Arkansas crime writer Eli Cranor isn’t slowing down. Starting with “Don’t Know Tough” in 2022, he’s released a novel per year, churning out books at a clip that most authors wouldn’t even dream of. All the while, he’s also been penning a weekly column for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. 

That last effort has resulted in an archive of over 200 short pieces of literary and personal wisdom, and the “best of the best” are being bundled into book form as “Where I’m Writing From,” which comes out on Oct. 3. 

In his newsletter, Cranor described the new release as “part craft book, part memoir. The weekly column has served as my writing journal. All the notes I’ve taken since I first became a ‘novelist’ are found in these pages.”

Here’s a bit more about the book from Cranor’s latest column: 

Whittling that much content down to the 62 columns that made the final cut was not easy, but it sure was fun. I got to relive those trips I took with my kids to “Oyster Island.” I got to experience the highs and the lows of my publishing career. I got to recall some new tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way, lessons that are chronicled in pieces like “Tuesdays with Johnny” and “Deals with God” and “Just a Job.”

There are life lessons in this collection as well. As much as it pained me to reread “Layla’s Last Days” and “Peter’s Passing,” I’m thankful to be able to preserve those memories too.

The good, the bad, and the ugly (remember that “Sterilized” column; it made the cut), that’s what you’ll find in this collection, preserved in one beautiful hardback edition.

You can pre-order “Where I’m Writing From” here or by calling Dog Ear Books (479-219-5123), Cranor’s home bookstore in Russelville. Or you can just wait around until the book’s launch party at Six Bridges Book Festival in Little Rock on Oct. 3.