Music Monday: Well, hiya, Lark. Long time no see...

So I'm working on a writing project with one of my (adopted) older brothers and it has stalled out for me, probably because of all that's on my agenda these days that isn't writing related. And when I can't hear from the character I'm writing, Lark, he tells me to just listen - put on some music she likes and listen. 

Those of you that are plotters rather than pantsers can just look away now.

This song is one of her favorites and speaks to a lot of the plot and her as a character that I can't talk about yet. But it works, every time. Enjoy. 

Music Monday: Calling All Friends...?

It's been a week, y'all, and it's only Monday morning! Here's my list of wants and needs for now - how about you? Just hang on, it will be Tuesday soon, I hope. 

 

Music Monday: Are you strong enough?

As I said last week, I ran across a song that blends two of the most perfect female voices in modern music, Stevie Nicks and Sheryl Crow. This is that song. 

One thing that I do every time I start on a new story is to find my characters through music, hence the Music Monday section of this blog. When my writing partner and I first embarked on telling Connor and Lark's story, I set up a playlist called Connor and Lark that was basically the music I listened to while writing. But that was really MY playlist, and didn't help me get to know Lark at all. So I made a playlist for her with samplings of music I think she would have listened to over her very long life (200+ years...she's a vampire, y'all), trying to imagine what these songs would mean to her.

As soon as I heard this one I added it. Enjoy.

Strong Enoughby Sheryl Crow
God, I feel like hell tonightTears of rage I cannot lieI'd be the last to help you understandAre you strong enough to be my man?My man
Nothing's true and nothing's rightSo let me be alone tonight'Cause you can't change the way I amAre you strong enough to be my man?
Lie to meI promise I'll believeLie to meBut please don't leaveDon't leave
I have a face I cannot showI make the rules up as I goJust try and love me if you canAre you strong enough to be my man?My man
to be my man?(Are you strong enough) to be my man?(Are you strong enough) my manWhen I've shown you that I just don't careWhen I'm throwing punches in the airWhen I'm broken down and I can't standWould you be man enough to be my man?
Lie to meI promise I'll believeLie to meBut please, don't leave

Music Monday: In the crystalline knowledge of the Baskervilles

[So, I am very sorry that this video doesn't have Mama Stevie actually on the screen singing, but I wanted to find one that included the lyrics so here we are.]

I heard a Sheryl Crow song this past weekend that was being performed live in a duet with Stevie Nicks and I just stopped what I was doing to listen. Love her or hate her, think she was better in Fleetwood Mac than solo, it is my humble and often correct opinion that Stevie Nicks is an American treasure as far as music goes...and that made me think of the soundtrack to the movie, Practical Magic, which has some of her best work on it.

(It didn't hurt that I have been thinking a lot about my novel Strid, which I've always said is kind of Practical Magic meets Clash of the Titans.)

So please enjoy this, the first of several songs that always make my summer playlist as well as remind me of Lucy and Annie Boyd...I think that they need another mystery to solve, eh?

May 2024 Newsletter

It's gonna be...May. I really couldn't help myself with that...as I write this, it's the end of April, so I'm not wrong.

Moving on! I hit my target in that Camp NaNoWriMo project about a week ago, and the cringe won out - it's going back to the deep freeze of my Google Drive.

But a new month leaves me looking forward to summer and fandom con appearances so that soothes the sting of how truly BAD that manuscript was. Mercy. You're welcome for me not springing that on the world!

Since there was no author event at GARF this year, my next outing will be Mountain Hounds at the end of May. I will have copies of Proud Racer: An American Greyhound in Yorkshire, The Complete Clobberpaws (and maybe a few of the individual volumes), The Complete Proud Racer, and Strid (since it has hounds in it) to sell and sign. I can't wait to get back to those mountains...that's my happy place.

What are your summer plans? Any fun vacations? I'd love to hear about them since I'm living vicariously these days. But I have a vampire novel I'm collaborating on and another Camp Nano in July, so I have plenty to keep me busy.

Thanks again for all the support, y'all. It really means the world to me. Now, the next novel in the Guardians of Orana series...

A NEW HERO FACES A FORGOTTEN DANGER.

Created with the help of a meddling goddess, she is the daughter of the Nature Walker and the Rajah of Qatu’anari. Meet Kazhka Clawsharp, Rajahk’mere of the Qatu and apprentice druid of Aynamaede. But what is her true purpose, beyond palace politics and Guardian diplomacy? Why did Sephine, the All-Mother Goddess, step in to assure her birth?

Dark forces, biding time in the shadows, have chosen this time to seek revenge against Qa Sathlir - is his daughter the key to saving him and Qatu'anari from a forgotten enemy seeking to finish the plot that was begun against Sath's father? Welcome the newest hero to Orana in this next novel in the Guardians of Orana series. Pre-orders open soon! Watch this space for more info.