ever read.

 

How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center 

Katherine Center is another new favorite author that I discovered this year. I read ‘How To Walk Away’ first, and I was immediately drawn into the world of Center’s characters. The story had all the things I love in books—family, friendship, secrets and forgiveness. There was a beautiful message at the heart of the book, that if you can’t do something to help yourself, then do something to help someone else.

One of my favorite parts came at the end of the audio book—a short story read by the author. The story is a retelling of one of the first scenes in the book, told from a secondary character’s point of view. In itself, the story was great—but what got me really excited was the narrator of that story is Cassie Hanwell, the heroine of Center’s next book. What a perfect way to hook a reader!

Cassie Hanwell is a badass firefighter who is lucky to work in a fire house with a female captain, and a squad of firefighters who respect her and know she’s one of the best. When Cassie’s life turns upside down and she’s forced to take a new job in a firehouse that believes that women don’t belong in their ranks—she has to fight more than just fires. A remarkable book by one of my new favorite authors!

A COVER REVEAL AND A PLAYLIST

You and Me and Us is about seven months away from officially being out in the world, and things are slowly starting to feel real!

Last week, I revealed the cover, a brief synopsis and my very first blurb on the Great Thoughts Great Readers website. The cover was about two and a half months in the making, and I’m really excited about the way it turned out.

As an advertising creative director, the design of the cover was especially important to me, and my amazing editor was VERY patient with my extensive notes and comments.

We all agreed that the cover should feature a mother and daughter on the beach—that part was easy. Finding the perfect picture, however, was a little more complicated.

We looked at a lot of images. Some didn’t have the right feel for Destin, Florida where the book takes place, one picture had Alexis (the mom) looking too skinny, and in another, CeCe (the 14-year-old daughter) looked too young.

Most of the pictures we looked at also showed the mother and daughter physically close together, sometimes with their arms lovingly wrapped around each other. Since the heart of this story is about a mother and daughter who don’t have a picture perfect relationship, that just didn’t feel quite right.

So I spent a weekend searching for inspiration on Getty images. After looking through several hundred photos, one really stood out:

I got goosebumps when I saw this photo. I loved the distance between the two women, it was like they were alone together. It felt intriguing, like there was clearly a story there.

That said, the picture wasn’t exactly right.