What do you do when something so heartbreaking happens that it takes you years to process exactly what you went through? If you’re NYT author J.T. Ellison, you put it in a thriller novel. This week, Emily joins J.T. (who’s one of Emily’s favorite authors!) for a conversation around a topic that links them both: infertility. J.T. vulnerably shares about her own miscarriages, about transmitting pain into your work, why marriages has room for secrets but not lies, about the joys and pitfalls of living in Nashville, and just how she wove a plotline about her infertility experience into a brand-new thriller novel called It’s One of Us.
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Thought-Provoking Quotes
“I have so many characters that present themselves to me and want their stories told. People are like, ‘How do you even keep them all straight?’ I'm like, ‘Well, you keep your friends straight.’” – J.T. Ellison
“You just have to keep flexing the muscle. Like, you just have to keep putting your butt in the seat and writing words whether they're terrible or they're great, like you have to. It's like working out at the gym. You have to keep working that muscle.” – Emily Ley, on writing
“I find those types of stories [with multiple points of view] so fascinating. As a reader, I feel like you’re constantly making up your mind of, What do I think about this? Or are they telling the truth? Or do some of these pieces fit together and some don't?” – Emily Ley
“There’s a great line from Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, that ‘Marriage has room for secrets, but not lies.’” – J.T. Ellison
“We have to satisfy that basic biological urge of fight and flight with something, and I think that's why we like scary movies and thrillers. I think we also like true crime and thrillers because there is a sense of justice. There's a sense of a crime being solved, of reason put back into the world, and the world is put back into balance. I think it's a combination of those two things.” – J.T. Ellison, on why we enjoy thrillers
*In lieu of a Blessing and Simplicity Tip, this week, go devour a book you’ll love! Maybe you’ll enjoy this one:
Resources, Links, Mentions from This Episode
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[website] jtellison.com
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[IG handle] @thrillerchick
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[author] Ruth Ware
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[author] Daniel Silva
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[author] John Connolly
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[book] Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
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[audiobook narrator] Julia Whelan
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[TV show] The White Lotus
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