Dear Reader,

It's a treat to have this opportunity to share some fun things with you, beyond the usual "So, where do you get your ideas from?", and "How many publishers rejected your first book?". For instance, I like the idea of you knowing that if I had to choose between my husband and a very good dark chocolate bar, the outcome would not be a sure thing!

Something I want you to know about is my passion for music, and the role music plays in my writing. Unlike my husband (author Eric Van Lustbader, who would in fact win the above contest), who always has music blasting while he writes, I often find it distracting to actually listen to music when I'm working. I find myself getting up and dancing, or sitting back and crying, or singing along and finding I've typed lyrics instead of dialogue.

But even when I need my office quiet, there is always music in my head, lyrics in the back of my brain creating a symphonic backdrop to my words. In the acknowledgments to Stone Creek, I thank several singer/songwriters for the inspiration their work provided me, and say, in utter truth, that their songs could have told the story I had just written. In fact, while I was writing Stone Creek, I created a playlist in my iTunes library of songs that, as the book progressed, helped me understand, feel, and tell the story. It's the soundtrack of the book (and would make the perfect soundtrack for the movie!), and every time I listen to it now I am back in the company of Danny and Lily and Paul, reliving their struggles.

Sometimes, however, I do need to have music in the air while I work. I cannot even begin to understand why, but while writing the entire last third of my first book, Hidden, I listened to the soundtrack to the movie Master and Commander over and over and over, and I still love it. For the book I'm working on now, I started putting together my playlist even before I began writing the first scene. It was as if I needed to feel my characters' emotions expressed with more than words, to have those emotions expand into my heart in the way, for me, that only the sounds and vibrations of music can do. [If you want to know what’s on my playlists, please drop me an email.]

Thanks for visiting with me here, and happy reading!

Victoria