Another Musical Interlude

Hello, friends!

First, two updates on The Ancient:

~ I commissioned hand-drawn cover art from the artist who has put together the covers for all my books thus far. She sent me the first proof a few days ago, and . . . wow. I am so honored and chuffed that my mind-child will have such beautiful clothes when it goes out into the world.

~ I have spent the past two weeks reading through the whole novel, slowly and painstakingly. After a multitude of minor tweaks and some small but significant additions, I reached the end . . . and, almost immediately, started over. I need to make sure all those changes flow with the text, don’t I? Fret not; I am telling myself sternly that this will be the last pass before formatting. I mean, how important is it, really, if that sentence has a semicolon or a dash?

Answer: to me, it is very important.

So, I will grant the finicky perfectionist/editor side of my personality one last go-round, and then . . . to the publishing process!

In order to devote as much time as possible to said exercise, this week’s blog is another quick episode in “Music that Helps Me Write”.

If you’ve read the other episodes in my “Music” series – On Giant’s Shoulders or A Musical Interlude – you know that finding music I like and can write to is profoundly exciting to me. Imagine how much more exciting it is when you’re listening to a great song and can think, “Hey! I know that guy! We helped each other survive Music Theory and stay (mostly) awake during History of American Art!”

I went to college with some rather swell folks who went on to do rather swell things. One formed a band, DFONTE, with some friends, and produced some amazing music. Their album LCH comes right after Future of Forestry’s Awakened to the Sound on my running playlist; in fact, the two albums seemed to fit so well with Ancient-ish thoughts that I listened to them over and over, pretty exclusively, on all my runs during the first draft writing period.

One of the signs of good music, in my opinion, is the breadth of Story into which you can feel caught up while listening to it. Some of my favorite songs apply to so many of my favorite stories. Example: LCH is a concept album inspired by the American Civil War, but some of it could have been written for The Ancient. I include two of my favorite songs for your listening pleasure:

“Where Are You” ~ To my ear, this song charts the inner journey of one of the main characters, a young mortal boy who gets caught up into the world of the Ancients. The song, like this character, builds rather dynamically, making it incredible running music; add this drummer to the list of percussionists I would like to meet so I can shake their hand and thank them in person.

“Ashtray Floor” ~ This is one of the last songs on the album, and it captures the heart of my main character almost spookily. You have to listen all the way through to catch the full significance; I can see one of the final scenes unfolding in my mind during the last two minutes the track.