There are many things that inspire me to write, yet there is one thing that more than inspires me to put pen to paper, and that is music.  Music propels every word, keeps the rhythm of writing, and  drowns out distractions of everyday life.   Music gives me the freedom to pour my heart out onto paper,  and helps me feel what the characters are feeling.  My music choices, though in the past have been a bit random, are now carefully chosen to go along with the story's flow and mood. This webpage is another way for you to peek into my creative processes, and take away from it what you want.   

Going Down Memory Lane
In order for this to make sense I'll give you a little backstory.  When I was 12, I came up with the idea of Going Down Memory Lane and originally, it was going to be entirely about Theresa.  I started writing it longhand, and I got to page 35 I believe, and I had nothing else to write.  I couldn't figure out where I wanted the story to go.  Originally a large part of it was going to be about Theresa's desire to move out to California, but honestly I felt it would be a weak point to base the entire story on and I knew I wouldn't be able to flesh it out into a novel.  So Going Down Memory Lane was shelved for about a year.  When I was 13, I wrote the original full-length version of Going Down Memory Lane, which was my first attempt at writing something of substance.  It was quite a learning experience, and there was a whole lot that needed to be fixed about it, grammatically speaking.  I rewrote it at the age of 19, keeping the basic story but correcting the style, grammar, and spelling.  I also had to improve on the basic telling of the story and add scenes here and there for it to make more sense and expand on the characters' lives and history.  

Okay, now that the backstory is out of the way, I can talk about the music. Since Going Down Memory Lane  was my first novel, my music choices for it were a little random.  By this I mean, I would pop in a cassette tape and not really care how it went along with what was going on in my book.  So, the tape I would listen to was the soundtrack to Forrest Gump.  I'm not entirely sure what made me decide on this particular tape, but as it turned out it wasn't a bad choice.  However, being the picky person that I was (and still am to some degree), I would only listen to certain songs.  The songs I listened to were: "Sloop John B" by The Beach Boys, "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas and The Papas, "What The World Need Now Is Love" by Jackie DeShannon, "Break On Through (To The Other Side)" by The Doors, "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel, "Volunteers" by Jefferson Airplane, "Let's Get Together" by Youngbloods, "San Francisco" by Scott McKenzie, "Turn Turn Turn" by The Byrds, "Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In" by The Fifth Dimension, "Everybody's Talkin" by Harry Nilsson, and "Mr. President (Have Pity On The Working Man)" by Randy Newman.  "California Dreamin'" and "San Fransisco" actually went more along with my very first idea of what Going Down Memory Lane was going to be, and I was still going to include it somewhere in the rewrite, and then I ended up eliminating it altogether, because the story didn't need it anymore.  The only song from this tape that actually fit into any part of Going Down Memory Lane was "What The World Needs Now Is Love", because it is indeed mentioned in the book.  Other than that, these songs purely were played because I liked them and not because they went along with the story itself.  

There were certain songs that I reserved to play during certain scenes in my book.  These songs are more what I associate with Going Down Memory Lane even though they were played less during the writing.  The first song is "Toy Soldiers" by Martika.  This song's lyrics didn't necessarily have to do with any part in the book, but I always thought this song was very powerful, and it was a song that really moved me to write some of the more dramatic scenes.  Also Martika had a vague resemblance to how I pictured Theresa in my mind, so that also sort of adds to the association.  The next two songs I listened to were "Streets of Philadelphia" and "Secret Garden" by Bruce Springsteen.  Starting with "Streets of Philadelphia", this probably seems like a strange choice since it was already written for a movie  (Philadelphia) and expressed its plot so well.  The reason I chose this song to listen to was because it was one of the few songs at the time that really touched me.  It brought a lot of feelings to the surface and I would cry every time I heard it.  I think what makes the song so memorable and appropriate is that even though it was written for a particular movie and character, everyone can relate on some level.  It shows how someone can feel so isolated and discarded by people they know and in their own town, and I thought how appropriate it was for how Theresa felt for her entire life.  In close relation to this is "Secret Garden", which I thought expressed another part of Theresa's personality, where she locks away her feelings and rarely reveals them.  I've had many years to develop the characters in Going Down Memory Lane so even if certain personality aspects aren't clear now, in the sequel(s), there'll be more of a chance to see what I mean by all of this.  Though I think the basis of their personalities are pretty blatant in the first book.

Now we've taken care of the rough draft song selections, which were used during the final draft but I also threw in a couple more songs.  The first one I discovered that I liked with this novel was "Do You Know Where You're Going To?" by Diana Ross.  This is another song which is already a theme song to a movie, however listening to it, I liked how open-ended the story feels.  It speaks more of the journey than the destination, which is almost the running theme of Going Down Memory Lane.  I've always described the story has a soap opera in book form.  To me, this story is basically writing life itself, and life isn't a destination.  So the story of Theresa and her friends is ongoing and won't ever have a final end, unless of course they all die.  So anyway getting back to the song, I felt it spoke of life's journey and how no one knows what the future holds for them but they can still follow their dreams.  The song itself is bittersweet and I think many aspects of the characters' lives are also bittersweet, so it felt right to me.  The other song I listened to for the final draft was "Mother, Father" by Journey.  Here comes another bit of backstory.  Bear with me.  

When I first started writing, my sister was a huge Journey fan.  Every night she would listen to one of their albums or sometimes more than one.  My room was right beside hers, and she loved to blare her stereo.  So even when I was listening to my own music, hers would still come through vaguely.  Her being a Journey fan became almost an experience unto itself.  I can't remember how long her obsession lasted exactly, but I remember it being such a big deal while I was writing Going Down Memory Lane.  Because I was close to my sister and wanted to share her liking of them, I listened to some of their music, and enjoyed quite a few of their songs myself.  One of my favorites at the time was "Mother, Father".  When her obsession sort of dwindled out and she moved on to other bands, I sort of was burned out on Journey myself and didn't listen to their songs for years.  When I sat down to type up the final draft of Going Down Memory Lane I first tried to listen to the songs from the Forrest Gump soundtrack, but to be quite honest, the songs got old quick (probably still from listening to it over and over again the first time I wrote GDML).  I was trying to think of a song that would appropriately go with the story and still put me into the frame of mind I was in when I first wrote the book.  The song that came to mind was in fact "Mother, Father".  I felt this song was appropriate for obvious reasons.  I think the best line in it that I feel goes along with Going Down Memory Lane most appropriately, is "Through bitter tears and wounded years, those ties of blood are strong".

Boy, I know how to ramble on, don't I?  So you'll be relieved to know that that is the end of my music choices for Going Down Memory Lane.  I would like to say that I am no way affiliated with the artists or songs that I have mentioned.  I'm simply an appreciator of good music.  

If you are interested in the music mentioned above, please check out the following links for purchasing information.