Final Cover Art!
I think the cover is final, yea!!! And you guys, it looks awesome! I'm hoping they'll have it up at Runestone soon. Or else, I might see if it would be okay to post a link to it here. I don't want to violate whatever agreement Runestone has made with Gina, the cover artist who did a fabulous job!

Music
So, I'm shopping for new music now. One of things I like to do is find music or songs that remind me somehow of whatever I'm writing, whether it's lyrics or just the sound of it. It helps me stay focused on the "world" I'm inhabiting. Plus, it's an awesome way to get work done during the commute. I put in the cd of whatever seems to represent what I'm working on and then just think about things. Unfortunately, this occasionally results in good ideas that then have to be jotted down. I have a notebook and pen with me always, but digging it out of my enormous bag while driving 70 MPH isn't always an easy or smart thing. I used to have a mini tape recorder in my car, but I found that writing it was better for me. For one, I'm too self-concious about the sound of my voice, and two, it's easier to keep going with a thought on paper than it is out loud, at least for me.

So, usually, I create soundtracks for whatever I'm working on. Not literally, of course, my poor beleaguered computer is barely equipped for playing cds, let alone burning them. But I keep the discs with the pertinent songs in my car and play them to and from work. It sometimes means I'm playing only one or two songs on a cd over and over again (fortunately I'm alone in the car), but I like it.

Another odd thing, harkening back to the whole quirk discussion, I can't ever tell anyone what cds I'm using while I'm using them or else it doesn't work for me anymore. So those of you who ask to borrow cds and then wonder why it takes me so long to get them to you, now you know! But after the fact, when the book is finished, it doesn't matter so much. I don't know why.

But the only way I find new music is through the radio and by people telling me that stuff is good. I love music but don't keep up with it, for some reason. So, I'm wondering...for those of you that have read The Silver Spoon, do you have any music suggestions? I mean, I'm going to be writing more books in this series (I hope!), so I'm going to need more new music. For the first book, I used:
-soundtrack to Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-soundtrack to City of Angels
-soundtrack to Spiderman
-Dido (the first cd, I can't think of what it was called)
-Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory
-Saliva, "Pretty Girl" is the name of the song.
-"Back Off" I can't remember the name of the artist but this song was on the radio.

And there's more that I can't think of right now. I'll check when I get home. One of the features I want to include when I update my website (I know, I need to order the software) is a specific soundtrack with the exact songs from those cds.

But if you have any suggestions that you think might help...send them to me at sklemstein@msn.com

Talk to you tomorrow!