mary e. pearson

Wow, thanks for all the cheers yesterday.  And songs!  What a fabulous car song playlist I have now.  itunes here I come!

I also wanted to say I am going to be a guest blogger over at Tor.com for the month of September.  I will be posting two or three times a week over there and mostly be talking about the writing process, and some of the surprises and pitfalls I have encountered when writing my own books.  And who knows what else.  They said I could write about anything.  I felt like a teenager being given the keys to the car and being told, go wherever you want.  If you have any anythings you'd like me to talk about, let me know. (see, I'm tossing the keys to you too!)

Yesterday my first post went up and I yammered a bit about genre. 

Please come over and say hello, share your thoughts, and keep me company!

And I wish I could just play chopsticks--with my fingers!

Just a quick last note before I head off for LA.  I am not normally the starstruck giddy fan type.  I am just as likely to be enthralled by a chance encounter with a stranger as any celebrity.  But I have to admit that I gave a little squeal (okay, a big squeal) when I found out I was going to be signing in the same booth at the same time as JANIS IAN!  My god, I grew up in my teen years with Janis Ian!  Not literally, but I listened to her on the radio and tapes (yes, tapes back then) all the time.  She is amazing.  Listen to this clip on YouTube of her singing Society's Child when she was only 16!   When I was 16 I was still trying to figure out how to tie my shoes.  
 

Off to LA!  Hope I see you there!

Yesterday I was working on my new book and a cello has surfaced as one of those details that just sort of present themselves, and so I thought I had this brilliant idea of downloading some itunes cello music to listen to as I wrote.  Sounds simple.  (can I insert hystercial laughter here?)

The thing is, it has been at least a hundred years since I downloaded any itunes music and itunes says that unless I updated my software, it was a no go.  Okay, no big deal, right?  (more laughter)

Three hours later (I won't even go into the nasty details) I have the music I want, but my playlists are wiped off my ipod.  I don't even want to know how to fix it at this point.  Do you ever get to the point where you are just done?  But I did get some gorgeous music:  Classical New Age Piano and Cello Duets.  Tres magnifique even if it cost me my playlists.

But the afternoon went much better.  The yin and yang, huh?  Much better.  My editor sent me the cover of my new book The Miles Between.  You'd think I would open her email the second I saw the subject line of  "The Miles Between Jacket."  But no, my stomach did a little squeeze and I ran to my bedroom to get dressed.  See, I had just gotten out of the shower (to wash away all those itunes miseries) and still had a robe on and I felt I needed to be dressed.  I don't know why.  Maybe in case I had to run out into the street screaming in horror?  So, dressed and prepared I opened it and . . .

LOVED IT!  Whew.  Whew, again. 

It captures the feeling of the story perfectly without giving anything away.  What do you think?

Hubby earned major points this past weekend. (As he has reminded me several times.) We had both seen the play Mamma Mia, but I wanted to see the movie too. It wasn't his first choice to see, but to make me happy he said okay.

Sooooo, the one thing I didn't tell him until just before we left was that the only version playing near us was the SING ALONG version. Yep. They have the words at the bottom of the screen and the whole audience can sing along. And they did. Especially the lady next to hubby. She really belted them out. (yes honey, I know, major points.)

But amazingly, the whole audience was hushed when Pierce Brosnan sang. I think they were all shocked. I have to hand it to him--I can't hold a tune either. Maybe that's why I thought there was something oddly refreshing and brave about it. He really does have some of that James Bond bravado.

Anyway, the sing along version was fun and interesting.

Now if they ever have a Fiddler on the Roof sing along, watch out. I will be first in line. If I were a rich man . . .

What one musical can you not resist singing along to?

I've been tagged by cawriter for the 7 Song Meme--songs you are currently enjoying and why. I am really bad at remembering song titles without looking them up, so this is going to be the 1 Song Meme, but I have listened to this song over and over so maybe it counts for seven.

I recently rediscoverd That's What Friends Are For when my husband downloaded it from itunes. The link I gave is to You Tube and the version with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and Gladys Knight.

It gets me teary every time I listen to it. I hope in all the holiday rush, you will take time to listen to it too, and think on all the friends who have been there with you in good times and in bad. That's what I do.

Tagged: marperez, d_michiko_f, melissawyatt, lizgallagher, thunderchikin, notjazz

. . . of your comfort zone.

A client of my husbands invited us down to a club in the Gaslamp last night. I really had no clue what to expect, but when I told my daughter where we were going, she squealed that this was the kind of place SHE should be going and not her parents! Ew. And then she tried to redress me so I would be "appropriate." Uh, no honey. I'm not showing that much skin. Besides, it's cold out. And raining. Let's be practical here. Yep, not a clue. But hubby and I like to dance and we needed to get out. So . . . we arrive at:



hm. Intersting name. And what is that? Now I have to walk down these dark stairs to a basement? They stamp my hand and put a band on my wrist. A tracking device in case I get lost? And what is that noise? The hip hop is vibrating right through me already. But it's a good beat. I think I could dance to that.



That is, if I can see where I'm going. Actually the lights kept changing so it wasn't always this dark. Even the little reserved table that we were led to kept changing colors. I was quite amused. Gawd, I need to get out more.

One thing I noticed is that no one seemed to be dancing. I mean, the dance floor was packed, but they were just standing there mostly jiggling. Hey, my daughter showed me some hip hop moves and even though I execute them Elaine style, what the heck, I was ready. I have no pride. So we did get out there and dance and mostly in our old fogey style. And a few hip hop moves that would make my daughter proud (or horrified?) It was fun.

But definitely out of our comfort zone. Which is a good thing now and then.

. . . music to revise by.



sigh. I love spring.

Happy Friday, all.

to a song that made you cry? Tonight I was watching the Simon & Garfunkle concert at Central Park on dvd and listening to Sounds of Silence and I cried. I've listened to that song many times before and it never made me cry, but tonight it did.

I guess art can do that. It has to hit you at the right time.

cawriter tagged me for my recently most played songs. Here is my best guess:

Hold On by Sarah McLachlan
Building A Mystery by Sarah McLachlan
Don't Be Shy by Cat Stevens
How Can I Tell You by Cat Stevens
A Whiter Shade of Pale by Annie Lenox
Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley
Merengue de Algrias by Ottmar Liebert

I always listen to music to jumpstart a part of my brain into writing mode. It helps me get rid of all the white noise of life ; ) And right now Sarah McLachlan's songs seem to really echo my WIP. For A Room on Lorelei Street, Tracy Chapman was my daily jumpstart.

. . . how much I love this song. That’s it. The name of the song: How Can I Tell You by Cat Stevens. I love his music. I keep rediscovering it over and over again. He is amazing.

Every morning I go on the treadmill (theoretically, every day, except when life gets in the way) and I listen to music. This is the time I think about my wip. Really, more like listening. Pieces and scenes come together. I “see” things. Each book I work on has different music. I pretty much wrote all of A Room on Lorelei Street to the music of Tracy Chapman. For my current wip, I am listening to a variety of songs and artists, primarily Sarah McLachlan, but also Cat Stevens, and Keiko Matsui. Keiko is a great artist to listen to when you don’t want any words to distract you.

But Cat Stevens . . . wow . . . Father and Son, Sad Lisa, How Can I Tell You . . . you feel his songs down to your marrow.