Muse-ic

Whoops, it's been almost a month since my last post. I'll be totally honest here - I did very little writing this summer. There are various reasons/excuses, but since I can't go back in time and change things, I'm trying not to beat myself up too much over it.

For most of my past books, I've been able to find at least one piece of music that fits what I'm writing and that I can use to help get me in the mood. I'm over a quarter into Seductive Suspect, and until the other day, I hadn't thought of anything that I felt captured the tone of the book (either parts or the whole thing). My generic writing playlists weren't cutting it, either.

Luckily, my satellite radio did me a favor in the car the other day. It's not perfect and doesn't fit 100% (few songs do), but for now, it's good enough. The radio reminded me of Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight", which I've decided, upon re-listening, is an excellent song regardless. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good piano part.


The lyrics are more in line with what I have planned for the end of the book, but it's working for now, so I'm going with it. I'll also admit that said plans include the "we might die tomorrow, let's bang!" trope that Mass Effect is so fond of. Hey, as far as tropes go, it's not a *terrible* one.... ;)

Out of Orbit - The Writing Playlist

Happy New Year! I hope everybody had a fantastic holiday season, no matter what you celebrate, and may we all have a satisfying and productive 2016! Me, I got a niiiiiiice chunk of writing done on Out of Orbit while Mr. Landen and I were both off from work for over a week and I have high hopes for keeping the momentum going. I'll admit I struggled with the last little bit of worldbuilding I wanted to work in, but I've finally reached the point where my universe is established and now I can just have fun within it.

Though I don't have a really firm estimate of what the final word count is going to be (I think it's going to fall somewhere in "short novel" territory), this is definitely a lengthier and more detailed project than the 20K-word novellas I've been doing recently. As such, I've compiled a list of more than one or two songs to help me get into the right frame of mind. I'm sure I'll be adding more as I go along, but for now, here's my writing playlist for Out of Orbit:

#1, Space Oddity, and #2, Rocket Man, are pretty self-explanatory. They're my usual go-to songs for when events take place in outer space.

#3, Han Solo and the Princess - I know Star Wars is all the rage right now. This still remains one of my favorite love themes. Bonus points for the space/sci-fi connection! Lucky me! :D

#4, One Second and a Million Miles - I'm still a little disappointed that I didn't get to see The Bridges of Madison County on Broadway, as its run was short-lived. I'm a sucker for a killer duet, and I love this one. I can't say the lyrics match the story I'm writing 100%, but there are enough similarities to OoO that this song has been getting a lot of airtime.

#5, This Nearly Was Mine - I'm not going to give away too many plot details yet, but this fits in, I promise. And ooooooh, did I struggle with which version to include on my playlist. I love Brian Stokes Mitchell to death and I would follow him to the ends of the earth, but -- and I can't believe I'm about to write this -- sometimes I think he may have overdone it juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust a smidge here. Oh well, it's still fantastic. And fun fact: I was in the audience for the performance! Probably the worst seats in the entire theater, but I was there nonetheless!

When It's Made Into a Movie, This Will Be the Soundtrack

I know a lot of people write to music. It makes sense - what better way to get yourself into a certain mood, or be inspired by someone else's inspirational lyrics, and so on and so forth. "What do you write to?" seems to be a popular question every time writing comes up in a group of people.

99% of the time, I don't have music going in the background as I write. Firstly, as I learned in college, I cannot write one set of words while listening to another set of words. (In a song, that is; I have the TV on in the background right now and that doesn't seem to be a problem as I write this blog post. I think it has something to do with the rhythm or the knowing what's coming up next.) On the very rare occasions I put music on as I write, it's always instrumental.

Secondly, as I'm sure I've mentioned somewhere in this blog before, I'm a musician. Like, degrees-in-music-have-gotten-paid-money-for-performing musician. If I put a piece of music on to listen to, guess where my focus goes? Music has never really functioned as background noise to me; listening usually more of a conscious activity. It's probably a miracle I don't get into more car accidents with the radio on.

Now with all that out of the way, that doesn't mean there's zero connection between music and my writing. Like the rest of the writing world, I'm sure, I'm reminded of songs and pieces as I create my characters and scenes. Music is such an emotional experience, there's bound to be someone before me who's already captured what I'm trying to put into words in a different form. Just for fun, I created a playlist with music that's tied to my current project in my head. (I say "tied to" because I'm not sure if the music makes me think of the story or the story makes me think of the music; it's a two-way street.) I doubt I'll ever play it while I'm actually writing, but I like making lists, I can keep adding to it, and I can always put it on while I'm knitting or cleaning or something. And if other people like it (both the playlist and the eventual book), even better!

The Fall of the Midnight Scorpions writing playlist!