It’s back to writing for me today. I wrote some while I was at Lori Foster’s Reader Author Get Together and it was more than I had expected to write, but not enough for what I was working on…
So, what’s playing today? Breaking Benjamin. I swear if they don’t come back soon, or at Benjamin Burnley, I’m just gonna cry. He has the most incredible voice and lyrics…
Along with Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace is playing for me as well…
There’s a particular mood I’m going for in what I’m writing today. Dark, painful, screaming… And I’d best get to it!
I’ll be working on several WIPs this week. Trying to finish two and working on something new, so sorta new.
I don’t have contracts on books that aren’t written so I tend to work on more than one, trying to get ahead a little bit and ease the time I’ll have to wait for word back from editors. I do have my own deadlines, but I have a very hard time kicking my own ass into keeping them.
And as discussed before, music plays a huge part in my writing and one of the ways I’m able to switch between WIPs like I am, is largely because of the music I listen to for each one and the mood the different genres can put me in.
The books for this week are Slide Down On Me, The Cupcake Cowboy (y’all will be getting more information on him soon), and Wait For Me… Music selections for the really sexed up stories I write are easier sometimes. Hard rockin’, sexed up music is what I go for… There’s also a lot of 80’s glam mixed in with those.
To get me in the mood for writing on The Cupcake Cowboy, I listen to some Kip Moore, first thing…
Slide Down On Me requires a different sound… I know many people don’t like Nickelback but they have incredibly suggestive and not at all subtle lyrics that really work for some of the feelings I’m trying to evoke between my characters…
Wait For Me is coming soon to an e-tailer near your mouse/phone/tablet/e-reader. I, along with the editor, are trying to work out some of the kinks in the storyline. But it has a deeply emotional feel to it and it required something a little different as well, and something darker…
It’s hard for me to embrace some of the newer music though I constantly scour for the feelings I’m looking for, the lyrics I can relate to or that a character I would write could relate to. But I’m always on the look-out… I’m always listening for something that captures me.
What is your go to music for sex? For pain? For happiness?
Yeah, I know. Pick your jaw up off the floor. This is the 4th day in a row for me blogging? I know I’m just as surprised as you, but hey, I’m trying.
So yeah, let’s talk music. I’m all over the place. Classical to screamin’ metal. I’m very particular and yet I’m not. I like the familiar, but I’ll try something new on and every now and then I’ll find something that doesn’t give me a headache.
I started going to live concerts when I was…young. 10 years old or so… I was hooked. I’ve been to every kind of show you could imagine. I’ve seen world renowned classical and jazz and gospel stars to the baddest bad boys of 80’s glam rock and everything in between. Some I’ve seen more than once, some I’d kill to see again.
Music plays a huge part in my writing, too. Both have been a part of me since I was a kid. I didn’t attend a normal high school but rather an arts high school and in the midst of us were the guys in local bands…long hair, smoking, leather, guitars, gravel laden voices, bad reputations. Oh. My. God. Though that was more than 20 years ago, I’m still obsessed with the bad ones, the naughty ones, the nothing but trouble on their minds ones.
And I saw enough concerts when RATT, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella, Kiss, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Guns ‘N Roses, Skid Row, etc… from the ages of 14 to 18 that… Yeah, I my head was filled with naughty, sex, hard rockin’ tattooed guys that… I never quite got over it.
So when I write, the music has to be there. And I’ve written books listening to different types of music. Usually one type or one particular artist or one particular album/song plays over and over until the book is finished. Music is also how I can write on multiple books at a time. Different genres of music put different ideas in my head and make me feel different emotions. I hope, when the books are done, that those pieces and parts have come together well.
For these latest releases, the most recent to the one coming at the end of the week, different music was listened to during the writing of…
Keep It Together was written with the help of the music by Miranda Lambert, primarily her latest album, Four the Record and the song, Mama’s Broken Heart…
And Trouble In The Making was helped along by Nickelback’s Feelin’ Way Too Damn Good…
I don’t have a choice but to write with music. It fuels the story. It fuels my thoughts and ideas and emotions. It sparks something that doesn’t let go until the last words are written. The books and scenes in my head are extensions of me and the music that I listen to, that I grew up with resonates in a way that is impossible for me to ignore. It goes much deeper than simply needing something to inspire. It flows through my veins like nothing else.
When the music is gone, it’s likely the stories will be too… Let’s hope that doesn’t happen anytime soon.
Do you have a favorite band of all time? What was our first concert? I’d love to know… And in exchange, I’ll be giving away a copy of Keep It Together or Trouble In The Making on Saturday to one of the commentors.
Much to the detriment of my soul, and my mother, when the mid-late 80’s came around, I started banging my head to the likes of Motley Crue, Poison, Ratt, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Ozzy, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, etc…
That was over 20 years ago and I still love them all. I have even found new hard rock bands to love, but the previously mentioned bands will always been my favorites and will always hold a special place in my heart.
One thing about them that I always loved was they could write/sing/play ballads like no one else. Their guitar riffs, while maybe not the best, always got to me. Ever. I’ve listened to music from the earliest recordings to current and I don’t think any era comes close to the ballads of the the 80’s hair bands.
I went to see all these bands live and many others. Concert tickets back then were a mere $15, sometimes as little as $12. I pay that just in parking now for shows. And we won’t discuss the actual ticket prices currently. They are astronomical and while the shows are sometimes good, the assigned seating and alcohol drinking leaves a lot to be desired.
Music in general is special to me. It’s where most of my inspiration comes from for the books I write. Some old songs, some new songs, some classics, some very obscure. But, I can get lost in the 80’s. Following are some of the ballads that still give me chills…
This was not a ballad but it always gives me chills. Randy Rhoads was completely amazing.
I’ve been talking to a friend this morning and she’s been awesome. She’s been doing everything she can this week to talk me down off ledges, talk me around books, talk me into feeling something, talk me up about home offices and desks and which lamps to choose. We’ve discussed colors, walls, how to build a desk out of two sawhorses and a slab of wood. We’ve talked cream-filled cupcakes and milky way brownies. We’ve talked wasting money on services never used, bad reviews, book sales, opinions. We’ve talked about all kinds of things and I honestly can’t thank her enough for pushing… She deserves a medal, or at the very least, that Pottery Barn lamp she’s been coveting.
So, in honor of my friend Selena Blake and how she’s been selfless and let me cry, let me fuss, let me rant, and led me back around to just flat out feeling something…
Now, about that millionaire we were talking about, Se…grins.
The message is in the words, the lyrics, not the videos themselves. It’s about feeling down and picking yourself back up again, or throwing your hands up and walking away, or just simply thumbing your nose at all the bullshit. I really, really needed this.
Well, this and the ass kicking my Ellora’s Cave editor has threatened to give me if I don’t get to writing another book for her… Thank you, too, Mary.
