Night Owl Music

"Ladybird" Stephanie McDowell

"Just dissapear. I care for you much too much.

And when you're near, close to me dear, we touch too much.

The thrill when we meet is so bittersweet that darling it's getting me down.

So on your mark, get set, get out of town."

- Get Out of Town, Cole Porter (1938)

I've always been a night owl. For me the hours between midnight and dawn mean uninterrupted peace and quiet. No distractions, nowhere to go, nothing to do but write. Just me, my laptop and my very naughty thoughts ;-} There's something acutely...sensual about the latest hours of the night. I can allow my imagination free reign - nothing is taboo or forbidden. Yes, I do my most productive writing in the late night.

Some writers prefer to create in complete silence, but I'm of the ilk who likes to have music playing softly in the background. Long ago I created a special night owl playlist. Every genre of music is welcome, the only requirement is that each song has to be emotionally evocative and provocative and not too 'boom boom.'  In these last few months, as I've become serious about finishing my wip for publication, my playlist has become an essential element in my creative process. When my brain is stuck sometimes a few bars of music or a stanza of lyrics gives me the push I need. Anyway, I think that, from time to time, I'll share a song with you for your playlist. Okay, back to work. Enjoy...

 

"Get Out of Town"

Holly Cole, live at the Bluenote

'Til we meet again,

Temple

Research Alpha

"He was Special Forces after all. He had been trained by the best to quickly assess an unexpected situation and adapt his ops plan to handle it.

He'd fuck her up against the bar."

- The Good Professor, Temple Bryon

You'd think that writing Erotic Romance(s) is all about hott sex. And you'd be right ;-} And while this challenge is a happy, gleeful, and joyous one, there's quite a bit more to it. In developing a wip, my first task is to create a world in which hott sex gloriously exists. Of course that world is built around my heroine and hero.

I'm a Pantster. For me that means I write the story as it pops into my naughty mind, and I research while I write. Although I'm a seat-of-the-pants writer, I did begin with a firm vision of who my hero and heroine are - more about my heroine later. In a word, my hero is an Alpha (yummy!) In The Good Professor, my hero - Ridge Copeland is a retired Marine (Special Forces). In his 'new' life, he's the founder and head of a securities company (i.e. uber hott bodyguards). And while my imagination is fertile when it comes to my ideal Alpha male (physical and emotional characteristics), I only had vague ideas about the military/military culture. And just to keep this interesting, I'm not only writing about one Alpha, but a team of Alphas and a few secondary Alpha characters as well (all some sort of military) - yeah, I don't do much easy. So I've been spending a great deal of my Panster time on 'Research Alpha: different types, lingo, guns, hand-to-hand combat, counter surveillance, defensive driving, etc. Let me tell you, it's a fascinating complex world and I can't wait to see where this particular leg of my journey will take me.

'Til we meet again,

Temple

Exerpt #2 - The Good Professor

French Gypsy

"She thought she'd have to tussle with the

boney handed creep in the stuffed shirt.

She'd much rather tussle with him."

Temple Bryon, The Good Professor

This exerpt is a continuation of the 1st...

Sophisticated Lady

"The Singer" Greg Harner

"Then, with disillusion deep in your eyes.

You learned that fools in love soon grow wise."

- Sophisticated Lady, Sir Duke Ellington (1932)

It happened quite by accident. I was in the thick of writing the first sex scene between my heroine (Bronwyn Blackburn) and my hero (Ridge Copeland). At one point in the scene, Bron hears the muffled strains of music coming from the quartet in the outer room. There's only one music genre that could perfectly encapsulate this moment, this story - Jazz: languid, passionate, melancholy but hopeful, plaintive but joyful  At this point, I knew that I wanted to name the song. And I knew that the song had to reflect/encompass the innermost conflict of my heroine (one of the two primary movers of the plot) and hint to the hea (happily ever after) of the story - Sophisticated Lady.

And who sings Sophisticated Lady

better than Ella Fitzgerald?

No one...

'Til we meet again,

Temple

Gulp: my 1st blurb evahh, from 'The Good Professor'

French Gypsy

"The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say,

but what we are unable to say."

- Anaïs Nin

Yes, this blog is brand spanking new - still got the tags on and everything. Which only stands to reason, because this author is spanking the new. And I must admit that not having a single follower (yet ;-} greatly reduces the fear factor of literally baring my ass to the entire free world. But, since I'm determined to bare my ass, I figure, in for a penny in for a pound - so here's my 1st excerpt, typos and all...

Down the rabbit hole I joyfully go!

"I wonder if I've been changed in the night?

Was I the same when I got up this morning?"

- Alice in Wonderland (1865)

In many ways, the life of a writer, is one that exists and thrives in a bubble...

Shaking in my 5 inch stilettos...

Janice Warriner Art

"Break through the wall! Find my dream!...

Into a thousand whirling dreams of sun!"

Langston Hughes (1925)

Two years ago I began to write...