Music plays a huge part in my writing. It helps me zone out, keeps me writing when I sometimes lose the motivation and sometimes, even connects me to the story more. Some songs resonate hard with me and become favorite songs that I play over and over, they mean more to me than necessarily the story or characters. More often than not, I listen to techno music that’s upbeat and totally dance worthy (even though I’m not the dancer in the family, that’s my daughter).  Techno music is my ultimate “zone” music. I’ve been known to plug into heaps of techno music while playing away at video games. Often – before we all knew what an iPod was – I would strap on a personal CD player on my hip and play away at pinball games (a secret love, which is obviously no longer a secret ). I wore out two – count ‘em, two – CD’s of the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. Great reason to go digital on your music BTW.

Music is a love for me – I can’t sing and I’ve never claimed to. My husband however, is a whole different story. His years in the Corps (that’s Marine Corps) did some damage to his vocal chords and he can’t sing like he could in high school – but daaaaamn (in addition to harboring a secret love for pinball, I have a not-so-secret love for men that can sing).

The point – I’ve got one! I swear – is I wanted to share the playlist that I regularly listened to while writing Flash of Dark.  Nearly all of them reflect events, characters and feelings that play out in the book. It’s a wide swing between the types of music within the mix because I listen to a huge variety of genres in music. If I like it, I like it – regardless if it’s popular or what others opinions are.

Every book I write always has a soundtrack and I’ll release the mixes as I – hopefully – release more books. Also, while each story has a mix that goes along with it, they also have one particular song that goes along with it as well. It’s usually included in the mix and in Flash of Dark‘s case, it’s the last song in the mix – Rise by The Frames. If you’re unfamiliar with them, they are an Irish band fronted by Glen Hansard. If you’re unfamiliar with Glen Hansard as well, he starred in the independent movie Once and won an Best Original Song Academy Award in 2007 for Falling Slowly. I’ve a particular love for Falling Slowly, so don’t be surprised if it pops up in other mixes from me in the future.