You may have deduced that I use this blog to complain a lot about whatever book I happen to be working on. Believe it or not, doing so is helpful to me. When I post about my last writing session, I find things I've done wrong or omitted, dead ends I've traveled down; and my posts are a subconscious brainstorming session for where to go next.
The truth is, I'm excited about my current project. I'm enjoying the main character's arc, and I find the story matter interesting. I admit, while I have dabbled in songwriting, singing, and recording, it's been on a small-time scale; and all I know about the music industry are things I've read or discovered over my past several decades of being immersed in music as a fan. For the longest time, all that mattered to me was music, yet none of my previous books revolved around it. Now I'm dropping my MC smack-dab in the middle of it; following her career trajectory. I'm going to get a lot of things wrong, because what do I know? I do try to research so I can avoid coming across as an idiot, but first person accounts are hard to come by. I found one great article about "a day in the life of a touring musician", which familiarized me with some inside terminology I hadn't known, but no, no up-and-coming recording artist has blogged about his or her professional path; at least none that I could find.
An example of getting things wrong: When my MC goes into the recording studio to cut her EP, she's singing alongside the studio musicians. I actually know that's not how it works in the modern recording world, generally. The tracks are recorded in advance; then the singer comes in. Trouble is, that wouldn't work for the scene. She's trying to convince the label guy who's kibitzing on the session to let her record the song her way. So it's rather important to have the musicians present. I'm keeping that scene, even though it's technically incorrect. How many readers are going to shake their heads in disgust at the incorrect depiction? I don't care. I'm writing fiction.
And yes, while this project in its current state is a giant mess, I can fix it. Second Chance's first iteration was an average-size novella, hovering around 20,000 words, but as I've noted, the story fizzled out in the final third because while I had a good story up to that point, I had nowhere to go with it. I'm okay with the beginning and middle parts, but my writing style was completely different from the way I'm writing now. Now I'm writing well-rounded supporting characters and more detailed scenes. I can edit the first iteration to match; I know it. Plus, I know my characters better now.
I truly believe this can be a really good book. It most likely won't sell, and I'm not going to promote it, nor will I offer ARCs. People can either find it or not find it. I don't care if it sells.
When I was writing songs full-time, I composed a lot that were "pretty good". In fact, the track from our band that's gotten the most plays on Spotify, by far, is one I wrote. But to be honest, at the time I was writing it, I knew I had some good lines and I also knew that my intent was to write a soaring ballad a la Roy Orbison. I succeeded, and the track became popular in no small part due to my husband's production. But the few times I listen to it now, while I can appreciate its overall excellence, it doesn't move me.
My favorite, my very favorite song, is one that was borne out of pure inspiration. I honestly don't know how it sprung forth, but it showed up fully formed and fast! I'm a big stickler for getting my lyrics just right, and I'll play around with lines until I'm satisfied with them. With this song, there they were! I'm being honest when I say that I don't think I had a hand in its creation. And I'm not one of those superstitious writers who needs to feel the presence of "the muse". Songwriting is a skill like any other. My roundabout point is, that track is not popular on Spotify. No one seems to "get it". But I do.
My husband's old band had a reunion a few years back. It was held in one of the guys' basement. All the instruments were set up and ready to be played. They messed around with a few of their old numbers, but mostly spent the evening gabbing. I obviously had never been a part of that crowd, and I was meeting a couple of the guys for the first time. During a lull in the evening, the host put on a few of my husband's and my recorded tracks. It was embarrassing when mine came on, but I caught the expression on the face of one of my new acquaintances, and he was clearly captivated. "You wrote that?" he asked when it finished playing. "Wow!" He compared it to some legendary songwriter's work, I can't remember who; and I thought, well, at least one person got it. And that was enough.
That's how this book will be. If people read it and hate it, shrug. Same if they don't read it. One person might, and that one person could well be just me.
That will be enough.
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