Music: Brian Eno

During the writing of The Black Sky, I posted about music I was listening to at the time that provided inspiration. I didn't get to all of the music, as my playlist became massive - almost 2,000 songs by the end. However, one I failed to mention that really deserves a post is Brian Eno.

I didn't start listening to Eno with the writing of the book. I actually started months before, as I was searching for morning music while I worked at my regular job. I found music with lyrics early in the morning to be jarring and distracting, and searched out instrumental ambient music to put on while I was groggily sifting through emails in my inbox or working on Excel and Word docs. I had heard about his ambient series, specifically Music for Airports, and decided to put that on one morning. I believe that became my morning routine for several months after. If you checked my Spotify profile and what I was actively listening to, you'd think I was stuck in a loop. In retrospect, that was appropriate.

Once I started on a regular daily writing schedule with The Black Sky, I explored the entire Eno discography, including his collaborations with Cluster, Harold Budd, Moebius and Daniel Lanois. All of the music became essential in the creative process, as I have found that silence is a killer for me when writing. I need some sort of "other" going on in my brain, and Eno's music did and does that. It's subtle and unobtrusive, activating my subconscious in a way I cannot explain. Music for Airports, Neroli, The Drop and other Eno albums work in all situations for my writing purposes, whereas other artists and albums I might use as inspiration for specific scenes (i.e. more uptempo or dramatic music for an action sequence).

The Black Sky Gets The Wonder Plan Treatment

Recently made the acquaintance of fellow Buckeye, author/illustrator/speaker Jason Tharp at a local school event. Afterward we had coffees and talked publishing, and Jason was super nice to put together this in about five minutes - does this look like the cover a novel or what?

It's That Time - Query Letters

Like so many unpublished writers, once the book is written, and rewritten, and edited and revised, and molded into something your friends say is worth reading, I have now entered into the dread time known as "sending out query letters."

Fact is, I've been down this road before. I spent ten years in an independent rock and roll band. We sent our demos, then complete recordings, to record labels and got nowhere. We got a sniff or two, a call, someone from a regional indie came out to see us, but nobody bit. In the late '00s, I wrote screenplays. Most were bad, some were okay, maybe one or two where good. Still, I sent them out, even entered them into contests, but generally got rejections.

My first book, Power Ballad, was sent to a few folks, but I knew it was niche, and the feedback I received confirmed that. I didn't bother with my second book, Small Stories, because that's not why I wrote it. It was a personal thing, getting it published didn't matter.

But The Black Sky is different, so I'm taking a different approach. I'm being methodical, I'm being thoughtful, and I'm focusing. Sending out 100 queries to every name I can find is not the goal. The goal is locating folks who I can find common ground with in my story, and who have a track record with this sort of material. Maybe it will lead to the same dead ends, but I won't know until I start hitting send.