Issue #14

June 2, 2024

Hi Friends,

The launch of my novel, THE OUTLIER, is taking shape! My first reading will be at Seattle’s Elliott Bay Books on Wednesday, August 7th at 7pm. I’ll be in conversation with the terrific Jamie Harrison, author of The River View and other mysteries.

I’m also excited to share my first review, starred by Publishers Weekly. My favorite line: “Eaves skillfully infuses complex ecological and moral issues into a plot that never forgets to thrill.”

You can preorder here. Stay tuned or check my website for further updates.

MY EMERGENCY WRITING RETREAT

Two weeks ago I was feeling panicky about needing an uninterrupted stretch of time to revise my second novel — no, not the one coming out in August, which is well and truly locked down, but the one for after that. I found the only six-day stretch for God knows how long during which I could realistically wipe my schedule clean.

Where to go? A little jewel in the Salish Sea called Lummi Island. It’s where I got engaged, then married, then lived for a year, then celebrated my 50th birthday.

A friend agreed to lend me her empty cabin — which would have already been rented out, except for a little quirk in the Lummi Island calendar known as dry dock. For three or four weeks a year, the county takes the car ferry out of service for maintenance and replaces it with a foot ferry. Getting on, off, and around the island becomes a logistical feat, so visitors stay away. But dry dock also makes the island vibe even more chill, with hardly any cars on the roads. Did I mention that there’s only one grocery store, one restaurant with limited hours, and no gas station?

Off I went with an enormous suitcase to hold all my food, plus my bike to get around. Two folks I’d just met gave me a ride in their truck from the ferry dock to the cabin. I had a heavenly, unmitigated writing spell. My friend Nicole, who’s writing a play, came for a few days and we shared the workspace in companionable silence. I went on bike rides and walks. I had a glass of rosé with a farmer-fisherman friend, Riley, a longtime island dweller.

And I made huge progress on the second draft of the second novel, polishing, cutting, and filling in gaps I’d left in the first go-around. I came back to Seattle calmer than I’d been in months. Most of the year, I have to fit my writing into mornings and weekends, around all the non-writing parts of the author gig, plus my part-time money job and general life-management. But I need more stretches like last week.

What do you do when you desperately need to write?

Photos from my stay:

FIVE FAVES: A WRITING MANTRA, PROCRASTINATION, BOOK BANS

ALICE MCDERMOTT’S WRITING MANTRA: AH, FUCK ‘EM. Take it from a legend: Ignore the haters, nitpickers, doomsayers, and downer voices inside your head. Just get on with the writing.

COMEDY BREAK. “I’m here tonight because my agent said that this would be good for my career.” Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called Ove, on creative anxiety and procrastination.

HIS BOOK WAS REPEATEDLY BANNED. FIGHTING FOR IT CHANGED HIS LIFE. Fifty years ago, Robert Cormier wrote one of the most-banned books in the United States. He helped middle-school teachers fight to keep it in circulation.

WHY WE’RE TURNING PSYCHIATRIC LABELS INTO IDENTITIES by Manvir Singh. The limits of neuroscience, genetics, and the DSM.

BUDAPEST by Victor Sebestyen. A fascinating and accessible history of a city that’s seen it all: invasions by Ottomans and Habsburgs, the Reformation, two World Wars, fascism, Communism, and more.

LET’S TALK

Write to me at eavesdrop AT elisabetheaves.com. I read every email, and I’ll try to answer every question.

Happy trails,
Elisabeth