Aurelia 2 is getting a stable release in 2026.

We know you have heard variations of this before. We also know Aurelia 2 has been in beta for longer than anyone expected. But 2025 changed things, and we are entering 2026 with more momentum than we have had in years.

The Long Beta

Let’s be direct about it: the beta took too long. A small team, personnel changes, personal challenges some core team members faced, a global pandemic, and structural shifts within the project all contributed to setbacks we did not anticipate. We have admittedly been Duke Nukem Forevering this thing. The difference is we never stopped shipping, and 2025 proved that.

We’re writing about the bestselling thriller author, Harlan Coben. In this post, we feature Harlan Coben on writing suspense.

Harlan Coben was born on the 4th of January 1962.

He is an American author of mystery novels and thrillers. Coben has written 35 novels and has 90 million books in print. His books are published in 46 languages around the globe. He is also the creator and executive producer of global hit TV shows including Fool Me Once, The Stranger, Missing You, Run Away, and Lazarus, with many more in the works.

Harlan Coben has mastered the art of keeping people turning the page or keeping them glued to the screen. We can’t wait to see what happens next.

The author has a perfect formula that combines thrilling suspense with everyday life made extraordinary. A typical Harlan Coben novel has a seemingly idyllic suburban backdrop, a relentlessly gripping storyline, and plot twists and endings you never see coming. His characters are usually ordinary people protecting who and what they love.

In this post, we’re sharing quotes from Harlan Coben on writing suspense and plot twists.

Harlan Coben On Writing Suspense

1. ‘Elmore Leonard says, ‘I try to cut out all the parts you’d normally skip.’ That may be the best piece of writing advice given by anybody ever. I don’t write that way just the first pages. I try writing that way the whole time. I really try to grab you on the first sentence and hold your attention all the way through. It doesn’t slow down after those first pages. It may even pick up steam. Especially towards the end, you’re just whipping through the pages. That’s what I hope to do.’ (Pop Culture Classics)
2. ‘Character-building is an organic process for me. It just sort of happens. I kind of come up with an idea and I wonder who’s going to tell it. And that character emerges.’ (Pop Culture Classics)
3. ‘Nothing about the process is much fun. There’s an old saying, ‘I don’t like writing… I like having written.’ I think that applies to me. I work pretty hard on the twists. I take a great deal of pride in making sure that, even in today’s world, where you’ve seen every kind of twist, you still are going to be fooled by what happened and who did it’ (Pop Culture Classics)
4. ‘By now, I can sort of see and make sure I don’t go in the direction that’s expected. Or I’ll occasionally go in a direction that’s expected, because that’s unexpected. But it’s nothing you can force. Usually the characters have to take you there. And similar to the character development, it’s also an organic process. There are times I’ll think of a twist way ahead of time, but, by the time I get there, that twist just feels like a twist, it doesn’t feel like a reasonable outcome of what’s been going on.’ (Pop Culture Classics)
5. ‘Some people would actually classify [my books] more as love stories than thriller. I like that combination. A writer can make your pulse pound with a fast-moving plot, but if you don’t really care about the characters, if you aren’t really interested in what’s at stake for them, it’s not going to work. And what’s a greater sort of thing than a possible lost love?’ (Pop Culture Classics)
6. ‘I’m very big on loss, very big on redemption. I’m big on missing people. Big on friendship. I’m big on family. This one is also about identity and our identity of ourselves, what secrets and lies we all keep, from ourselves and from others.’ (Pop Culture Classics)
7. ‘I guess to the public, the mystery has more of an Agatha Christie, locked-door, solving-the-case connotation, while a thriller is more action-packed. In both cases—and really in the case of any writing, I think—it should more be about suspense, about making people want to read the next word, the next sentence, the next paragraph and the next page, and I think probably thriller is the purest form of that.’ (Writer’s Digest)
8. ‘I want it to be compulsive reading. So on every page, every paragraph, every sentence, every word, I ask myself, “Is this compelling? Is this gripping? Is this moving the story forward?” And if it’s not, I have to find a way to change it. It doesn’t mean you can’t have the larger issues, or setting or descriptions, but even those have to be done in a way that is compelling. No word should be wasted.’ (Writer’s Digest)
9. ‘It’s really more interesting, I think, to write about gray characters than it is to write about black and white. Even the so-called villain: How bad was he or she? I prefer it to be the kind of evil you could almost see yourself doing if you were put in that circumstance.’ (Writer’s Digest)
10. ‘And I love the twist. I love to fool you once, I love to fool you twice, and on the very last page, quite often—very last paragraph sometimes—I like to just play with your perception one more time in a way that makes everything that came before just a little bit different. I love when that happens to me as a reader, so I love to do it as a writer.’ (Writer’s Digest)
11. ‘None of my books are ever just about thrills, or it won’t work. You can have the most expensive car in the world, but if there’s no gasoline, it’s not going to go anyplace. So there is usually a theme, and you do need that character that people care about, that’s real to them. Otherwise, I could give you the greatest twist in the world, but if you don’t care about the characters, you’re not going to follow it.’ (Writer’s Digest)
12. ‘I do think it helps to know the ending—that final twist that I hope you find gut-wrenching and shocking—before I start. Then it becomes more a question of telling your story and letting the narrative work organically.’ (Crime Reads)
13. ‘I think it’s more compelling to write about people more like you and me, people who are trying to do right but wrong still seems to find them.’ (Crime Reads)

Follow Harlan Coben on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram.

Source for image: Author’s Press Room

by Amanda Patterson

If you enjoyed this post, you will love:

1. Brandon Sanderson’s 3 Rules For Magic
2. 10 Bits Of Writing Advice From Colson Whitehead
3. 9 Bits Of Writing Advice From Naomi Alderman
4. 9 Bits Of Writing Advice From Guillermo del Toro
5. Douglas Adams On The Difficulties Of Writing
6. 6 Bits Of Writing Advice From Richard Osman
7. 5 Bits Of Writing Advice From Kathy Reichs
8. Jennifer McMahon’s Top Writing Tips
9. 5 Bits Of Writing Advice From Arthur Hailey
10. Writing Advice From The World’s Most Famous Authors

Top Tip: Find out more about our workbooks and online courses in our shop.

The post Harlan Coben On Writing Suspense appeared first on Writers Write.

Imagine waking up to a world not only where robots are your coworkers but might be doing a better job than you. On December 12, 2025, a seismic shift occurred in the field of artificial intelligence; OpenAI released GPT 5.2 and redefined the role of AI in professional environments. The bombshell? AI systems can now perform 74% of tasks, previously undertaken by human experts with decades of experience, either on par or better than us. This is not just a pivotal moment; it’s a proclamation that the age of AI dominance in the workplace has arrived.

I’ve been keenly observing and sometimes speculating about the moment when AI would shift from being just an assistant to standing center stage. It seems that moment just crashed through our doors. Let me explain the magnitude of this transformation and what it means for us in the professional sphere.

This video is from Julia McCoy.

The latest AI model, GPT 5.2, has shattered previous benchmarks, leaping from a 48% parity rate with human experts to a staggering 74% in just a few months. This isn’t about beating humans at chess or Go. We’re talking about AI performing complex, professional tasks — from financial analysis and architectural design to legal research and healthcare diagnostics — better than seasoned professionals.

What’s astonishing is how AI achieves this. In a recent test, I gave GPT 5.2 a complex task: to design a fully functional 3D city destruction game. It pondered for over 55 minutes and delivered a product complete with detailed graphics, physics, and interactive gameplay, something that would take a human developer significantly longer. This leap in capability comes with another breakthrough in affordability. The cost to deploy this form of AI has plummeted by 390 times in just one year!

This massive improvement in cost-efficiency and performance isn’t just a technical win; it’s a market disruptor. AI is no longer just an economical choice; it’s becoming an economically indispensable choice. The ‘Intelligence Curve’ in AI development illustrates a crucial shift: we are seeing an upward and rightward trajectory in both the capability and affordability of AI models. Tasks that once required the priciest, slowest AIs are now being managed by mid-tier options.

Let’s consider the workplace dynamics this could alter. Traditionally, you might hire a novice for basic tasks and an expert for complex problems. Soon, a less expensive AI could handle routine tasks, and a pricier, more capable AI might take over jobs requiring deep expertise, sidelining both junior and senior roles.

There are two distinct reactions in the professional world right now towards this tidal wave of technological change. One group is leveraging AI to redefine their workflow, enhance their productivity, and maintain their competitiveness. Then there’s the group that dismisses the prowess of AI, clinging to the belief that true expertise cannot be automated. The gap between these groups is widening, and soon it may become a gulf, marking the deciders of career success and obsolescence.

I’m choosing to be a first mover, embracing these tools to not only stay relevant but to lead. At First Movers, we’re building systems and training programs geared directly for this AI-first future. This isn’t just adaptation; it’s a complete transformation in how we think about and interact with technology in our work.

Let me level with you. This change can be daunting. The velocity at which AI is evolving can make the phenomenal seem normal overnight. But here’s the crux — this isn’t about AI versus humans. It’s about humans leveraging AI. The professionals who integrate AI into their strategies, who use these tools to maximize their capabilities, are the ones who will lead tomorrow.

The upcoming years are crucial. They will likely determine who thrives and who gets left behind in this rapid evolution of AI. This isn’t the time for complacency; it’s the moment to dive deep, understand these changes, and position yourself at the forefront of this new technological era.

A Tale of Two Worlds

I continue to support clients who use SSIS for enterprise data engineering. Some of the enterprises are small-ish by comparison. Others are huge. Some friends also continue to support these clients and clients like them. That’s World 1.

World 2 is social media. I have some friends on social media. Many I know IRL (in real life). Most, though? Most are acquaintances. Most of my interactions on social media are with people I don’t really know or don’t know that well. Conversely, many of them – of you – don’t know me that well, either. I touched on this in a recent newsletter / post titled 2025: A Number Containing Two 2’s, One 5, and a 0.

Some Dissonance

• Although SSIS is older than many data engineering platforms, making it mature, it has held up well
• SSIS remains a viable enterprise data engineering platform, even now in 2026
• SSIS has strengths other, newer platforms lack; such as extensibility and a thriving third-party controls market

Many of the World 2 individuals with whom I interact have experience developing, supporting, and maintaining SSIS-base enterprise data engineering. Some of them have more experience, some less. I rarely know what experiences led them to perform enterprise data engineering or what led them to form the beliefs they hold about SSIS. I’ve stated many times over the years: “People believe what they believe for a reason.” Please hear me. I believe many have good reasons for disagreeing with me and my World 1 peers. You may be surprised to learn that, whenever World 2 people share their reason for disagreeing with me (and my World 1 peers), I most often agree with them, at least in principle.

Sometimes, I’m able to share something of which they’re unaware – some best practice or design pattern or, occasionally, an anti-pattern.

An Early Exchange

Advice: try to avoid writing more than one book at the same time.

If memory also serves, one of this gifted software developer’s complaints was about source control. In that first book, I authored two chapters. And durned if one of them wasn’t about using source control with SSIS. It’s prudent to pause here long enough to disclaim that SSIS never played well with many concepts included in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). And that not-playing-well largely holds to this day.

I can hear some of you thinking, “In what ways does SSIS not play well with ALM, Andy?” That’s a great question. I’m glad you asked! You’re not the first person to ask, either. In fact, I was inspired to write this newsletter at this time because a dear friend and brother from another mother reached out to me to discuss a couple of SSIS’ quirks that interfere with practicing ALM in an enterprise that employs SSIS for enterprise data engineering.

I went back and forth with the gifted software gentleman, arguing that I agreed with a few of his points. I believe he took offense when I shared that I taught SSIS courses and that every. single. one. of my students knew how to manage the majority of the items he hated about SSIS. I went on to point out that I was working my way up to becoming a n00b in the software platform in which he specialized. I don’t think that part bothered him. Learning more from a master in that language was, in fact, why I followed him on social media to start with. I think what bugged him was when I stated that I would never write a list of things I hated about his platform of expertise unless and until I felt I knew said platform well enough. I may have also gone on to imply that not knowing 8 of 10 things all my students knew may qualify him as not knowing enough to hate them… memory fails me at this juncture.

I remember thinking that, though, and I know the Bible teaches a man is as he thinks in his heart. So, busted.

A More Recent Exchange

During the back and forth, he made several statements:

• SSIS is too old and outdated
• He didn’t understand why SSIS wasn’t deprecated
• He’d never actually deployed an SSIS package to Production. He was basing his opinion on what a friend who had deployed SSIS to Production told him

If memory serves, I covered why I disagreed with his opinion of SSIS, and with his stated reasons for his beliefs. My arguments (in brief) are:

• COBOL is older and touches many (if not most) of the financial transactions on Earth
• Years ago, I had a conversation with THE Buck Woody in which I asked Mr. Woody, “If shrinking a SQL Server database is so horrible, why does Microsoft still support the functionality in SQL Server?” I’ll never forget Buck’s response: “Because sometimes shrinking the database is the only viable option.”
• (I didn’t respond to this point. This is where I decided to stop investing time.)

The overwhelming majority of the World 2 people I interact with aren’t this… animated. Most have at least some idea how data engineering – and data engineering with SSIS – works.

So, It’s 2026…

• “We have thousands of SSIS packages and no reliable way to automate migration to a different platform with confidence all our use cases will be covered”
• “SSIS Just Works and remains supported by Microsoft; why should we change?”
• “We do not trust the cloud”
• “Migrating to the cloud will not save us money”

There are more use cases (don’t get me started on ‘just migrate the SSISDB database to the cloud’… even though that’s sometimes viable), but this newsletter is long enough already.

If you read those four use cases and balked, please leave a comment and share why. I know there are solutions out there for some of my clients who would like to migrate away from SSIS. I’m being serious here. Please share your thoughts about solutions for them (and others).

For some of my clients interested in migrating away from SSIS, rewriting their enterprise data engineering manually is not an attractive or inexpensive proposition. And, in my opinion, those previous bullets make the most sense for at least some of them.

What I’m Doing About It

I built Data Integration Lifecycle Management Suite. DILM Suite was built to support the SSIS lifecycle. Did I solve all the issues? Did I address all the SSIS quirks? No and no. I addressed many of them, though, and Kent Bradshaw and I continue to develop tools and utilities to address more.

In 2026…

“When will they be done, Andy?”
“They’ll be done when they pass all my tests.”

I’m also going to write more about SSIS.

And there’s stuff I’m not prepared to share at the moment…

A Request

“Leadership judgment isn’t just personal—it’s designed by the system of voices you choose to hear.”
— JD Meier

High-impact leaders don’t rely on instinct alone.

They design the system that shapes their judgment.

This idea starts with The First 90 Days.

Michael Watkins is very explicit about this:
no leader succeeds alone.

The first 90 days aren’t just about learning the role or building relationships.

They’re about designing the right advice-and-counsel system—so your decisions are informed, grounded, and resilient under pressure.

Watkins identifies four essential roles in an effective advice network. In practice, high-performing leaders expand this into a broader system that supports not just organizational learning—but judgment under pressure.

Below is the full system, including Watkins’ core four and the extensions experienced leaders consistently rely on.

The 7 Types of People You Need in Your Advice & Counsel Network

1. Boss / Key Stakeholder

Role: Direction-setter and success judge

What they give you:

• Definition of success

• Non-negotiables

• Political context you won’t see

How to use them well:

• Clarify expectations early and often

• Test priorities—don’t assume them

• Ask: “If I do only three things well in the next 90 days, what should they be?”

2. Cultural Interpreters

Role: Decode how things really work

What they give you:

• Unwritten rules

• Sacred cows

• Landmines to avoid

How to use them well:

• Ask: “Why did that fail?” and “Who really decides?”

• Listen for patterns, not opinions

• Never quote them by name

3. Technical / Domain Experts

Role: Reality check on what’s possible

What they give you:

• Constraints

• System logic

• Feasibility signals

How to use them well:

• Separate facts from preferences

• Ask: “What would break if we did X?”

• Use them to stress-test ideas—not to design the vision

4. Internal Historians

Role: Institutional memory

What they give you:

• Why past initiatives failed

• What’s been tried before

• Emotional residue from old decisions

How to use them well:

• Ask: “What would make people cynical about this?”

• Identify patterns of resistance early

• Avoid triggering “we’ve seen this movie before”

The Expanded System: What High-Impact Leaders Add

Watkins’ four roles help you understand the system.
The next three help you think clearly inside it.

5. External Benchmarkers

Role: Outside perspective and standards

What they give you:

• What “good” looks like elsewhere

• Fresh frames

• Non-insider assumptions

How to use them well:

• Use selectively (don’t overwhelm insiders)

• Translate—don’t transplant

• Ask: “What would surprise this organization?”

6. Truth-Tellers / Dissenters

Role: Prevent blind spots

What they give you:

• Honest feedback

• Early warning signals

• Alternative interpretations

How to use them well:

• Protect them explicitly

• Ask: “What am I missing?”

• Reward candor with action—not defensiveness

7. Personal Sounding Board

Role: Decision clarity under pressure

What they give you:

• Emotional regulation

• Perspective

• Pattern recognition

How to use them well:

• Keep them outside the reporting line

• Use them before big calls, not after

• Ask framing questions—not “What should I do?”

The Real Insight from The First 90 Days

High-impact leaders don’t just build relationships.
They design an advice system.

Most leaders struggle because:

• They rely on one type of input

• They confuse loyalty with truth

• They wait too long to build the network

The strongest leaders:

• Build this network in parallel during the first 30–60 days

• Know who to go to—for what

• Never over-index on a single voice

This isn’t about consensus.
It’s about decision quality.

One Simple Self-Check

Ask yourself:

• Who helps me understand the system?

• Who helps me challenge my thinking?

• Who helps me stay grounded under pressure?

If you can’t name at least one person for each,
you’re operating with hidden risk.

How to Use This Today (15–30 Minutes)

You don’t need to build this perfectly.
You just need to make it explicit.

Step 1: Do a Fast Network Audit (5 minutes)

Write down the names of people you currently rely on for advice.

Then tag each one:

• Boss / Key Stakeholder

• Cultural Interpreter

• Domain Expert

• Internal Historian

• External Benchmarker

• Truth-Teller

• Personal Sounding Board

Insight:
If most names fall into one or two categories, your judgment is being shaped by a narrow slice of reality.

Step 2: Identify the Gaps (5 minutes)

Circle any category where you have no one or only weak access.

Those gaps represent decision risk, not relationship gaps.

Ask:

• Where am I flying blind?

• Where am I overconfident?

• Where am I insulated from dissent?

Step 3: Activate One Conversation This Week (5 minutes)

Pick one missing role and schedule one intentional conversation.

Use a single, well-framed question:

• “What would break if we did this?”

• “What’s the story here that I don’t see?”

• “What’s the unpopular but important view?”

You’re not building the whole network—just strengthening the weakest link.

Step 4: Use the Network Before the Decision (Not After) (5 minutes)

The biggest mistake leaders make is seeking advice after they’ve emotionally committed.

Before your next major call, ask:

• Who should I consult for facts?

• Who should I consult for context?

• Who should I consult for judgment?

Then stop. Decide. Move.

Step 5: Re-check at 30, 60, and 90 Days (5 minutes)

Your advice system should evolve as your role evolves.

At each checkpoint, ask:

• Am I still hearing dissent?

• Am I getting faster—or just louder?

• Do I have clarity, or just activity?

If the answers drift, update the system.

Final Thought

Strong leaders don’t rely on instinct alone.
They design the conditions that make good judgment more likely.

Your advice network is one of those conditions.

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The post The 7 Types of People You Need in Your Advice Network appeared first on JD Meier.