#MUSICMONDAY It Could Happen to You

Sometimes I look for a theme song before the book is written or I trip over one in the middle of writing it. In this case, I’d already written, titled and published the book when I went looking for a song that could fit The Summer We Stumbled, the second book in the Denim Days series.

Why did I pick this? Well, it contains the word stumble, but so did quite a few other songs.  The reason this one got the thumbs up is the line about counting stars. Melody and Duncan guesstimate the number of stars in an important scene. Also, they both hide their heart from sight, so…

The second book is for sale on Amazon as an ebook, or can be borrowed through the Kindle Unlimited program. It’s available here.

If you missed the first book, you’ll probably want to start here.

#MUSICMONDAY Dashboard Confessional "Carry This Picture"

I love a bunch of Dashboard Confessional songs (“Hands Down”, “Ghost of A Good Thing”, “Vindicated”) but the one that ran through my head as I wrote The Summer We Believed was “Carry This Picture”.

The Summer We Believed is the first book first book in the Denim Days series, which tells the story of Melody and Duncan over the course of three summers at their lake houses in the North woods of Minnesota. In the first book, the two main characters have been friends since the womb and the summer before they enter college they feel the tug of stronger feelings.

I really wanted to tell the story of the three summers without all the events that happened in between. Some of the events get included as backstory or even as a part of the main story, but it’s definitely not the traditional structure of one novel, so the series is being released as three shorter books. Eventually, I’ll put out a compiled version, but wanted readers to experience the summers the way Melody and Duncan would have experienced them—with a break in between.

This song feels like it was written from Duncan’s point of view. There’s a key scene in the story when they take a picture together. It’s an important scene in the first book, and in some ways the picture is even more important for the second book in the series. Unfortunately, there’s no official video for this song—I think it would have made a great one!—so, I’ve included a fan video from a concert.

And, if you’re interested in reading about Melody and Duncan’s first summer it’s available as an ebook here.

#MUSICMONDAY Jimmy Buffet "Hey Good Lookin''"

What you got cookin’? Now, that’s a question, isn’t it?

The answer is cookbooks.

It started with one just for friends and family. Every year at Christmas I bake cookies almost non-stop, and so I compiled a book of all the goodies I’ve made at that time of year with some tips and a little history about why I cook these things. It was supposed to be a gift or a replacement for greeting cards, but I got involved with marketing a boxed set last year at the holidays and that took precedence because it affected seven other authors.

The book didn’t get finished in time.

I completed it in January, because that’s how I am. Once something is on the to-do list I have to get it off. So, I figured I’d hold off and use it this year, but then I decided what the heck I’d publish it and just wait until the end of the year to promote it.  

A couple months later it hit me that I do a Cinco de Mayo party every year. So, I pulled together my favorite recipes and added a few things I’d like to try in future years and published it.

Then we were heading down to the Florida Keys for a mini vacation. I wanted to play bartender and make some new tropical drinks. that’s when I pulled together a bunch of recipes into a book of beach drinks.

I never really intended to sell a lot of these, but it was something to work on everyday. It kept me in front of the computer and I actually got more fiction writing done because this non-fiction was straightforward. It worked like a palette cleanser. In July, I decided to make the Mexican Cookbook free for a few days. I didn’t promote it. In fact, I really couldn’t promote it–there was only one review.

For some reason that book took off, snagged by Amazon’s algorithms. It was a great reminder of the power of Amazon and the power of free. My post-free bounce took the book to number one in the Mexican Cooking category, where it hung out for a while. It’s still ranked much higher and is selling much better than in did in the pre-free period.

Which brings us to today. Beach Bar is free. You can find it here.  

Jimmy Buffett is the perfect person to sing about Margaritaville or Pina Coladaville or Tequila Sunriseville or my eCookbooks. Also, until I watched this video, I never realized how much he Larry David look alike. I’ve never seen them together, so do you suppose…nah, it couldn’t be.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the song and grab a free book. Til next time…how’s about cooking something up with me.

#MUSICMONDAY "Remember the Name"

The first time I heard this song by Fort Minor was when my oldest son showed me a video of people doing all these crazy athletic feats. Not the kinds of things that people can make a living with, but rather things that they did for love. Skateboarding tricks. Freestyle. The most unlikely basketball shots ever. The afternoon that he stumbled upon it, we watched that video over and over and over, because it was mind blowing. Then we showed it to my other two sons. And my hubby. And anyone else we could rope into watching it.

I loved the lyrics that weighed out skill, luck, pain, pleasure, and will power. Aren’t those the ingredients in any success, even if the percentages are slightly different for everyone?

Today, I’ve picked it for the Music Monday post, because I’d like you to remember the name M.E. Wynne.

Who’s that?

Exactly. No one knows who that is, but it’s the pen name I used on my new novel GLORY. I decided to go with a pen name, because I was worried that my regular readers might not like the story. It’s not as sweet or funny or light hearted as other things I’ve written, but it’s still me at it’s core.

It’s getting off to a much slower start than my other books, and who knows, in a month I may change the name again.

Or, maybe I just need to be patient enough to wait for some percentage of luck to show up. At least one reader on goodreads liked it enough to bring it into her classroom shelf. That review made my day. 

I hope you’ll enjoy the music video I’ve embedded in this post. Unfortunately, the original one I watched with my son was taken down a long time ago, but this one is as close to that one as I could come. As my boys would say, “It’s pretty sick!”