fbpx

Book Blog, Keeping Score Series, Promotion and Publicity

Blame it on Pearl Jam

No Comments

I believe 'cause I can see . . .

You know, there are songs and then there are songs.

The first time I heard Pearl Jam’s Future Days, I was speechless. Breathless. I cried. This song . . . the music and the lyrics . . . they utterly destroyed me.

At the time, I was writing I Choose You, the third book in the Perfect Dish Romance series, and the song influenced the very end of the story.

I almost never use the same song twice in two different books’ playlists, but when I began naming the books in the Keeping Score Trilogy, I kept coming back to Future Days. I’d already decided on When We Were Us, and it was important that the third book incorporated an ‘us’ or . . . a ‘you and me’. As I listened to the lyrics of Future Days, I knew I’d found the title of Book 3.

I believe,
And I believe ’cause I can see,
Our future days,
Days of you and me

This is so much Quinn, and Leo, and Nate. Leo could have sung this song. It is a song of love, of forgiveness, of reaching a place of acceptance and looking forward . . . it IS this book.

And so there was no doubt that this song had to be part of the play list. I’ll admit, too, that I listened to it rather a lot as I wrote Days of You and Me. 

This playlist is one of my all-time favorites. I have a feeling I’ll be playing it for a long time to come, and I’ll never hear it without thinking of Nate, Quinn and Leo.

 

Book Blog

Daddy’s Music

No Comments

Today is very special: not only it is #MusicMonday, it would have been my daddy’s 73rd birthday. And it’s been ten years today since I was able to celebrate with him.

He’s been on my mind a lot lately, for many reasons. First, of course, because his birthday is today. And then there is a scene at the end of my just-finished book (WHEN WE WERE US) and again at the start of the next book (HANGING BY A MOMENT) that brings his loss back to me.

And today being a Monday is perfect, because when it comes to music, my father was my biggest influence.

Most of the music I love comes from a place that was part of my daddy. He introduced me to rock n’ roll, to R&B and to pop, as well as country. He told me stories about songs–gave me history and a real connection with the artists and their lives, too.

Today’s playlist contains my father’s favorite music, or songs that were significant in his life. For instance, I know that he did a lip sync to Stagger Lee when he was a freshman in high school. He loved Buddy Holly, too–always. When he was a plebe at West Point, he heard echoes of the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight in upperclassmen’s rooms and was intrigued by the WEEM-oh-wep. And he was so excited about I’m Into Something Good that he made an unheard-of middle of the week phone call to my mom to play it over the phone.

When I was older, he often came home from work excited about a new song he’d heard on the way home. I think that’s how I first heard The Tide is High and Mickey.

He suggested True Love Ways as the first song my husband and I danced to at our wedding. And he also chose Disney Girls as the song he and I danced to–our father/daughter dance. I still can’t hear it without crying.

I hope you’ll check out Daddy’s Play List–and that it makes you smile.

Happy birthday, Daddy.

 

Uncategorized

Where do you find your musical muse?

No Comments

I’m just about to start on a new book, and I need musical inspiration. Most of the time, I have one or two songs that let me know what genre the playlist will be, but it doesn’t always fall out easily.

musicnotesThere’s a few ways that I find new songs. One is just random listening. I’ll start writing, or even just working on promotions or other business fun, with music in the background. The catch is that it can’t be music I’ve selected. I’ll toss on the music channel on my television, or I’ll click on Pandora or Spotify and just randomize the music. Usually, it becomes background noise until suddenly a phrase or lyric will jump out at me . . . at which point I scribble down the name and artist, add it to a list of potentials (and usually look up the lyrics, too).

I’ve discovered not only new songs, but new bands that way, too.

Another great source of new muse comes from my kids. When I drive my daughter to work, she’s always playing brand-new, cutting-edge music. I frequently say, “Who is that? Send me the name!”

I’m in that stage now as I write The Plan. I know a little about Emmy’s taste–she loves her some country–and I just discovered that Cooper is still wrapped up in the hard-rock of the ’80s . . . so I’m listening to an odd mix of both right now.

How do you find new music?

Uncategorized

The ONLY Playlist. . .

No Comments

Tomorrow is release day for The Only One! I’m so excited to share Rilla and Mason with you. Today you get a sneak peek in the form of the book’s playlist.

Of course, this is a country playlist, because it’s part of The One Trilogy. And of course, Brad Paisley is featured more than once, because I <3 him big time. I especially wanted two of his songs on here because they speak to a delicate topic: Christianity. It’s TheOnlyOneEbooksomething that plays a fairly big role in The Only One; Rilla’s been raised in a strict church, and part of her journey is discovering what faith means to her and how much her upbringing should influence the rest of her life. I liked Brad’s songs Those Crazy Christians and Me and Jesus because they deal with that struggle in a real way.

Colin Raye’s On The Verge has always been to me the musical epitome of a man just about to fall in love. I went a little old school with Hal Ketchum’s Stay Forever; I just happened to hear it, and it captured their dance scene perfectly.

There are two Suzy Bogguss songs. One is a little older, her cover of Chicago’s If You Leave Me Now, and the other is from her latest album, a cover of Merle Haggard standards. Both are haunting and beautiful.

It was while listening to Suzy’s musical that I came across another cover, this one by the late Mindy McCready. She’d remade Long, Long Time which had been one of my very favorite bittersweet songs when I was a teenager. I love how Mindy re-did it.

I love this playlist, just as I love this story. Go check out the playlist here and get ready for Rilla and Mason tomorrow!