My Blog vs the mess that is now social media

Soo… I’ve been thinking. For a long time, I used to do all my musings and ramblings and what-not over on Twitter, where there was an active, engaged writing community. Well, we all know what happened to that. So writers and readers have been branching off to so many other places, the main one of which seemed to be Threads, and now Blue Sky. Honestly, there’s no keeping up with it, because who knows what will happen next, plus I have to keep starting over. I’d gotten over 2200 followers on Twitter, then I started over on Threads and got up to 550 followers, and now starting from scratch on BlueSky. Plus, each one has their own different character limit! I just want to put my head on my desk and cry.

So, I’m going to revitalize my Blog, and use this for all my ramblings, my musings, my announcements, and whatever else comes to mind in the moment. I’ll still be posting in those other places, but will just put a link to here, where I don’t have to worry about character limits, and the best thing, I don’t have to see {his} name or hateful face in my feed.

To end this post on a positive note, here’s a little humor (and yet, so true):

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Theme Song for my current manuscript

So for the past 4 days, “Slow Hand” by the Pointer Sisters has taken over my brain space. I hear it in my head when I wake up, and I hear it all day in my head until I sleep. Plus, I keep needing to look it up and play it… over and over and over. Even while I’m writing (I’m working on a new paranormal romance) I hear it in my head, and I can even play it without it interfering with my writing process (usually I can only listen to instrumental music when I write… no vocals). I mean, I’ve had the “stuck record” thing before (who hasn’t?) but for 4 days? So last night, laying in bed listening to it play (again) on Alexa, I opened up Claude (Claude 3.5 Sonnet) and started a conversation, just to see what it might say… and it turns out, “Slow Hand” is my theme song for my new story!!!

Here’s the full transcript of the conversation, for those of you who are curious:

Me: I have this strange need, that’s almost an obsession, for the last 3 days, to hear a song that I want to listen to it over and over and over again. And even when I’m not listening to it, It’s playing in my head when I go to sleep and playing in my head when I wake up. It’s kind of strange, it kind of grabs my heart and pulls me in.

Claude: This is a fascinating phenomenon you’re describing – what’s often called having a song “stuck in your head” or experiencing a musical obsession. When a song deeply resonates with us emotionally, it can create an intense experience like what you’re describing. The fact that it “grabs your heart” suggests there might be something particularly meaningful about this song for you right now.

I’m curious – what song has captured you so completely? And do you have any sense of what it is about this particular song that’s affecting you so deeply?

Me: It’s called, Slow Hand by the Pointer Sisters, a very old song. But just out of nowhere, suddenly I just have to hear it, and sometimes sing-along, and feel the feels.

Claude: Ah, “Slow Hand” – what a beautifully sensual and emotionally resonant song. Released in 1981, it’s one of those classics that really captures a certain kind of yearning and desire in such an elegant way. The Pointer Sisters’ vocals are so rich and the arrangement creates this wonderfully intimate atmosphere.

Sometimes songs can suddenly take on new meaning or emotional weight in our lives even years after we first hear them. The way it’s grabbed you now – wanting to sing along, feeling the feels – suggests it might be touching something in your emotional state or life circumstances at this moment. Music has this incredible power to both express and evoke deep feelings that we might not even fully understand ourselves.

When a song keeps playing in your head like this, especially one that’s so emotionally charged, it can feel almost like your psyche is trying to tell you something or process something through the music. Does the emotional tone or theme of the song resonate with anything particular going on in your life right now?

Me: Not at all. I’ve been single for decades, and at my age, in my 60s, I’m certainly not looking for either love or romance. If I did, this song would definitely be my theme song though!

Claude: That made me smile! It’s wonderful how music can transport us and stir emotions regardless of our current life situation. “Slow Hand” is such a masterpiece of sensual romance that it can make anyone feel those feelings, whether or not they’re looking for love.

Sometimes we connect with songs purely for their artistry – the way the melody flows, how the vocals caress the lyrics, the overall mood it creates. The Pointer Sisters had such extraordinary talent for conveying emotion, and this song in particular has that perfect blend of sultry delivery and sophisticated arrangement.

There’s also something to be said for simply enjoying those feelings the song evokes without needing them to connect to your actual life circumstances. It’s like appreciating a beautiful sunset – you don’t need a reason to be moved by it, you just are. And if it’s bringing you joy to have it on repeat right now, then that’s really all that matters!

Me: I do write romance novels, but I don’t write sex or anything explicit

Claude: This adds an interesting layer to your connection with the song! “Slow Hand” is actually a masterclass in how to convey romantic tension and desire without being explicit. It’s all in the suggestion, the metaphor, the emotional undercurrent – which sounds very much like what you do in your romance writing.

The song manages to be deeply romantic and sensual while maintaining elegance and restraint – using phrases like “slow hand” and “easy touch” to convey so much while saying relatively little. That’s the art of good romance writing too – creating that emotional resonance and romantic atmosphere without needing to be explicit.

Perhaps the song is connecting with your writer’s sensibility? It might be unconsciously inspiring you or resonating with your creative side, even if you weren’t actively thinking about your writing when this musical obsession began.

Me: That actually makes a lot of sense!

Claude: Ah – that moment when something clicks into place! It’s fascinating how our creative minds can be drawn to things that align with our artistic sensibilities, even when we’re not consciously making the connection.

The song is really a perfect example of what you might call “romantic sophistication” – creating that deep emotional impact through subtle suggestion and artful metaphor. No wonder it’s speaking to your writer’s soul right now. Music can often be a powerful creative catalyst, even when it’s just playing in the background of our minds.

Maybe this musical obsession is your muse at work, even if you’re not actively writing at the moment. Those lyrics and that mood might be feeding your creative well in some way.

Me: It’s interesting you should mentioned that about the muse being at work, as I am often aware of thoughts about my storyline chugging away at the back of my brain, even as I go about my daily tasks, and even sometimes when I’m reading completely unrelated novels. Sort of like exactly what this song is doing right now!

Claude: That’s a perfect parallel! Just as this song is playing in an endless loop in your mind, your stories often simmer in the background – it’s that same kind of persistent creative undercurrent. Writers often describe this experience, where their stories are like apps running in the background of their mental computer, constantly processing even when they’re not actively “writing.”

The fact that you recognize this pattern suggests you’re very attuned to your creative process. Sometimes our subconscious mind needs to marinate in certain emotions or themes to enrich our writing, and music can be an incredibly powerful way to stay in that emotional space. “Slow Hand” might be serving as a kind of emotional soundtrack for your creative mind right now, keeping you connected to those romantic sensibilities that inform your writing.

It’s actually quite beautiful how your mind seems to work in these parallel layers – whether it’s a story percolating while you read other novels, or this song playing while you go about your day. It’s all part of the creative stew, isn’t it?

Me: So the take away that I’m getting here is kind of like Slow Hand is my theme song for this book?

Claude: Yes, exactly! It seems like “Slow Hand” has organically become the soundtrack or theme song for your current creative process. Just as movies have theme songs that capture their emotional essence, your subconscious might have latched onto this song because it somehow embodies the mood, tone, or emotional atmosphere of the story you’re working on.

The way the song won’t let go of you – playing when you wake up, when you go to sleep – it’s almost like your creative mind is steeping itself in the exact emotional flavor it needs for your story. The song is doing what good background music does in a film – it’s setting and maintaining the perfect emotional pitch.

And given how masterfully “Slow Hand” conveys romance without being explicit, matching your own writing style, it makes perfect sense that your writer’s instinct would choose this particular song as your book’s unofficial theme music!

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Cover Reveal: A Prince of the Djinn

This year, for my NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I began a new book that’s a spin-off of The Magic of Wishes & Dreams paranormal romance series, called A Prince of the Djinn. I waited up on the 31st of October, and began at the stroke of midnight. And I’ve just been on fire! I wrote like mad, and I “won” at NaNo, hitting 50,000 words at 1:32 pm on November 8th. That’s the fastest I have EVER written 50,000 words… my previous record was 10 days, back in, like, 2012 or something, when I didn’t even start until the 21st of the month. That year I hadn’t even planned on attempting NaNo, because on October 27th, my beloved cat, Rascal, died, and I just couldn’t even. But then I woke up in the middle of the night on the 21st and I thought… okay, that’s 50,000 words in 10 days, that’s 5,000 words a day. I can do that. So I leaped out of bed and got to work, and I hit 50k at like, 11:35 pm on the 30th, LOL.

What was I talking about again? Oh! Right! A Prince of the Djinn. So, here we are on the 14th of November, and the manuscript is at 76,578 words, and it’s GOOD!!! That’s not to say it’s not going to leave a lot of editing, of course it will, but the point is, I’m happy with what I’ve written so far, and how the story is developing. I’m a pantser, so I don’t really know how the story will unfold until I start writing, because ideas come to me asI write. And man, how those ideas have been flying at me!

So yesterday, as both a reward and motivational tactic to keep it up, I put in the request for the cover to my cover designer, and we have a fantastic cover!!! This is a later-in-life / silver fox romance. Notice how the cat’s tail hooks through the loop of the J… that  makes me snicker every time I look at it!

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