A Melody for My Muse

People often ask where I get ideas or how I overcome an uncooperative muse and for me the answers lie in music. When I'm plotting out a book, one of the first things I do is create a soundtrack for it. When I'm at a crossroads with a character or a hiccup in the plot, I listen to the songs I selected and usually it helps trigger and idea. Sometimes, the soundtrack will get new additions.

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For example, I was driving up to our summmer home in Rhode Island (the backdrop for Unleashed) and the song "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock came on and conjured up all kinds of great images for Samantha and Malcolm. That wasn't originally on the soundtrack for Unleashed but you can bet your butt it was added. I hope you enjoyed Malcolm and Samantha's story and will want to read more about the Amoveo.

"Sleepwalking to Dreaming"--Amy Petty *used in the book trailer for Unleashed
"All Summer Long"--Kid Rock
"Katmandu"--Bob Seger
"The Way You Look Tonight"--Frank Sinatra
"Don't Stop Believin'"--Journey
"Unwritten"-Natasha Bedingfield

Coming April 2012

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If you read Unleashed, then you've already met the heroine and hero of Untouched

and I'm hoping you're excited to read their story.

 Here's the soundtrack that I used while writing Kerry and Dante's story.

Enjoy!

"Honey on the Skin"--Amy Petty *song used in the book trailer for Untouched
"Hurts So Good"--John Cougar Mellencamp
"Teenage Dream"--Katy Perry
"November Rain"--Guns-n-Roses
"Fire Down Below"--Bob Seger
"Lay All Your Love on Me"--Mama Mia Soundtrack
"I'm So into You"--The Strike Nineteens
"Tipitina"--Professor Longhair *this gave me the Louisiana flavor when I needed it

Coming November 2012

Before I get to the soundtrack, can I tell you how much I'm loving the cover of Untamed?!

It is the arc (advanced reading copy) cover and will likely change a bit before the final version

 but I love it so far. The art department at Sourcebooks is amazing and

 somehow manages to capture the spirit of every single book.

Okay, on to the music.

William and Layla are a very different couple from the others you've read about. For starters, Layla knows what she is. She knows she's a hybrid. Half human and half Amoveo from the Cheetah Clan. She's spent her entire life in fear that her Amoveo mate will find her and

conk her on the head like a caveman and drag her away.  

William is a cold, calculating attorney and member of the Gyrfalcon Clan.

He is used to everyone following his instructions without question so when he meets his firey red-headed mate...the poor guy is baffled.

"Promise's Demise"--Amy Petty *this song is used in the book trailer

"Paris (ooh lala)"--Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

"I Run to You"--Lady Antebellum

"Can't Be Tamed"--Miley Cyrus

"The Edge of Glory"--Lady Gaga

"I Go to Extremes"--Billy Joel

"Going Under"--Evanescence



Dream on....

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The ‘Difficult’ Second Album

Hey there! I know you've all heard me mention this hot new band from Scotland--The Strike Nineteens--well one of the singers/songwriters from that fab band is my guest blogger. Ladies and Gentleman....David Muir.

There are many clichés in the music world. After all, it’s not what you know, its who you know. It’s about being in the right place at the right time. At the end of the day, when the chips are down, it’s a game of two halves.

Doesn’t make much sense does it?

In my brief foray into the periphery of the ‘music’ business I have came to one conclusion. There are no standards, only benchmarks. What I mean is this – there is no secret formula into making it big. If there is, I have yet to get my hands on this elusive Pandora’s box. Does this mean you should give up? Absolutely not! Why? Simply because the times they are a-changing.
One of my favourite quotes is, “a mind that has expanded to have an idea rarely returns to it’s original size”. The reason I find this so pivotal is that we can use everyone’s experiences to further our own knowledge of what is possible. The benchmarks of others are there like rungs on a ladder to help us upwards and onwards.

My name is David Muir and I am the lead singer/song writer for The Strike Nineteens. Is my band signed to a lucrative record deal? No. Have I given up the day job? No. Have I had a No. 1 hit single all over the world? No. If you ask me if I think we are good enough to answer these entire questions yes, then YES I do believe truly that we are. So what’s gone wrong? Well nothing actually, apart from the fact that in this industry usual rules do not apply. When was the last time you went for an interview and you adequately displayed your skills and attributes only to find out that they gave the job to someone with no experience, no skills and even talent? This is commonplace for the music business as I’m sure it is for many other “Art” driven careers.
I am glad to say that I have woken up to the truth. The dawning realisation hit me like wrecking ball. It was so obvious yet the answer hid in plain sight. YOU HAVE TO WORK HARD. That’s it. No more, no less. I had grown up with the exciting tales of bands that turned up at gigs drunk, had a stack of girls in the dressing room and a fat man with a cigar waiting to say , “You guys are brilliant. Let’s make a ton of money”. No matter how talented you are, no matter good your material is, everyone needs to PROMOTE, PROMOTE and PROMOTE. In this technically magnificent era our job is so much easier. We have Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Youtube, Internet and so many more portals to get our message out.

When we released our first album, Screams for Denver, we put it on itunes and waited for the cheques to arrive. To put it bluntly, my letterbox was as busy as an Amish Inbox. I couldn’t believe it. I had poured my heart and soul into an album that I was proud of and even let my guard down and talked about subjects that I had bottled up for so long. Why wasn’t it an unmitigated success? Basically, in the whole excitement of launch parties and local paper events I had forgotten something. No-one knew us. No-one had heard of us. No-one knew that our album had hit itunes. It was the equivalent of finding the cure to the world’s fuel problems and launching them into space.

Our second album is imminent and I am glad to say the lessons I have learned in the past 12 months have come to bear on this new project. To such an extent that we are promoting hard pre-launch. That’s right! It’s not finished yet but already the cogs are oiled and starting to turn. By the time the album comes to fruition we will have emailed, Bebo’d, Poked (facebook) and flyer’ed everyone that we know and everyone that they know. It won’t put the album to number 1 but it might get us some new fans in countries that our budget otherwise wouldn’t allow.
We now have regular meetings to discuss promotional strategies and business opportunities. This is a concept that took some time to become comfortable with but the successes we have achieved have help underpin their importance. I look at media radically differently now. Where in the past I may cringe at a poor advertisement, I now analyze it’s pro’s and con’s and try to learn from it. It is a fresh and somewhat strange feeling to do this but I sincerely believe it to be vital.

The most amazing thing is this – I have enjoyed every minute of it and I have met some truly spectacular people along the way. The proof will be, I suppose, that someone will read this in years to come and say “Wow, look at them now!”
Work smart AND hard!

Cheers, peace and love
David Muir.

http://myspace.com/thestrikenineteens

Independents Uncovered Radio Show Monday Nights!

So you know how I've been getting hooked up with these incredible musicians? Well it's all thanks to my buddy John Campbell over at Independents Uncovered. John has a weekly radio show on http://www.wgmuradio.com/ on Monday Nights 7:30pm-10:00pm Eastern time. Well next Monday evening April 27th, John will be having The Strike Nineteens on as his guests. So you get two awesome experiences in one. Below are all the details for checking out their show right from your own computer. I hope you'll come on by and have a listen. I for one, can't wait to "meet" the boys from the band that wrote me such a beautiful song!

1. Show Broadcasts at 730 PM Eastern Time - 10 PM, every Monday Night
2. To listen, type in: http://www.wgmuradio.com/ then click Listen Live
3. Additional Information:
Official Myspace Page: www.myspace.com/independentsuncovered
Official Blog: http://www.independentsuncovered.blogspot.com/
Official Book of Independents Uncovered: The Amoveo Legacy
Official Foto of John Campbell: On the cover of The Amoveo Legacy....clearly John wrote this part LOL!