Tag, You’re It.

JT Ellison

I’m being lazy today. I know, I know, during a brilliant relaunch week, I should have something magnificent to contribute. But I’ll be honest with you, I’ve just had a really (really, really, really) long week. A great week, but long. Some of the highlights: Finished a solid first draft of book 2, did a read through and got it to my beta readers. Met with my new publicist (okay, I just like saying that because it makes me feel special). And got a HUGE sneak peek at something from the fine folks over at MIRA Books that literally took my breath away. The process is beginning for ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS, and it’s crazy fun.

So please, forgive me for being lazy. I’ll try to get it back in gear next week, and bitch about my woeful lack of Christmas spirit. Maybe I’ll get perky about it before then. In the meantime…

I found this meme on Word Nerd who had been tagged by Raspberry Latte. Since we have some new members here at Murderati, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for all of us to get to know one another a little better. And I thought I’d tag y’all, see if we can’t get a blog roll going. So here goes:



List 5 things you’d like to do someday. The dreams you’d like to realize. The goals you’ve set for yourself.

JT’s List

Have a house in Italy – A place to retreat, to write, to experience another culture. That would also play into another of the top wishes, which is to be able to speak my mother tongue fluently. And would result in another sub-dream…Travel, travel, travel – Experience the Continent, go to Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Romania and not have the fear of being an American in a foreign clime. Which I suppose means we’d have to have some kind of world peace. But I’ve always, always wanted to travel to Nepal.

Read all the books by every crime master – I still feel woefully unread. I’d like to have the full collection of each major writer under my belt – Ellroy, King, Hammett, Chandler, Burke and all the greats.

Spend an afternoon in an F-15, and another on the track at Daytona in a stock car. – Really. I want to go fast, really, really fast, at least once. In addition to NASCAR, I’d like to take a few laps in any open wheel — Indy, Formula 1 or CART. I ain’t picky.

Make a living as a writer – I’d love to be successful enough that hubby could quit his day job and pursue his dreams. He’s been supporting me for so long, I’d like to do the same for him.

Have a Wine Cellar — A real collection of excellent vintages, more than the casual 91 and aboves. Of course, that means I need to learn a lot more about good wine. And have a house big enough to house the bottles.

And I’m going to add in a question.

Name one thing you’d love to do, but you know will NEVER happen:

Sing the National Anthem at a sporting event – Why will this never happen, you ask? I can’t hold a tune in a bucket, but I spent months singing the anthem in the privacy of my bedroom growing up in the hopes that I could train my vocal chords into some semblance of melody. Not gonna happen.

I am tagging
The Man In Black
The Debutante Ball
The Sphere
Anatomy of a Book Deal
Good Girls Kill For Money

And YOU!

Wine of the Week — Since I’m being lazy this week, why don’t y’all give me your picks? I prefer reds, but white is fine too, I’ll pass those suggestions along to Mumsy.

20 thoughts on “Tag, You’re It.”

  1. Tasha Tyska

    Oooooo, JT, thanks for the tag. Some of these are going to be hard to answer.

    You have had an exciting week! And don’t forget that we’re going to have Girl Movie Day next week….

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  4. Alexandra Sokoloff

    1. First goal, this year, no contest: Get this third book right. God help me. Then write the best book I can every year for the rest of my life.

    2. Find my real home – the city and country that I’m meant to live in.

    3. Be a better dancer; learn more styles, including Tango and Shag (Carolina Shag, that is. I already know the British kind.) Also much more performance with the Killer Thriller Band.

    4. Get certified as a diver and explore all those worlds under the surface. And like JT said – travel, travel, travel.

    5. Do my part to make our contemporary writing community as wild and scandalous and ground-breaking and productive and complicated and fascinating as some of the great writers’ circles of the past.

    (Full disclosure: some of these aren’t my top goals, not by a long shot. Funny thing about dreams – some you just don’t want to talk about.)

    6. One thing I’d like to do that I KNOW will never happen… make this my last lifetime. Hah! One of my goals SHOULD be: a hell of a lot more yoga.

    (If we ALL add questions, this tag will become more daunting that it already is, so I pass!)

    Reply ↓
  6. Aldo

    Not any particular order:1. finish my PhD.2. get all my kids through college (6 of them – 2 in progress)3. Our Italian villa4. Dedicate one room of the house to my personal library/office to house all my first editions (6,000+ and growing)5. Retire early – how about 50?

    THe one thing I would love, but not sure it will or would happen – publish a book

    Reply ↓
  7. J. F. Margos

    I like this question J.T. 🙂

    Not in order of preference:

    1. Write full-time and ditch this day job. **sigh**2. Learn to speak Italian and French.3. Take performance driving courses at the Bob Bondurant track and school in Arizona. Zoom-zoom, baby!4. Get a PhD in Art History from UT.5. Buy a small ranch in the hill country outside Austin – just a horse ranch – something less than 200 acres. 🙂

    Reply ↓
  9. JT Ellison

    JF, your website it too cool. The book looks great. I hear you about the list. Better onesself is always a great goal.

    Aldo, these are great! Six kids? Wow!

    I’m seeing an Italian theme emerge. Molto bene!

    Alex, you’re a darling. You are absolutely shaking the community up, all for the better.

    Brett, no excuses. I expect to see answers on your blog next week.

    Tasha, you can answer next week. Your cocktail party today is too time consuming for dreams. http://www.good-girls-kill.com/Ken Bruen — yum!

    Reply ↓
  11. Elaine Flinn

    Five things to do?(1)Lose twenty pounds(2)Develop a sense of humor(3)Cook with Emeril(4)Figure out Typepad when it jerks me around(5)Drink the four beers Guyot still owes me

    Dreams to realize?(1)A day when there is no country at war(2)Not fall over after I drink the four beers(3)Visit Genoa (the Italian connection again!) – the home of my parents.(4)Find time to write the book of my heart(5)Find my recipe for ravoli

    Goals?Hell – I’m not greedy – just hanging around in good health for a couple of more decades would be enough.

    Okay-I lied. I am greedy. One more: Keeping On The Bubble interesting.

    Reply ↓
  12. Louise Ure

    I’m a pretty happy duck these days, so I don’t have a formal list of unmet goals.

    But there’s one thing I’d have to put on the list: visit Iraq in peacetime.

    I just don’t know whether to put it on the list of aspirations or the list of things that are never going to happen.

    Reply ↓
  13. pari noskin taichert

    5 things to do? (no particular order)

    1. Write at least two superb books within the next twelve months.2. Find the magic balance between marketing, writing, parenting and spousing.3. Earn my black belt in Tae Kwon Do (actually, I’d like to get to at least a second degree).4. Figure out a way to declutter my office/house/yard etc and keep all of them that way, period.5. Make sure my kids eat more veggies and fruits.

    Five dreams (no particular order)

    1. Make my living as a novelist.2. Buy a second home on the French Cote D’Azure; I’m thinking somewhere near Antibes.3. Do either a beer/stout or scotch walking (or stumbling) tour of either Ireland or Scotland.4. Reorganize the Albuquerque Public School system to give children here the best education in the country.5. Eradicate drunken driving in New Mexico.

    Goals:1. To live long enough to meet and converse about life with my grandchildren.2. To leave this world a better place through living a good life.

    Thanks for the introspection break here, J.T.

    Reply ↓
  14. JT Ellison

    I hope I didn’t give anyone heartburn over this. I realized after I posted that it was cathartic for me, but maybe not for others.But it has been fascinating to see the goals, the hopes and dreams. Y’all are awesome for playing.

    Reply ↓
  15. Mike MacLean

    Okay, I’m late to the party but God help me I do love the lists.

    1. Live a long, healthy, happy life with my wife and…wait for it…baby girl who is on the way.

    2. Make a living writing.

    3. Travel (Ireland, Italy, Scotland a return trip to Paris, this time with my wife so she no longer gives me sad looks when I mention the city of lights).

    4. Open a little bookshop/small press in an old Victorian near downtown Tempe, walking distance to Casey Moore’s. http://www.virtual-showcase.com/llc/casey_moore's/casey's.html

    5. Have a little getaway in New Orleans’s French Quarter (If it remains above water)

    Reply ↓

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