Inspiration & Perspiration:
Danielle Trussoni’s Newsletter

September 12th, 2020

“Genius is 1 Percent Inspiration and 99 Percent Perspiration.”
– Thomas Edison

Good morning and Happy Saturday,

It’s been a busy week for me in the writing cave, where I have been buried in my office working on my new novel. It’s an exciting time. I’ve reached the midway point of the book and can see the end in sight, but have quite a long way to go before getting there.

Staying motivated and inspired is hard right now. Anyone who has written a book knows that it is easy to lose focus. I’m tempted to go online or check my social media, or mess around and use my writing time for cleaning out my desk drawers. It is also easy to feel dispirited by what’s happening in the world (the election, for example).

And so I’ve been shutting myself off from going online more and more as I write, and I’ve noticed that my work improves every time I do.

While I’ve been stuck inside, outside of the writing cave things are happening.

My latest New York Times Book Review column came out online on the 5th of September. I recommend four works of nonfiction that fall into the horror genre. Here’s a link to the article and a photo of two the books:

I had digital copies of the other two books I reviewed, which limits my ability to photograph them. I am still having a hard time with digital copies when it comes to reviewing, as I have trouble marking the pages and going back to certain passages I want to quote, but this is where we are headed.

If you’re interested in keeping abreast of the future of books and publishing, or want to have insights about what is going on in publishing now, I recommend you read Jane Friedman’s excellent Hot Sheet newsletter.

She also publishes Electric Speed, which gives authors information about the latest digital tools.

Exciting things are soon to come for Crypto-Z, the audio drama I created with my husband Hadrien Royo. Crypto-Z was selected as part of IFP Week, which is coming up at the end of September. We will be pitching the audio drama to television producers, so you may soon see it on the screen!

Crypto-Z is getting a lot of support from my son Alex (pictured below) who is modeling our Crypto-Z t-shirt.

Haven’t heard Crypto-Z yet? Check it out on Apple Podcasts here. I hope that you have a beautiful weekend, and that you find lots of inspiration to sustain you this week.

Thank you for sharing my week.