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I don’t hear lyrics naturally, which is surprising considering there are so many lyrics in Spin. I hear music. I can hear lyrics if I force myself to LISTEN. I’ve encountered other people like this; but, not many. It’s just the way my brain works.
The brain is fascinating. It holds so many mysteries and researchers can research till the ends of the earth but some questions about why our brains do the things they do will never be answered.
But. And this is a huge but. In 2005, I sustained a brain injury in a scooter accident. Mild traumatic brain injury to be exact. The curious thing about the injury was that I began to hear lyrics. Riding in the car one day, I just realized: holy crap! I hear the lyrics. This phenomena did not last more than a year because my brain healed and I reverted back to not really hearing the words. This was sad and happy….a true mixed blessing. I had fallen in love over and over again with my favorites: The Clash, Elvis Costello, The Gossip, Sleator Kinney, Mason Jennings and a million more. It was an odd experience to have this momentary illumination of the words behind the music.
Now, with my brain mostly healed, I still sometimes encounter symptoms of my brain injury when I am tired from too much concentration, not enough sleep or when I’m stressed. So, occasionally, I get to hear lyrics and it is a brief gift even though it means I’m not taking caring of myself the way I should.
I have been tired lately and yesterday I decided to listen to Sleator Kinney’s Dig Me Out while driving to work. It’s been awhile since I listened to the whole CD through and through. God. It is such a good album. There are so many things I love about it.
When Words and Guitar came on, I realized I was hearing lyrics and I had that giddy little moment: yay…lyrics…which of course is followed by a tinge of worry. I really need to sleep more. As I was listening:
Take take the noise in my head
Take take the noise in my head
C’mon and turn turn it up
I wanna turn turn you on
I play it all i play it all
I play it words + guitar
I thought: this is so amazing. jangly abrasion. skinned knee.
and then
i dream of quiet songs
i hear the silky sounds
hush hush and rock
oh give me pretty songs
oh let me have that sound tonight
a beautiful respite from the jangly harshness.
I feel a Sleator Kinney binge coming on and it’s going to be awesome. Maybe I’ll skip my nap.
I have a girlfriend. Well, I’m thinking I probably have a girlfriend. There is some invisible line where one moment you are dating someone and then with one step, all of a sudden you have a girlfriend or boyfriend. I have been dating someone and now I think I might have a girlfriend. We are both gun shy and not readily embracing the terminology. I accused her of doing something “girlfriendy” a couple of weeks ago and then this past weekend she asked, “Are you my girlfriend?” and I thought about it a moment and replied, “Yeah.”
I touch on this theme in the Spin because there are so many of those moments when you are a teenager and some of them linger into adulthood. Sara, the protagonist in Spin, contemplates the criteria for losing one’s virginity when you’re a lesbian. That’s just one of these sometimes undefinable moments.
So. I have a girlfriend. It can mean everything and it can mean very little depending on the people involved. I am both slightly resistant to it and on the other hand, excited about both the idea and the girl. I apply a lot of weight to the word. It means a great deal to have a girlfriend and to be a girlfriend. I don’t take the idea lightly.
It would be interesting if the line we cross had a momentary illumination right before we crossed over; so, we could, in that moment, be completely aware of what was about to happen. Life isn’t that easy or predictable, which of course makes for fun and adventure.
I have a girlfriend. Yes, I’m sure of it now.
Driving through Asbury Park this morning, I flipped to Matt Pinfield’s show on the radio just in time to hear him comment that today is Dave Grohl’s 41st birthday and 20 years ago he was drumming for Nirvana.
What? How could that possibly be? 20 years have passed since the smelly, flannel types started an offshoot of punk or maybe just an offshoot of rock depending on who you are debating.
I lived in Minneapolis and worked at a bookstore down the street from where punk kids panhandled in front of the McDonald’s. Half my coworkers were rockers and I’m positive it was someone at that store who first introduced me to Nirvana. Minneapolis is home to so many of my favorite musicians: The Replacements, Babes in Toyland, Husker Du, Mason Jennings, Prince.
I still have those moments that get etched when I hear a new singer/band that speaks to me. I can remember the exact moment I first heard Laura Gibson. It was a live concert in Portland, Oregon at the Doug Fir. Laura had stayed up late making paper snowflakes and they hung over the stage creating the scene for something magical to happen and happen it did. It was the release party for her CD, If You Come To Greet Me and it was otherwordly and extraordinary. I love that this beautiful connection starts when we are young but we don’t lose it as we age.
When I was writing You Spin Me Round, I sat in coffee shops listening to music on my mp3 player. Sometimes I would enjoy the music selected by the baristas; but, mostly I was my own DJ.
Music drenched my creative process with style and vibe and rhythm. At times when I felt apathetic about the writing process, I would put on The Gossip or The Clash or Sleator Kinney and think about my characters.
Spin needs a soundtrack. Music is on in the background and becomes the house that Spin resides in. Authors are making book trailers now, just like movies. I want a soundtrack for Spin. When I was almost complete and needing motivation to finish the first draft and start thinking about revision, I actually made a 3 disc Spin mix. I made a fourth disc which was a sampling of the 3 discs and would play that while I worked the cash register at Powell’s on Hawthorne, which is where I worked for a year while writing this novel. One of the songs on that mix is You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate. Good god that’s a good song and boy did it inspire comments from coworkers and customers alike. It’s the pull of a song, even a forgotten gem like You Sexy Thing that can evoke so many powerful emotions.
So, in my dream world, You Spin Me Round get’s a soundtrack and it begins as follows:
- You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate
- Add It Up by the Violent Femmes
- Mangled Heart by The Gossip
- Standing in the Way of Control by The Gossip
- London Calling by The Clash (or Guns of Brixton…it’s a hard call.)
- Detroit 442 by Blondie
- Tattooed Love Boys by The Pretenders
- Basket Case by Green Day
- Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day
- Sheena is a Punk Rocker by The Ramones
- Jumpers by Sleator Kinney
- Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths
- Take It Off by The Donnas
- Coma Girl by Joe Strummer
That’s a fine start and that doesn’t include dance tracks and a basement dwelling mopey song playlist. Mopey song playlist is a list all on its own and in some ways as important as the main soundtrack. There are so many more songs and artists that I listened to while writing: Talking Heads, Iggy Pop, Cake, Nirvana, No Doubt, Chet Baker, X-Ray Specs, Joan Jett, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Luscious Jackson, Morningwood, New Order, Prince, Laura Gibson, Madeleine Peyroux, Jolie Holland, bluegrass given to me by a friend, Cold War Kids, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Beirut and I could go on and on. All of these artists contributed to the mood and feel of Spin.
photo: Design Haus
I recently completed a draft of a YA novel, You Spin Me Round. I am about to start the process of finding an agent and I have begun work on my second novel.
Things are different this second time around. I wrote most of Spin in two different coffee shops: Blue Moon in Minneapolis and Fresh Pot in Portland, OR. I wrote it on a handful of single subject, spiral notebooks because I find composing on the computer distracting (Damn you Facebook!).
But, the biggest difference in my process is that I now live in Asbury Park, NJ, a wonderfully scruffy seaside town that has an incredible artsy, creative vibe and a strong grass rootsy pull. Asbury has a few coffee shops, none of which meet all of my needs: comfortable, good cup of joe, pleasant people and not overly crowded or loud. America’s Cup is okay. They don’t have the most comfortable set up, the coffee is drinkable; but, they close early. Twisted Tree is a great little place but it’s hard to write in there because it’s really small, there is frequently live music and the tables and chairs are not super comfortable, though they are open later. Baker Brothers is closest to me and has the added plus of being on the boardwalk; but, their coffee is not the greatest and the last 3 or 4 times I was in there the server was really unpleasant and grouchy and that’s just uncool.
So, I’m expanding my search to the towns south of me; and there are a couple of good places down there that have good coffee and are open later; but, I really would love it if I could walk to the shop, clear my head in the ocean air. When the weather clears and warms, I’ll be able to ride my bike to the next town which will be fun. This whole coffee shop dilemma got me thinking about my writing process and just how important this “clean, well lit place” has become to my writing.
I’ll write book two whether I ever find my coffee shop nirvana (I’m adaptable); but, it would sure be nice to find my new Fresh Pot.
Until today, this domain was used for a place to gather all of my librarian tidbits: handouts and links for students in my classes, reading lists and links to librarian type things I have created like my librarian blog: Civil Civil Servant. I have moved much of that content to Tech Corner so that this domain will be for my life as a writer. You’re welcome to stay; but, if you looking for links/handouts from a class I teach, head on over to Tech Corner.
