Happy April!
I kinda wanted to wait until April 2 to post for this month, because the internet is an extra-terrible place on April 1st. You never know what's serious... although someone pointed out that at least it's a day where people might doubt what they see online before believing it. :)
GRAND THEFT SORCERY is moving right along! My Good Intentions LA-based spinoff crossed the 121k-word mark before the end of the month. This is good progress, especially considering I was interrupted by multiple conventions in March. I'm confident it'll be out this year, perhaps even this summer. For our sneak-peek this month, I thought I'd share something important to the production process: the WIP Playlist!
I don't actually use Spotify much, but I thought a GTS Spotify Playlist might be the most accessible thing for those who are interested. I'll give the simple list of songs at the bottom if anyone wants to hunt them down individually. This list is somewhat random, rather than organized by scene or character. I guess that saves us from spoilers. :)
I also feel like I need a caveat: my Gen-X roots definitely show in this list. My tastes haven't calcified and I swear I listen to plenty of current music. (Flowers by Miley Cyrus was originally on this list before I decided to include a romantic arc!) Streaming services and algorithms turn everything into bubbles and silos. It's easy to miss good stuff. Also, I think I've been open about how Grand Theft Auto Online has been a foundational inspiration for this book, so anyone familiar with it will probably recognize a few things from the game's radio stations.
This playlist is also mainly for imagining and plotting, like when I'm out for a walk or in my car and I'm chewing on the next scene. When I'm writing at my desk, I almost need music in the background. The real trick there is that music with lyrics can be counterproductive. My brain latches onto the words in my ear and that slows down the words going from brain to keyboard to screen. That means I lean hard on instrumental stuff, and I'm not much for classical, orchestral, etc., or jazz (yes, there are exceptions). I prefer modern music. For actual writing time, I've got a long scroll of YouTube bookmarks of DJ mixes of progressive house sets and soundtrack mixes. If anyone's interested, I can share, but my quick response is to do a search for Nora En Pure, Johnny M, or Ordeephan.
Anyway, here's the set list if you don't use Spotify. Hope you enjoy!
1. I'm Alright — Mammoth WVH
2. Blinding Lights — The Weeknd
3. El Melouk — Ahmed Saad
4. California Soul — Marlena Shaw
5. 30 Days In the Hole — Mr. Big (covering the original by Humble Pie)
6. What's Up Danger — Blackaway and Black Caviar
7. Voodoo In My Blood — Massive Attack and Young Fathers
8. I Don't Care Anymore — Phil Collins
9. How Soon Is Now? — The Smiths
10. Scandalous — Mis-Teeq
11. Just Like Fire — P!nk
12. Let's Go All the Way — Sly Fox
13. Voices — Russ Ballard
14. I Am the Diamond — Nine One One
15. One of the Living — Tina Turner (an all-time favorite song that winds up in most of my lists)
16. 1000hp — Godsmack
17. Kickstart My Heart — Motley Crue (overused, but seems obligatory)