Quote of the Moment

"What's Past Is Prologue." - William Shakespeare

Thursday, April 27, 2017

1001 Reasons Not To Clean - #16 through #20

Welcome to 1001 Reasons Not to Clean! The main goal of this series is to see if I can actually reach 1001 reasons, 5 reasons at a time (the final post, if I get there, will be 6 reasons). I'm sure I can. It's not just my crazy brain being unrealistic, right? Links to previous posts are below. And feel free to share your excuses, and they might get added to my list (with credit, of course)!

#1 through #5 ~ #6 through #10 ~ #11 through #15

16. It's winter. Yes, you'd think you'd have less excuses in winter because you spend more time in the house, but the truth is the cold and gray sap your motivation and you get less cleaning done than you do during the warmer months.

17. Winter doesn't want to let go. It's fending spring off with its icy fingers. And this depresses you too much to even think about cleaning.

18. The house is too cold, so you'd rather stay in bed under your warm covers.

19. Your kids are sick. Not just sick, but plague-ridden. If you clean anything, it's just going to be smeared in germs shortly after, so why bother?

20. Your kids got you sick. OK, yes, #9 is "You're sick." But this is a different kind of sick. This is the kind of sick where not only are you trying to keep yourself alive, but you're still dealing with sick kids at the same time. And then you keep passing the sick back and forth until you kind of think being dead might be a better option than being sick all the time. Cleaning is obviously the furthest thing from your mind at this point.

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Thorns Entwine the Blade ~ Soundtrack

So, last week I posted the soundtrack to Mind Behind the Mind (Trinity Torn, 1). This week I'm posting the soundtrack to Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2)!

If you look on the left side and scroll down a bit, you'll see my word count trackers. Thorns is over halfway through the first draft! It's coming, word by word, even with my kids driving me crazy and making it hard to write. Right now, I'm aiming for an early 2018 release. Hopefully that's not too long for all of you to wait between the first and second novel. One of these days I'll be able to write faster (two and a half years until the youngest is in Kindergarten).

One of the things you'll notice about this list is that some of the songs are the same. I mean, those songs completely evoke the mood of my series for me, so you know you'll see some repeats for the final novel when it's being written, too.

Here's some amusement: I'm listening to Pandora while I write this post, and one of the songs (found on both of the lists) just played while I was typing. Serendipity?

Oh... you want to know which song? How about this. Guess! Put your guess in the comments of this post, and if you get it right within the next two weeks (when my next post is planned), I'll send you a bookmark of Mind Behind the Mind once I make them in the next couple of months. Sorry don't have them yet to show you, but I'll be working on them soon! I'll let any winners know two weeks from this post if they got it right by replying to their comments, and give an email address where you can let me know your mailing address if you want me to send you a bookmark. ;)

Anyway, here's the soundtrack I'm listening to while drafting Thorns Entwine the Blade:

Monster by Skillet
How You Remind Me by Nickelback
Stay by Shakespear's Sister
Always by Saliva
The Unforgiven by Metallica
Nothing's Broken by Digital Daggers
Miles of Rain by Otherwise
Outlaw Blues by Pat Benatar
Where Do I Hide by Nickelback
Haunting by Halsey
One Second by Paradise Lost
Orestes by A Perfect Circle
Broken by Seether (Featuring Amy Lee)
Hands of Time by Rachel Diggs
In the End by Linkin Park
Burn Away (III Reprise) by Otherwise
Bleed For Me by Digital Daggers
Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Lorde (cover - original by Tears for Fears)

So, are these songs any better than my last list? Or are you still wrinkling your nose at my taste in music?

I almost forgot! See that hand with the ball of energy? Yes, that's a sneak peek of the Thorns Entwine the Blade cover! Next month I'll be doing an early cover reveal for my newsletter subscribers. If you're eager to see the whole thing sooner rather than later, make sure you Subscribe to my Newsletter.

Happy reading and happy listening, everyone!

Thursday, April 06, 2017

Mind Behind the Mind ~ Soundtrack

I've mentioned in the past how music inspires me. For the most part, I always listen to specific songs when I'm drafting a novel or short story. Back in 2012, I posted my soundtrack for Dead As Dreams (don't worry, the revisions for that novel are still on my to do list, but it's looking like not until 2018 now - must finish Thorns Entwine the Blade). Well, I realized now that I never posted the soundtrack for Mind Behind the Mind (Trinity Torn, 1)!

I'm about to rectify that problem. ;) Below is the list of songs that I listened to through many drafts of Mind Behind the Mind. And I mean many, since this was my original thesis for my M.A. (Dead As Dreams was my project when I went to get that F to squeeze between the M and the A). Every time one of these songs pops up for me "in the wild" I can't help but think of Tessa and Bastian - especially the first song.

How You Remind Me by Nickelback
Amazed by The Offspring
Cemetery Gates (Demon Knight Edit) by Pantera
Disarm by Smashing Pumpkins
Good Times Gone by Nickelback
If You Could Only See by Tonic
In the End by Linkin Park
Orestes by A Perfect Circle
Outlaw Blues by Pat Benatar
Mountain by Tonic
Outside by Staind
Stay by Shakespear's Sister
Summer Breeze by Type O Negative
The Unforgiven II by Metallica
Where Do I Hide by Nickelback

Are these songs what you expected? What kind of emotions do they invoke in you? Or do you just think my taste in music sucks? Lol.

Anyway, since I'm in the middle of the first draft of Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2), I thought it would be great to post the soundtrack for that next week. Maybe you'll even get to see a tiny portion of the cover art, too!

And if you haven't grabbed a copy of Mind Behind the Mind (Trinity Torn, 1) yet, you can find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and Google Play. I'm hoping to have Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2) released at the beginning of 2018!