Jessica Hamilton

First full moon of 2024 and it’s been too overcast here to see it. Hope that’s not foreshadowing on things to come 😬
I have felt it though, pretty intense stuff going on out there.
As a stand in I took photos of lights in trees, looking like many moons instead.
Happy full 🐺moon! I’m hoping you’re able to catch a glimpse wherever you are.

Then there were the less obvious holiday moments when the light, or the shadows or a reflection or the stillness caught my attention amidst the busyness of it all. I’m hoping for more of those moments in 2024.

Last full moon of 2023. Happy Cold Moon! It’s an especially special one this year as it was seen from a balcony in Toronto while celebrating Christmas with my family.

It was a festive time! There were brother in laws wearing ascots, multiple Jessicas, friends with years of history and fancy shoes.

I’m really looking forward to this! Montreal is one of my favourite Canadian cities and the line up for this festival is 🔥
So many writers that I can’t wait to meet in person! You should definitely join us. Early bird tickets now available
May 24/25, 2024, see you there! 🤗

You’re never too old for gummi bears on your cake.

Happy full 🦫 moon! This one put on quite the show, even the snow clouds couldn’t get in her way. ❄️

November vibes. Embracing the darkness, the chill in the air, the whipping wind, the stripped down tree branches. Inspired by the sense of mystery lurking in the many shadows. I love October’s spooky fun, but I love the profundity of November’s chills even more.

When the writing comes it feels like the brain is blooming. I’ve spent this whole weekend writing after a week of not writing, sure I’d lost the thread of this novel for good. I even went back to old manuscripts wondering if I should give them another go. I tried a POV change, a tense change and more, but it was one minor adjustment that was the answer and got me back in that chair writing.
It’s a torturous endeavour but when it’s good there’s nothing quite like it. 🌹

The moon made for some interesting photo taking last night.

We had me as an AI version of me, a Prince Eric from the little mermaid (last costume left at Walmart), a Wednesday Adams and Lurch, a horse doctor (?), a bat and cat burglar, a moth to a flame and a butterfly, a Star Wars guy, Axl and Slash, Top Gun Tom Cruise and a di****ad aka Rob. It was an eclectic bunch of costumes which is always my favourite.

It’s an incredibly surreal moment when an author you admire not only takes the time to read your book but also offers their thoughts. Thank you to , it means the world! Full quote below 👇

“Sommerville captures the bone-deep fears of new motherhood with raw and poignant accuracy. [She uses] the landscape of a mother’s sleepless nights and pressure for perfection coupled with a strained marriage and her own dysfunctional family past to create an edge of your seat thriller in which everyone is a threat to her child, possibly even, herself.” — Jessica Hamilton author of What You Never Knew & Don’t You Dare

Sometimes a book just hits the exact right spot and this was one of those books. It is my favourite novel yet. I loved the character Sally Diamond and I found her story captivating. The dual POV of her and the brother she didn’t know she had, was so well done. I highly recommend it but make sure you have lots of reading time as you’ll find it hard to put this one down.

I thought this book post deserved some red lipstick and a rose covered dress. You’ll understand once you read it. I’m a huge fan of . Bunny is one of my favourite novels ever, hence the bunny in this photo, and her latest novel, Rouge, did not disappoint. A magical, yet dark novel, with a hilarious satirical take on society’s obsession with beauty products and regimes, coupled with dysfunctional family dynamics and the epidemic of never feeling like you’re enough. I could say even more but I won’t so just go buy a copy!

Weekend Bits:
1. Jackalope sighting
2. A Jessica sandwich with a birthday girl middle.
3. Stopping to smell the dying roses through a rainy car window.
4. Brunch.
5. Playing with mirrors on the way to the restaurant washroom in the haunty basement hoping to capture some ghostly figures.

It was a good one! 👌

I am never not thankful for the people in these photos, but a designated weekend to gather together and eat while being thankful is a pretty good deal.

I love hanging out with these women on any given night but a book club night, with a full moon, and Indian food takeout makes for a pretty special gathering.

My moon views from this week. Happy full Harvest moon! Last super moon of the year, soak it up.

Anyone else think a person’s Pinterest feed provides a glimpse into their soul? Here’s a current glimpse into mine-new laundry room ideas, fall wardrobe, demons, spirits and witches. 🤷‍♀️
What’s your Pinterest feed look like?

The older I get the more I appreciate those friends who are reflections of my youth. For their staying power, the shared history, the way they remind me of my 17 year old, or 23 year old, or 29 year old self. At 48 it’s easy to forget those versions ever existed. Friday night it was high school friends, Saturday it was university/my twenties in Toronto friends. Ironically, or not, I’m not feeling so youthful today after the fun, up late weekend that it was 🥱

I reached forty thousand words on my latest novel yesterday, about half way. A reason to celebrate definitely, but truth is, I thought I’d be much further along by now. I thought I’d be done the first draft by the end of this month in fact but this novel is an entirely new beast for me. Taking turns I didn’t see coming, relationship dynamics developing that I hadn’t planned for and logistics that make my head hurt. At times I feel as though I’ve fallen down some quantum rabbit hole in my writing, and not necessarily in a good way. I’m constantly asking myself, is this even interesting to anyone other than me, does it make any sense, where is it going? I know many writers go through similar times in the writing process which is why I’m posting about it. Writing is a solitary pursuit so it’s always nice to know, you’re not alone, you’re not the only one and there will be an escape from the rabbit hole. Here’s hoping the next forty thousand words flow like the river in this photo, and not like me navigating my way through it on slippery rocks.
Photo courtesy of .crichton

The Weekend

1. First ever bathroom selfie: foggy mirror is my new favourite filter.
2. Hallucination inducing birthday party pinwheels.
3. My arm in eighties mode.
4. Some posers.
5. Blue jays fan down.
6. Dance party induced by non-stop eighties hits.
7. Late night cat sighting.

“light is an invitation to happiness”

Mary Oliver

Eleven years ago my sister in laws and I came up with a Labour Day cottage ritual of making, and afternoon drinking, “the uptight cougar smoothies (alcohol is involved)”. Read into the name what you will.
Life’s gotten in the way for many labour days but we’re back today, going strong with it, older, wiser, and pretty darn happy with life. Happy Labour Day to all! 🍸

Happy full Blue moon! It’s a super one indeed, it’s light cutting right through the trees and lighting up the sky. What a magical way to wind down the summer!

I think this is one of the best podcasts about writing out there so it was a true honour to get to be a part of it. Have a listen!
• *t_about_writing
It’s Thursday! And you know what that means: we have a new episode up!

Today, Bianca, Carly, and CeCe chat with Jessica Hamilton, author of Don’t You Dare, while also critiquing listeners' query letters. They discuss Jessica's experience with going on submission and publishing during the start of Covid; examples of a successful depiction of anxiety in submission pages; the importance of starting a novel at the beginning, and not immediately jumping to flashbacks; plausible details in pages and breaking rules with intentionality; writing a so-called unlikeable protagonist; and receiving negative feedback from readers.
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More information about Jessica can be found at: https://www.jessicahamilton.org/
She's also on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jhamiltonwrites/

I’m a big fan of writing workshops. Spending a time talking writing with other writers, learning from others, workshopping your own writing-all good things! If you are too, join me on August 26th for my half day workshop on creating suspense in a thriller novel. Hosted by in beautiful Bracebridge.

My favourite part of the first draft is possibility. The story can be anything, go anywhere. I can’t stop thinking about it and I see mystery, magic and possibility all around me. It’s a bubble of creativity, when inspiration grows from even the most mundane of moments if you’re looking for it.