Monday, October 13, 2014

Playing my song ~ #MondayBlogs


Music has always played an important role in my life, it's been a boost to my ego and a respite during troubled times. The words of a song have often helped me find clarity. And in recent years, songs have proven to be a trigger for unleashing creativity. Key scenes of more than a few of my novels have been written while specific songs have blasted over and over... and over again.

As for me, I sing without shame in the privacy of my shower or in the confines of my car (always alone) and I am always woefully off-key.

I dated a young man whose dream was to become a famous singer and entertainer and at 14 (me) and 15 (him) he would play his guitar and sing to me. We belonged to the local community center and there was a teen cafe where he often headlined the evening's entertainment - one night he dedicated a song to me, in front of everyone, and it was one of the most romantic things to ever happen to me. The song "Wild Thing" has never sounded the same ever again.

Since then there have been other songs sung to me or dedicated on the local radio station - Do You Love Me, The Worst That Could Happen, Lady in Red, Close to YouThrough the Years, Have I Told You Lately... The day I was married our first dance was to We've Only Just Begun. Each time I hear one of these songs, or a few others I equate with significant events of my life, I feel flooded with nostalgia, happiness and a little bit of a return to my yesterdays.

When I wrote His Lucky Charm (originally titled Forgotten) I played Kenny Chesney's Because of Your Love on a continuous loop; for Courage of the Heart it was Once in a Lifetime by Keith Urban; currently I'm playing Kenny Chesney's (again) I Lost It for my present WIP (a sequel to Karma Visited). Music seems to reach right down, grabbing my emotions and shaking them up so that I can pour words onto paper and hopefully connect with my readers' emotional intellect.

What about you? Are there any songs which have special meaning?


2 comments:

Malcolm R. Campbell said...

Before I became hard of hearing, I tended to play certain albums while working on novels. The album then became associated with the story and acted like a writing prompt, getting me into the mood. I used the new age artist Deuter with one and theNative American flute player Mary Youngblood with another. Playing the music primed the pump and kept the words flowing.

Malcolm

Chelle Cordero said...

Yes Malcolm, that's exactly it - the story gets a theme song (even if the song words don't exactly fit sometimes). Your stories are so imaginative, I would imagine the music still plays.