Got Music!

What is your fave type of music? Or do you have varied interests in music?

In NO ACCOUNTING FOR LOVE, on their blind date, Laura Cortez and Tony Alvarado engage in a rather stilted conversation about music. Laura thinks he only likes Texas radio; he believes she likes romantic Spanish music. When they realize they both have varied interests in music, neither likes the idea that they might have something in common – especially Tony.

Music has always held a special place in my heart. Growing up, my mom would burst into song as she washed the dishes. My dad would sing “You Are My Sunshine” to me and my sisters. We’d go to a funeral for a dearly departed relative. After hugging and crying and consoling the kinfolk, we’d adjourn to someone’s house to eat and drink and make merry with loud music. This didn’t mean we didn’t care for our deceased loved one because the next day we’d be in attendance again albeit some of our elders with aching feet, and bleary eyed with hangovers.

Several years ago one of the members, M. J. Fredrick, in my writing group, San Antonio Romance Authors, put up a playlist for one of her stories on her blog. What a great idea! Up to that time, I would always listen to music (or have wrestling on TV in the background – “Junkyard Dog” anyone?) while I wrote. However, I never thought of making a playlist. Now, I listen to songs as prospective playlist inclusion.

I worked with someone who couldn’t jump around from one music genre to another. It unnerved her. For me, it’s exhilarating. I’m listening to “Amigos del Mundo”, a parody of “Happy Christmas” by John Lennon. The instrumental part has me envisioning my characters dancing. Then, a couple of jazzy tunes come on. One makes me want to get up and dance; the other has a saxophone section which evokes a jazz hero for one of my stories. Next, the steel guitar strums loudly in my ear – then, is it a trombone? I see the open road in front of me and I’m riding a motorcycle – or maybe driving one? What if? A motorcycle hero is born. Can we slow things down? Has anyone heard Diana Krall? I found the saddest song – “Why Do I Care?” Time for the waterworks, as my son says. My thought? I found the song for the BIG BLACK MOMENT!

Then, there’s the piano. I took lessons for several years. I can look at any piece of music and at least attempt to play it for you. Playing the piano relaxes me. My son who is also musical sometimes wrinkles his brow at the songs I have him include on my CD playlists. Where in the world did you hear that song? “On the radio,” I tell him. That’s how I found “Send Me The Pillow You Sleep On”; Floyd Cramer plays it on the piano, no lyrics. Oh my…

Are Remakes Okay?

Remember the commercial jingles? Burger King’s “have it your way”, MacDonald’s “two all-beef patties” and Enjoli perfume’s “I can bring home the bacon”? Today, it seems commercials use someone else’s song or are just plain silly and/or annoying. Books are parodied. Movies are remade. My son thought ‘The Man from U. N.C. L. E. movie was a new idea! Sometimes, though, a remake works very well. My brother-in-law loved the Beatles, so I never asked him if he liked this particular rendition of “Happy Christmas” first recorded by John Lennon. La Diferencia, a Tejano group prominent in the 1990’s, released this song in Spanish and named it “Amigos del Mundo” (Friends of the World). In NO ACCOUNTING FOR LOVE when Tony and Laura dance at his Christmas party, this is the song I hear, especially at the instrumental part. Check it out. Let me know what you think.

Imperfect Men Are Perfect for Me

I listened to two songs tonight – ‘My Hero, My Friend, My Old Man’ by Little Joe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvzsmCJvAPU and ‘He Walked on Water’ by Randy Travis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCVw8Qjeg84. My dad doesn’t like Little Joe. Not sure why. He told me this several years ago. His brother, my Tio Juan, told me several years ago, Little Joe asked him to be in his band, but he turned him down. He already had a family to take care of. The Randy Travis song first featured in my mind after my grandfather died in the early 80’s. I thought he was a perfect man. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had ‘walked on water’. Today, I heard the song again and now the “hat” that looked like “an old halo” could have been a cap that said “#1 Dad”.

This doesn’t have anything to do with my Christmas story NO ACCOUNTING FOR LOVE to be released on 11/30/2015 aside from the fact Tony Alvarado, my hero, wasn’t a perfect man himself. He had ISSUES. However, in a romance, characters have to have challenges to overcome; otherwise, readers will put the book down. In real life, few things occur without a hitch. Well, maybe you can put on your pajamas without falling forward into your closet or backward onto your bed. Or, you can brush your teeth without mishap. How about pulling into your driveway with (without) smoke coming out of the hood of your truck? Most things don’t deserve to be worried about. They can be fixed. The ones you have to worry about are the ones that can’t be. Okay, listen to the above songs if you’ve a mind to. Bless your heart. (Decided I’d better use the phrase since I’m writing Texas stories.)

My Dream was to be an Accountant

Oct 20, 2015

My hero, Tony Alvarado, in NO ACCOUNTING FOR LOVE is a certified public accountant (C.P.A.) who owns an accounting firm and makes a lot of money because he works endlessly with huge clients. Of course, he has no time for romance.

When I enrolled in college, my first major was Accounting. I took Bookkeeping in high school and loved working on the practice sets – setting up the books for a pretend company. In community college, I took an accounting course and it still seemed interesting although a bit more complicated than balancing assets and liabilities. However, when I transferred to a nearby university, I enrolled in Cost Accounting. Yeah. Bye Bye Accounting Major! This is not to say I don’t enjoy some aspects to this day – I keep my checkbook register on an Excel spreadsheet. I use them to list ‘Books I’ve Read’ for the current year. I also have a list of the stories I’ve written, where I’ve submitted them and the outcome.

My ultimate goal was, I suppose, to write a story about accounting, an accountant – or a checkbook register!