Right Here Right Now or How I learned to stop worrying and love my book with the Smiths, Fatboy Slim, and the Smashing Pumpkins

Two nights ago I sat in front of this very laptop with a begrudging determination to blow some dust off my neglected manuscript. It has sat idle in my hard drive for too many months now. Kind of silly when… well, how often would I rehearse a play for many weeks and then not perform it for an audience? Well, there has been one or two. But this book has so much of my time, my heart, my creativity. So I determined with the switching of calendars to do something about it.

But Monday night, I just wasn’t feeling it. Facebook is too easy a distraction. And solitaire. And another viewing of Doctor Who Christmas Carol. Um… yeah. Sure.

So I switched the iTunes to the also neglected playlists on my way to and from work. And somewhere in the ten miles between here and the Jamaicaway, the songs I’ve skipped over in my shuffle as long as I’ve abandoned my book, rekindled their meaning.

There are three songs I identify with this novel. That I will forever and always associate with Lizzie Watson and her struggle between Ben and Oliver Cottingham. 

Music does that. It triggers emotion and nostalgia. I will always and forever associate Dave Brubeck with my dad. If I hear a song from the City of Angels soundtrack, I think of the summer of 98 and ‘youth’ of Barre Players. I will never again hear Siouxsie and the Banshees and not think of House of Yes and my happiest experience at Hovey.

So… these three songs are necessary fuel to get my apathy off the ground. If you’re one of the few who have read the complicated paranormal romance, maybe you’ll find this curious. Or maybe my selection will make you curious enough to read. And yes, I want new readers.

1. Disarm by the Smashing Pumpkins.(couldn't embed this song so click on the link - totally worth a listen and watch) I heard this on the radio as I was carving out the initial draft of the novel. I didn’t even know how it was going to end at that point… but something about the refrain resonated with the denouement that revealed itself

2. Right Here Right Now by Fatboy Slim. This is not… well, typical music for me. At some point in my writing, I thought of the Guy Fawkes fireworks display I witnessed in Battersea Park. I think I was in the third draft of this… and decided to find the song, download it, and probably played it on repeat for an unnatural number of times. I found it goes best with a scene after Lizzie finds out who Lily is… but… the title really speaks to the idea I had about living now and not waiting, no matter if you have a potentially perpetual youth.

3. How Soon is Now by the Smiths. Another random radio hearing. I was well into the sixth, seventh... whatever draft when I found this in the spring of 2010. It’s Ben’s song. I am human and need to be loved. That’s it. But this song… it always brings me back to why I love my novel. And why, I also love the Smiths.

Shakespeare said music is the food of love. I love writing. So, I will play on.