Still the Song soundtrack

Music is a huge part of my life. It's rare, at any given time of the day, if I'm not listening to any, whether it be on my iPod or iTunes Radio (I don't do regular radio). Needless to say, music was also a huge part of the writing process while I worked on Still the Song.

I started out with the Damien Rice channel on Pandora, and then ended up with an exquisite 'Writing Mix' playlist on my iPod. I was able to set the stage for my book, giving it a certain feel as if I knew what it would look like as a movie. When asked by my editor what my book feels like to me, I told her I listened to a lot of indie, singer/songwriter, acoustic music, and that if it were a movie, it would have vivid autumn scenes with lots of lens flare and golden hour lighting. I'm a sucker for that kind of cinematography. But it's beautiful.

My playlist became somewhat of a soundtrack to my book, where certain songs would actually remind me of certain scenes. I will admit that sometimes, when I had writer's block, I would actually write down where songs would go if the book were a movie. Hey, anything to keep the creativity going!

Having a so-called book soundtrack was also inspired by Stephen Christian's book, The Orphaned Anythings (which is amazing and I highly recommend it!). In the back of Stephen's book, he included a list of 'songs to read the book to.' I always thought that was great. How neat to get a glimpse of what the book felt like inside the mind it came from.

So, inevitably, I have compiled a list for Still the Song that is definitely probably too long. Maybe it's interesting, maybe it's not. Maybe it lends some insight to the book, maybe it doesn't. At the very least, it's a way to potentially discover some new music. And if you're at all like me (and like Jonah), that is always a great thing.


Still the Song soundtrack (songs to read the book to):

"Sixteen Steps" - Team Me
"Get Up" - Barcelona
"Our July in the Rain" - He is We
"A Drop in the Ocean" - Ron Pope
"Bloodstream" - Stateless
"Make It Without You" - Andrew Belle
"The Consequences of Not Sleeping" - Little Green Cars
"Hazy" - Rosi Golan & William Fitzsimmons
"Inevitable" - Anberlin
"Losing Your Memory" - Ryan Star
"Hymn For Her" - Anchor & Braille
"The Moon" - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
"Hesitate" - Steve Moakler
"Take Me Away (acoustic)" - Lifehouse
"Uneven Odds" - Sleeping At Last
"Normal Song" - Perfume Genius
"Trouble" - Coldplay
"I'd Like to Die" - Anberlin
"The Blower's Daughter" - Damien Rice
"Be Here Now" - Ray Lamontagne
"Never Had" - Oscar Isaac
"The Longer I Run" - Peter Bradley Adams
"All You Wanted" - Sounds Under Radio
"Be the Song" - Foy Vance
"Through the Lines" - Trenton
"I'll Keep You Safe" - Sleeping At Last
"Featherstone" - The Paper Kites
"Near to You" - A Fine Frenzy
"Tomorrow" - Daughter
"Robbers" - The 1975
"We Become" - Ryan Edgar
"Looking For You Again" - Matthew Perryman Jones
"Without Fear of Their Return." - Weaver At the Loom
"Hello, My Old Heart" - The Oh Hellos
"252" - Gem Club
"Keep On Trying" - Lanterns on the Lake

It's here!

My book was released Tuesday!!!

I know, where have I been the past two days, right? Turns out, the work doesn't stop once the book comes out. I spent a lot of time converting my book to Kindle and that became available today.

It was surreal to go on Amazon, search for my name, and actually see my book listed. To see the famous "Look inside" feature above the cover I have seen more times than I can count. By the way, if you click the link above, you can sample nearly the first three chapters of my book. You can also download a slightly longer sample for your Kindle.

Tonight, I signed up with BookBaby. They will distribute my eBook to Apple iBooks, nook, kobo, and several other eBook stores. It may take a little while for all of the outlets to process and offer my title, but I think I'm off to a good start.

It's been strange to watch the sales come in. I try not to think about it or worry about it too much. It's so strange to me that people--some I don't even know--will be reading the words I've worked so hard on the past fourteen months. I love this story. And I hope everyone else does too!