Music! News!

Sadly, not book news--there doesn't seem to be much going on in that realm at the moment. Most creative endeavors are kind of a hurry up and wait situation.

However, I have been putting in a great deal of time ghostwriting for some clients, which has inspired me. What would you all think of me posting a little tidbit on Wednesdays that is SFW (Safe For Work--or in this case, Safe For Wednesday) and something on Fridays that is NSFW? That is the current plan, to add to the music posts on Mondays. Of course, if book news DOES happen, I will keep you all apprised.

In the meantime, since I've been doing a lot of writing lately, I've also been listening to a lot of music. I've really been grooving on some new records lately, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the new Daft Punk album in particular. So in honor of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' recent album, here's something from their older work, a video I love for a song called 'Gold Lion.' It is one of the least freaky of their music videos.

As you can see, it's still pretty visually interesting. Something about a desert makes everything more interesting. As a bonus, here's another video I love that features a hot wasteland:

Not sure if it's supposed to be an actual desert, but it does have that feel. Plus the song is so incredibly endearing and sweet--though the video is a bit weird in that vein.

Thank you all for continuing to visit my blog!

xoxo,

Mary K.

Fun! Music! NSFW!

Since I didn't have the chance to post on Monday as usual, I figured I'd make it up to you all and transform "Fun Fridays" into "NSFW Fridays," which in this case is going to combine music and something very sexy.

I've been working on some freelance ghostwriting--erotic short stories--and to sort of get myself into things, I started listening to Nine Inch Nails. Now, those of you familiar with NIN are probably saying to yourself "Yes, this is a wonderful idea." And it is. To a point. Those of you who are not familiar with NIN are going to get the same introduction to Trent Reznor that I did (except I was eight at the time. If you're eight, please don't visit my blog. It's not appropriate for you).

If my parents ever express surprise at my particular choice of genre, I feel like I can just point them to this video and say, "You let me watch this when I was eight. Of COURSE I am writing about sex now."

Warnings: Language, nudity, some creepy-crawly things.

Watch the entire video through. Yes, there are creepy things, but seriously. Watch it. Tell me that is not utterly distracting.

Sadly I have no real book news to report, but I will be updating the blog again soon with some more salacious material!

xoxo,

Mary K.

Another Week, More Music, Busy-ness.

Things have been rather stressful and fast-changing around these parts, so I haven't been able to update the way I should. I'm sorry!

The good news is that I am getting a bunch of work writing erotic romance short stories--the bad news is that it's ghostwriting work, so I can't really tell you more than that. This turn of events has inspired me to see about putting some snippets of romance stories up on here, or link to some on a hosting service--I'd love to have more content out there that's in my name.

Since it's Monday, of course you know what's next: music time!

I posted about Placebo last week, but I've been listening to a lot of it still, so I'll give you guys another example of a song I love.

This is one of my favorite songs in general--it's got such a great groove, and of course it's got that Brian Molko vocal style I love. The lyrics are also pretty strong. And it's just such a lovely sentiment.

What do you guys think of me putting up some snippets on thishere blog? Let me know!


xoxo,
Mary K.

"Forgetting" Bands and Songs I Love

I occasionally get so wrapped up in what I'm listening to at any given time that I "forget" about other bands I like. I don't forget about them utterly--if you asked me "Hey, Mary, what do you think of (The Strokes) (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) (Silverchair)(what have you)?" I would perk up and go "Oh, I like them a lot!" in that bright and surprised tone of voice. Because it's like coming to the realization that you like a band brand new.

I've been wandering around my normal music habits for a while in the past week, and recently re-discovered Placebo. I'm not entirely sure how they came to mind; probably while I was playing SongPop a Placebo song was one of the answers, but I'm not sure. In any case, I'm glad they did, because while Brian Molko's voice is sort of an acquired taste (which means, as we know, that you either love it or hate it), the songs are wonderful for romantic writing. Full of emotions like angst and obsession and yearning.

This song is called "Taste in Men" and it demonstrates the angst and yearning I'm talking about rather well. The video is also interesting in a sort of cryptic way.

I'm doing a lot of work on just about everything but books, it seems. I'll keep you all posted if there's anything that might be of benefit to you! Also, I am considering inviting some of the other lovely ladies of Siren to post here--hopefully they'll take me up on it.


xoxo,
Mary K.

Music! Book news! Oh my!

So since today is Music Monday, I do have a video for you guys, first of all. I have loved Silverchair since I was a tween. I haven't mentioned them on here, just because they haven't come up in my writing playlists--which seems strange, now that I think about it. But I was reminded of how much I love the music, so here's an old-old video of theirs.

It's copyright 2000, but the song predates that. It's a crazy video, but it's interesting, and the song is one of my favorites. As a bonus, I'll also include another favorite, not the video but just the song:

They never did a video for this song, but it's one of my all-time favorites. It has such good composition.

Now for book news! My book is available on Amazon! You can go over there right now, if you want, and buy a copy and hold it in your hands, as opposed to reading it from a screen. It's $13.99, which isn't a bad deal as books go. Find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Striking-Chord-Siren-Publishing-PolyAmour/dp/1622428994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365984286&sr=1-1

I am so excited about this, you guys. I am still thinking over how I want to go about running a promotion, and I'll announce it here first once I have all the details for you!


xoxo
Mary K.

I'm on Romance Cooks!

I contributed one of my favorite Italian recipes; you can see it all here: http://romancecooks.com/

It was a lot of fun writing up the recipe, particularly since I don't really "measure" very much when I cook--at least not in the technical sense. I throw in pinches of this and that, eyeball things. So it was an interesting thought exercise to try and translate the dish into something people could follow along to.

Go and check it out, everyone!




xoxo
Mary K.

Friday Fun: My Personal Canadian Music Chronology

Every once in a while, it occurs to me that there must be something in the fact that so many of the bands/acts I've liked have come from Canada. I don't know that I could ever live there--it's too cold for my thin, subtropical blood--but I would like to visit someday.

For proof, I submit the following chronology:

When I was in middle school, I had fairly varied musical tastes. And then in about the end of seventh grade, I got into The Moffatts:

Not too difficult to see why an adolescent girl would be into them, right? They actually had really excellent music together, and went on to make really good music separately.

Then a few years later, I got into Sum 41

And Avril Lavigne:

Yes, this song is later than high school, but it's actually a hilarious video and a really catchy song.

Then, around about the time I graduated high school, I got really into Hot Hot Heat.

I'm still into Hot Hot Heat, and still revisit the others pretty frequently. But if this isn't evidence that I should visit Canada, if only for good music that I'll like, then I don't know what is.

In book news: I will be appearing tomorrow on Romance Cooks, with a delicious recipe for an Italian pasta dish that I love. ALSO! I found out this week that my book will be available in print form! It will be sold through Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I'll update everyone with the links once I have them. I am soooooooo excited. I am actually planning a promotion in my head right now--and of course, I'll post the deets here when I have them all finalized.

xoxo

Mary K.

Music of the Day: Hot Hot Heat

I have been listening to a lot of The Strokes recently, since their album came out on the 26th of last month. The alarm on my phone, however, is a Hot Hot Heat song, "Future Breeds." Today when it came on, it shook me out of the long-term Strokes passion I've been in, and that's a good thing.

All kinds of creative juices start flowing when I get out of my musical comfort zone. While it's a good idea (for me anyway) to listen to the same music on repeat when I'm writing, shaking things up and switching tunes is good for starting a new thought process. So here I'll share one of my favorite tunes from the Future Breeds album, which is the title track. It's a pretty awesome video, too.

I'm still waiting to hear back on reviews--it's a long process. I should be guest blogging somewhere soon, if I remember correctly. Stay tuned here for the deets!



xoxo

Mary K.

Quickly--since it's late

I didn't want to miss out Music Mondays two weeks running, so I wanted to make sure I posted before I went to sleep for the night.

There are several acts that if someone asks me "do you like such and such a band?" my answer is generally, "I've never heard of them." And then I hear the band/performer's music, and realize that not only have I heard it, I've heard and liked it.

I'm always really grateful for those moments, because finding a "new" artist is one of the joys in life. On another blog I maintain, I opened up requests for people to suggest bands and acts for me to review, and someone suggested Florence + the Machine, and I started to look up songs--and discovered that I had heard the songs before, and really admired them; but I'd never heard them in a context that made it possible to remember to look them up later.

So in honor of those moments, here's one of the Florence + the Machine songs I really love. I suspect that even if you don't think you've heard of the act before, once you listen you'll realize you have--and enjoyed it.

Enjoy!


xoxo

Mary K.

Friday Fun

For the inaugural Friday Fun piece, I'm going to share one of my delights in life: the TV show Merlin. It's concluded now, but the five seasons are hilarious. It's a re-imagining of Arthurian myth, with Merlin and Arthur approximately the same age. There's drama, but there's a lot of comedy as well. And, of course, both of the male leads are very, very nice to look at.

There's going to be a new Strokes album!

I can't tell you all how excited I am about the prospect of a new album by The Strokes. In a lot of ways, they are collectively my muse when it comes to writing.

I am dreadfully sorry I didn't post all last week; my day job had me working on a really long writing project (over 40k words in a week kind of long!) and I was bringing work home with me every night, so that by the time I stopped feeling guilty for the day, I was certainly not up to writing anything here.

But I should be back on track again soon, and in that vein, here is the video for The Strokes' new single, All The Time. I'll post later on in the week about progress on my own work.

For now, enjoy this lovely video and song, my dears!

xoxo
Mary K.

Music Mondays: Albert Hammond, Jr. Again!

I know I posted a dong by Albert Hammond Jr. last week, but I'm still listening to the same album, essentially on repeat. So I post another tune here this week, since I'm doing Music Monday on time!

In other news: I am extremely excited to announce that I've sold 35 copies of Striking a Chord! I am extremely pleased with how well it's selling even with a fairly minimal amount of promotion. I appreciate each and every person who's bought a copy. If you have friends who you think will enjoy the book, by all means, tell them about it!

I've been so busy at my day-job that unfortunately I haven't been making much progress in writer-land. I'm waiting to hear back from some review sites, so hopefully I will have additional news to post here soon.

xoxo
Mary K.

The book is out!

Check it out, beautiful people! http://www.bookstrand.com/striking-a-chord

From the pre-order until now, I've sold something like 16 copies! I'm so excited, everyone. If you are one of those wonderful purchases, thank you so very much. I appreciate it a lot, feeling like a real author!

I missed Music Monday earlier this week, so I will include a song I've been listening to a lot in this post. You are all so wonderful!

I'll be updating as soon as any reviews come in, so stay tuned for sure. Hopefully everyone who has purchased the book so far will enjoy it.

Music Mondays: Elliott Smith

I am a big fan of Elliott Smith's work. I don't typically write while listening to it, because while his work is beautiful, it's also very, very sad. And it's not really the head-space I like to be in, particularly if I'm writing romance.

But since it's been rainy, and then cold, for the past several days, Elliott Smith has seemed appropriate. And I've re-discovered his early stuff as a result. I was introduced to Elliott Smith's second-to-last album first. Figure 8 is a wonderful album, and it is still pretty much my favorite of his albums. But I'm going to talk about Elliott Smith, his second album. He was still pretty much sticking with plain vocals and guitar at this point in his career.

What I have somehow managed to forget is that he's such a skilled guitarist. Seriously.

This song, Satellite, is best listened to with headphones, I find; you can hear how intricately he combines the strumming and picking. It's a truly beautiful song, and I try and make everyone listen to it at least once.

So now it's your turn!

In other news, I have already sold a half-dozen copies of Striking a Chord in pre-orders, which is absurdly exciting. If any of my dear readers bought copies already, I want to thank you.

xoxo

Mary K.

It's Official!

My book is available for pre-ordering!

 http://www.bookstrand.com/striking-a-chord
 Check it out, folks!

 

I'm hopefully going to start getting reviews on it shortly, and you know that I will post them here when they arrive! I'm so excited, you guys. 

Music Monday

Since I thought it might be a good idea to get this blog in a regular schedule, and since I've mentioned in the past that one of my greatest inspirations in writing is music, I figured that making a music post every Monday would only be natural.

I'm slowly putting together the soundtrack to the next project. It's elusive--possibly because I haven't really started writing it yet. But some things are definitely standing out in my mind, little roadsigns on the path to a completed story.

The music I listen to isn't necessarily directly related to the tone of what I'm writing. Sometimes it's good to just have some atmospheric stuff going on. I was recently reminded of how much I enjoy Radiohead, and as a result, I've been listening to it a lot.The great thing that I love about Radiohead is that the sound is so beautifully layered. I can listen on headphones and be in my own little world.

Progress Report 2

I just sent in my edits for final approval, so I should be getting my advanced reading copy shortly! You know what that means...

The book is coming out soon!

Now that this one is done-done, I can finish up revising the second book in the series (and hopefully get it out quickly, since it's a sequel), and then I can start working out the book idea that I have that's been alternately whispering in my mental ears and screaming at me to start already.

I'm slowly working out a soundtrack to composing the next project. I think I've mentioned before; soundtracks are incredibly important to me when I'm writing. With the right soundtrack I can get 4000 words down without even realizing it. Ideally, the next book will be over 45k words, and thus eligible for print-on-demand.

Also, since there's going to be some real action coming up, I'll be making real efforts to keep this blog maintained, as well as to get some guest blogging in. Be on the lookout, folks!

xoxo

Mary K.

Release Date Pushed Back

I hadn't heard back from Siren since I sent in my edits on the 21st, so I checked in on the publication schedule.

Bad news: my book's release date is pushed back.

It's not the worst thing that could happen, because it's still coming out in the month of February. Looks like the new release date is at the end of the month. They're moving a lot of books right now, which makes sense--Valentine's Day and all.

The good news is, this gives me more time to prepare for promoting the book!

Progress Report

I'm working on the edits for the soon-to-be-released Striking a Chord. I'm pleased to have gotten a good bit of positive feedback, though some of the critiques baffle me a little, at least in terms of how I'll work them into the story.

It's good to have a clear editing structure, though. I haven't much worked with the "Track Changes" function in Word, and maybe it's just because I'm exhausted, but it's confusing at times. But I shall persevere!

I listened to The Strokes a lot while writing the original draft, and now, editing it, I've moved onto Hot Hot Heat. One of my writer-like quirks is a belief in finding the right music for the writing one does. For me, anyway, the music I'm listening to at a given moment informs the way I approach the story. Stephen King wrote about writing with the door closed, with your music cranked loud--and editing with the door open. I can kind of see his point; when you're composing, you need to be very much in your own world. But I like being in my own world when I'm editing too--a different world from the composing land, granted. If composing is, like King asserts, like digging up archaeological finds, then editing is like cataloging those finds and giving them context.

I'm very tired. I think maybe it's time for sleep.

We have a cover!

My book has a cover! It's getting more and more real, folks.

Next Big Thing blog survey

The wonderful Susan Hayes tagged me in her go 'round of the "Next Big Thing" blog hop, so here are my answers to the burning questions.

The Next Big Thing

What is the title of your book?

Striking a Chord. I sort of debated using that as a title, but I couldn't think of anything better.

How did you come by the idea?

Originally, the plot was a short story for a Creative Writing class with a hilariously bad professor. I was sitting around thinking of what to write and the image of Angharad (my female protagonist) standing outside of an apartment door, working up the nerve to knock, just jumped into my brain. It was a very vivid, very intense picture, and I knew I had to write the story.

What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary Romance.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters if it were a movie?

Hmmm. I'm not sure, actually. Paolo DeLuca would need to be played by a handsome Italian-American actor, Nick Laurent maybe by someone like Colin Morgan? I picture Nick with very striking, but kind of soft good looks. Angharad I have trouble casting. Maybe Kat Dennings, with auburn hair.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Paolo DeLuca worries about his best friend Nick and decides to send his girlfriend Angharad to seduce him and take his mind off of grief.

Will your book be self-published or traditional?

The book is being published by the wonderful company, Siren-Bookstrand.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

About a month, with a few days of lazily not writing anything included.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I'm not sure really. For someone who writes genre fiction, I'm bad about reading the same stuff as what I write.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

 Some musicians I know, and some musicians I only wished I knew...

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

The conflict is internal, instead of external. It's a lot about interpersonal dynamics and choices, rather than us-vs-them.

Things Afoot

I've been terribly busy the last few days, so I haven't followed up here the way I'd like to. I hope everyone had a good New Year's! I certainly did. I spent it with a good friend, at a small gathering at her house.

Sometime in the next couple of days, I'll be posting my responses to the "Next Big Thing" questionnaire; I was tagged by Susan Hayes, another Siren author (mandatory plug: check out her work, she's awesome!).

I've got book two almost done, and I've gotten in the edits for book one. It's coming out on February 12, barring any delays. After I finish the current WIP, I've got my idea for the next one--unrelated to these two, but hopefully just as good.

Things might get rather busy in the next few days/weeks, but I'll be keeping everyone updated through here on developments in the world of my Romance career.

Ta for now!


Mary K