Current Musical Obsession: SMASH

If I didn't make this clear, I love musical theater. In college, I had a few friends who were theater majors. Hanging out with them was a thrill. I was cool by association.

Well, as cool as a nerdy theater wannabe can be...I guess.

Anyway, I felt lucky to go to a school where I could see these amazing productions every semester. It inspired in me a deep appreciation for all things theater.

Tonight, I'm FINALLY going to see Lion King. The Broadway production is on tour in ATL. *jumps up and down* I'm so thrilled I might come out of my skin.

So to celebrate, I want to share with you another of my musical obsessions. I can’t seem to get this song out of my head. It’s from SMASH. Yeah, that TV show following a crew trying to make it on Broadway. Okay, I’ve heard a lot of arguments for why that show may not have been accurate. But I don’t care. I loved that show.

I loved Katherine McPhee. I absolutely loved her. I also pretty much adored the entire cast, except that stupid assistant guy from season 1.





Title: Broadway Here I Come
From: SMASH featuring Jeremy Jordan




Here are some lyrics (my favorite part):
The pressure it increases
The closer that I get
I could almost go to pieces
But I'm not quite there yet
See, I've been bravin' crazy weather
Drownin' out my cries
I pull myself together
I'm focused on the prize

I'm fallin', baby
Through the sky, through the sky
I'm fallin', baby through the sky
It's my callin', baby
Don't you cry, don't you cry
'Cause I'm fallin' down through the sky

And it's a tune you can hum
Oh, Broadway here I come
Mmmmmmmm

Will I remain the same
Or will I change a little bit?
Will I feel broken or totally complete?
Will I retain my name when I'm the biggest, hugest hit?
Or will I blend in with the rest of the street

The people all are pointing
I bet they'd never guess
That the saint that they're anointing
Is frightened of the mess
But even though I fear it
I'm playin' all my cards...
Baby, you are gonna hear it
When I give them my regards
...



Now Jeremy Jordan has a beautiful voice. It’s absolutely creamy and melancholy. I can’t get enough of it. And when he sings about ‘playing all his cards’ in the face of fear, I feel like it’s a battle cry for every wanna be writer/actor/musician/artist.

He might as well be Mel Gibson on a steed giving me a pep talk before leading us artist-types into battle.
I absolutely love this one.

*Yells 'Freeeeeedooom'*



What songs have inspired you or your work right now?


Want to hear more songs that inspire me? Check out these posts here, and here, as well as my guest post on The Writer Diaries blog

Current Obsession From A Musical Or Comdey

Music is inspiring. It energizes us, moves us, and gets our creative juices flowing.




Last year, I had the pleasure of doing a guest post on The Writer Diaries blog about music as inspiration. If you don’t know The Writer Diaries you should check it out here.


It forced me to acknowledge the power music has to influence my writing. It was a great exercise and I decided that I am going to track the songs that inspire me most. (What better way to keep inspiration on tap, for those little emergencies? You know the ones….when we’ve hit a brick wall and the words aren’t coming. Yeah, those emergencies.)

Right now, I can’t get Let It Go, from Frozen out of my head.



Title: Let It Go
From: Disney's Frozen

If you haven’t heard of Disney’s Frozen you might be living under a rock (check your surroundings for large amounts of dirt, stones, and small rodents to confirm). It’s an adorable movie about believing in yourself.
I have this on my phone so I can play it anytime, anywhere.

I mostly play it in my car to, or from, my Day Job. In my car I can sing along at the top of my lungs (which is the only way to sing along with a kick ass song like this).

Here are some of the lyrics:


Don’t let them in, don’t let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know
Well, now they know

Let it go, let it go
Can’t hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door

I don’t care
What they’re going to say
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway

It’s funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can’t get to me at all

It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I’m free

Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You’ll never see me cry

Here I stand
And here I'll stay
Let the storm rage on

Here's the clip on Youtube



I think this song is more personally relevant than it is to say, any current world building/storytelling. I wish I had this song on repeat when I queried my first novel. Instead, I mostly listened to the sounds of my own sobs as the rejections came in like wrecking balls. *laughs awkwardly* *adjusts hair out of face* But we all went through that, right?

Now, I have this song happily snuggled in my brain.


What songs have inspired you or your work right now?

Hitting the Write Note

Music is inspiring. It energizes us, moves us, and gets our creative juices flowing.




I recently had the pleasure of doing a guest post on The Writer Diaries blog about music as inspiration. If you don’t know The Writer Diaries you should check it out here.

One song recently tapped into my well of my creative juices (okay, that sounds gross but you know what I mean):



Title: Radioactive
By: Imagine Dragons

I was driving home from work and this song came on the radio. I got chills. The constant parade of shitty Day Job thoughts derailed. My mind jumped to my YA SciFi in which medical science has advanced enough to transplant human consciousness from one living body to another. There are *HUGE* transformations that take place in my characters’ world and, as you can imagine, some of them are down right dark.

The tone of Radioactive is similar. It’s dark and it’s angsty. The subject matter deals heavily with transformation.

Here are some of the lyrics:

I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive




I envisioned my character sitting up, after having just had a procedure completed, and hearing this song as she walks to the mirror to inspect her newly modified body for the first time. I got shuddered. Chills. Big time.

I don’t even remember how I got home that day. I remember driving and I remember the song coming on while I was trapped in a traffic jam. And then I was home. Transported or distracted…either way, I was home and typing my newest scene all because of a song.



What songs have inspired your work?

Guest Post: Song for a Scene

I'm thrilled to have a guest appearance on The Writer Diaries. It's my first guest post with them and I'm such a fan of their site.




The Writer Diaries is an awesome blog where writers can finally post all those things no one ever talks about *makes shifty eyes*. That, and a ton of other helpful stuff for writers. Check it out here.

Today, my post is about music as inspiration for fiction.

When I write I usually listen to soundtracks without lyrics via Spotify or Google Music. I don’t know which side of the ‘Music or Lyrics’ debate you are on but I, personally, loved Drew Barrymore in that movie. Super cute. And I’m with her – a lyrics girl. I love smart, meaningful lyrics that make me think.

Every now and again I’ll hear a song that amps me up. A song that gets my fingers twitching and my heart racing...

Check out the full post here.