MOON MUSIC

The moon has been an experience this week.

On Wednesday night, when X-Chromo and I drove to religious ed, it was huge and silver and shivering wonderful. Thursday morning, when I awoke, the moon was directly across from my bedroom, in the spot where the sun usually sets.

On Thursday night (late afternoon, early evening), while driving to the Chromos' school to pick them up after drama club, the moon was enormous and perfectly round, and the sky around it was pale lavender and pale pink as the sun considered setting.

Friday morning was the best. I had to leave my house at 6:30am to be at work early. It was still dark outside, but the moon dominated the sky, no questions. All of us who arrived at work at 7am (yes! it was still dark outside, although it was getting lighter) commented on sight.

Have you ever seen the movie MOONSTRUCK with Cher and Nicholas Cage? Friday morning's moon was the same one, the one Cher's uncle (in the movie) called Cosmo's Moon.

As I drove to work, I thought about making a CD mix of moon-themed songs. Several are on my Werewolf Chronicles -- MOONDANCE (Van Morrison), BAD MOON RISING (Creedence Clearwater Revival), HARVEST MOON (Neil Young) -- and I can think of others (MOON RIVER, FLY ME TO THE MOON), but not enough to justify a whole CD.

So, I'm open to suggestions, folks. I know a lot of you read this even if you don't comment, so reply here or privately.

"Tonight, tonight . . . "

Big doings tonight at our house.
First of all, Y-Chromo received his much anticipated e-mail announcing the cast list for his high school's autumn production of WEST SIDE STORY. Y-Chromo will be playing Tony . . . which (if you're unfamiliar with the play) is the male lead. I suppose I will be hearing about "squirrels named Maria" for the next couple of months.

A few moments later, the telephone rang, and Y-Chromo pounced on it, but it was for me. At first, I couldn't figure out why someone from an RWA Chapter in Florida would be calling me . . . then it hit me as she said the magic words: AND JERICHO BURNED finalled in the 2007 Tampa Area Romance Authors (TARA) contest.

This is the first of several contests in which I entered this book, so I am prodigiously pleased. The TARA Contest (p/k/a FIRST IMPRESSIONS) has a reputation for being a tough contest, so finalling satisfies something deep inside me; the same thing that last year had me whining to chapter-mates during a brainstorming session at the RWA National Conference in Atlanta that I didn't know if I could -- if I am a good enough writer to -- write this story.

Mercury may be in retro, but it was a real good evening here.

Music

I love music. Not all music, tho'. I've tried to enjoy opera, but it only puts me to sleep. Nor am I fan of rap/hip hop/gangta whatever, but I'm not of that world, so it's not my music.
One of my friends made a comment this week about country music. It's something people usually either love or hate (she hates it). I enjoy some of it, but it's rarely my first choice for listening pleasure. I did get "into" Toby Keith for a while, because his music was the sound track of a book I wrote, but that is a different place.
I got to thinking about my 10 favorite albums of all time, but then realized that I'd have to rank albums according to periods of my life, probably pre-and-post marriage.
In no particular order, my favorite albums are:
1. BLOOD ON THE TRACKS (Bob Dylan)
2. DESIRE (Bob Dylan)
3. HARVEST (Neil Young)
4. DIAMONDS & RUST (Joan Baez)
5. SO FAR (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
6. TRAVELING WILBURYS, VOLUME I
7. MASK & MIRROR (Loreena McKennitt)
8. YES, I AM (Melissa Etheridge)
9. MONSTER (Steppenwolf)
10.MODERN TIMES (Bob Dylan)

Gee, not one country album made my top ten.
But neither did a lot of my favorite performers of all time: The Moody Blues; Donovan; Melanie; Connie Dover; The Grateful Dead; Joni Mitchell, more Neil Young albums (Harvest Moon; After the Goldrush; Living with War), the Grass Roots.

I guess my musical tastes can't be pigeon-holed.

How about you? What music frees your spirit and what puts you to sleep?

Does Music Soothe the Savage Beast?

About three weeks ago, I was reading a Famous Author's blog and was completely blown away by her collages for her books. I had read elsewhere that she is a huge proponent of making collages for her books and that the visual aspect really helps her get a handle on her characters and plots. She has recently discovered a way to create collages directly on her computer (a Mac). She shared some of the collages -- multiple collages -- for her current WIP on her blog.

I panicked. My lungs compressed and didn't want to work. I did no more than glance at some of her works of art and wanted to cry. This is so far beyond my humble capabilities, I felt doomed.

I shared my concern with my friends, one of whom sent me a very wise reply. Famous Author has an art background, may have even been an art teacher at one point. My friend and I are both musicians. We play instruments, we sing, we indulge in music whenever possible -- gifts we've passed on to our children. And neither of us can write until we have our soundtracks for our WIPs in place. Our custom CDs and/or playlists on our mp3 players are our version of Famous Author's collages.

Whew!

So my current soundtracks are called THE WEREWOLF CHRONICLES Volumes 1.2 and 2.3

Vol 1.2

• Eyes of a New York Woman (BJ Thomas)
• Rocky Mountain High (John Denver)
• Born to be Wild (Steppenwolf)
• Society's Child (Janis Ian)
• Coming Back to You (Trish Yearwood)
• You Shouldn’t Kiss Me Like This (Toby Keith)
• Come to My Window (Melissa Etheridge)
• Harvest Moon (Neil Young)
• Real Good Man (Tim McGraw)
• Bad Moon Rising (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
• Cowboy Take Me Away (The Dixie Chicks)
• Moondance (Van Morrison)
• Daniel (Elton John)
• Natural Beauty (Neil Young)
• Travelin’ Band (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
• Broken Arrow (Rod Stewart)
• Uncle John’s Band (Grateful Dead)
• Dream Walkin’ (Toby Keith)
  

Vol 2.3

• Green-Eyed Lady (Sugarloaf)
• Won’t Get Fooled Again (The Who)
• Layla (Eric Clapton)
• Wide Open Spaces (The Dixie Chicks)
• Ashokan Farewell (Jay Ungar & Molly Mason)
• Wide Montana Skies (John Denver & Emmylou Harris)
• Who Will Comfort Me? (Connie Dover)
• Pieces of April (3 Dog Night)
• Elusive Butterfly (Bob Lind)
• Moonshadow (Cat Stevens)
• Werewolves of London (Warren Zevon)
• Loup Garou (Dr. John)
• I Was A Teenage Werewolf (The Cramps)
• Common Bond (The Kennedys)
• Delilah (Tom Jones)

Do you have a ritual you use before you start writing or one that help ease your way into your stories? If you listen to music, what pokes your muse?