For your listening pleasure

A couple of readers over the last week have mentioned music to me, and I thought I would share some with all of you.

Since Sarah MacAlpine is an ethno-musicologist and the jumping off point for her journey is a song, music plays a big part in my writing process. It helps me unlock the voices of certain characters, keeps me focused on the theme of the book, triggers the right emotions for a particular story-line. There are many different reasons why I use music when writing.

I thought you all might appreciate a peek into the music that I use when working on these books. So, I am making a couple of my working playlists public on Google Play Music. If you don’t subscribe to this service, you should still be able to listen for free with maybe a few ads. Here is some more information about the service.

The first is one that I used a lot when writing Cauldron to unlock Molly’s voice in my head. It’s called Once & Future book series - Molly’s Mix if you’re searching for it in the app. Here is a link. It is a blend of Appalachian and Scottish folk songs.

The other is Once & Future book series Dermot & Sarah. This is a playlist of songs that capture some of the turbulent emotional journey of Dermot and Sarah. So there are a lot of ballads and a few sweet love songs. Including the new addition of “The War” by SYML. Thanks Ashley for that recommendation.

If you have a song that you think applies to either of these lists. please let me know. I’m always on the lookout for music that helps. Maybe we’ll add it.