Please welcome author... Pandem Buckner

Mood Music

Whenever I write, my preferred ritual is to drink, smoke, and listen to music while writing. I can go without the first two and be moderately okay in my writing, but going without the third – or some form of aural stimulation – is well-nigh impossible for me. Normally, I listen to Dave Matthews Band and Diana Krall almost exclusively when writing; sometimes I'll throw in a few songs by someone else, just for a change of pace.

Until this new story.

When I sat down to start writing the new story, I turned on my normal Media Player playlist and got ready to write. However, the story itself resisted me, and I struggled just to get the first two paragraphs out.

Temporarily defeated, I went back to the mental drawing board, turning the elements and possible scenes for the story over and over in my head. As I did such, I noticed something that I'd never had happen before when writing a story: the ideas came with music. I don't mean that when I listened to music, more ideas appeared in my mental inbox; I mean that when they appeared, they brought songs of their own with them.

The music they brought was far different from the complex instrumental play of Dave Matthews Band or Diana Krall's smooth, silky voice over laid-back jazz tunes; no, this story demanded, and even included, something very different for its soundtrack. It demanded an odd mix of 70s style funk, Japanese-made bebop jazz, and however one wants to define the odd, but good, rock-rap fusion of late-90s rapper/singer Everlast.

Never one to miss a sign, I made a new playlist containing those songs. When I had the time to work on the story again, I listened to that playlist and, lo and behold, I had more of a struggle to sift through the ideas and words coming than I did in trying to put them down. Now, when I'm working on that story, or thinking about it when I'm driving somewhere, I put on that playlist and have no problems with it.

Has that ever happened to you? Has a story demanded a soundtrack of its own from you? If so or if not, what sort of music do you find best to listen to when writing? What artist or genre wakes up your muse and make her dance in your head?

Our visit with Patricia Bates

This week the Deadly Vixens was fortunate to talk with Patricia Bates and find out a little about her and how she works. We hope you enjoy reading about Patricia and she's even given us an excerpt of her novel The Master's Mistress! Here's what Patricia has to say about herself...

Writing environments are important. Patricia tends to write the best when she’s at home on her computer with music playing. A nice comfortable computer chair lets her curl up in front of the keyboard.

There is always music playing, be it the radio, the digital music channels or her computer’s rather extensive music library. Every day is different in the genre of music she listens to, one day it could be Celine Dion and Bryan Adams and the next Charlie Pride with everything thrown in between. Her mood has a great deal to do with the selection of music and the topic she writes about.

Patricia’s office is cluttered with stacks of binders and notes of my research for my novels. The organized chaos that is within the walls of the room only add to the flavor as the words flow from her head to the computer. When in the zone, she can easily type out two or three chapters a day of solid writing. Is it perfect no, but at least the ideas are there. She doesn’t write very much with a pen and paper, preferring to type it as its faster, and more easily edited for her.

With a small child in the house it means that the environment is a lot noisier and chaotic than a quiet retreat but she seems to thrive on that. A bit of noise or a distraction keeps her grounded while she writes, allowing her to use her writing as an escape. .

As a major history buff – she loves to write about the old west and even earlier in time. History is something that just comes alive for Patricia which makes it easy to write historicals. Her first novel, which is currently being reviewed by Champagne Books is called The Master’s Mistress and is set during the 9^th century Norse occupation of Ireland.

Excerpt **Mykyl watched his father’s priest Rognvaldr gallop into the yard. Directly behind him was an unfamiliar young woman. She sat relaxed in the saddle as the animal stopped next to Rognvaldr’s mount. Her long auburn hair waves fell past her waist to brush against the back of the saddle as she dismounted.

She looked foreign, with wide set eyes and a small, upturned nose. He found himself aching to stroke the pale, flawless skin untouched by age or disease. She nodded at him slowly; a mere movement of her head, but it was an acknowledgement.

“I see you made it Rognvaldr.” Tyr’s voice boomed out.

The disapproval in Rognvaldr’s eyes as he turned to look at the woman irritated Mykyl. He caught the flash of unease in her eyes before they darted to the horses. Mykyl bit back a curse as his father brushed past him to greet the aged priest.

“Indeed. As you can see she is well.”

Mykyl watched the other slaves turn to eye the young woman. Her clothing was simple, unadorned, and spoke of low stature.

“She’s certainly grown more beautiful. Do you not agree Mykyl? Oh, but I have forgotten you prefer them blonde and blue eyed do you not?” Tyr eyed the woman with a slight smile. “You have done well Rognvaldr. Your reward shall be as impressive as the girl.”

Quickly masking his anger at his father’s promise, Mykyl focused on the girl. She held both horses, her head bowed, and her lips pressed into a flat line with anger. Turning his attention to the old man, who now faced him directly, Mykyl shook his outstretched hand.

“Welcome, young Prince.” Rognvaldr’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. Instead they cooled considerably as Mykyl stared at him.

“And her teachings?” Tyr demanded before Mykyl could speak.

“She’s quite intelligent. Speaks at least three languages as well as reads and writes. Took to my lessons very well, my Lord. As obedient as she should be.”

Mykyl stared at the old man. The thread of dishonesty within Rognvaldr’s voice intrigued him. If Rognvaldr would lie about the slave’s obedience, what else had he been dishonest about? Mykyl glanced at his father who did not appear to have caught the faint hint in the priest’s voice.

“Who is that Father?” Mykyl watched the woman look around the courtyard with hatred and banked rage in her eyes.

“Her name is Amoda, Prince. I’ve been teaching her our ways.”

Mykyl nodded and glanced at his father. “Is she a slave or a priestess?”

“Slave.”

“I have not seen her before.” He felt a familiar stirring within him and shifted at the discomfort in his trousers.

“She’s been within Rognvaldr’s care since she was very young.” Tyr explained and turned back to the Priest. Mykyl shook his head. Some things never changed and he was still not within his father’s favor. He did not doubt his father loved him. No, it was more that King Tyr’s attentions were directed to his kingdom and his eldest son.**

We hope you've enjoyed reading about Patricia and her wonderful excerpt from her novel.
Please leave a comment to let her know what you think!
Don't forget to visit her sites to learn more about her and her work.

http://ofinkandquille.blogspot.com/
http://patriciabates.wordpress.com/
http://www.bebo.com/PatriciaMBates
The fan fiction sites:
http://writersranch.topcities.com/Author/Destardi.html
http://www.wolverineandrogue.com/wrfa/viewuser.php?uid=338

Disclaimer (because we don't have a choice): The views expressed by the guest blogger do not necessarily reflect those of The Deadly Vixens.

My Writing Environment

This week we've decided to discuss our writing environments. Most people will probably say that my environment is not conductive to good work, but it works for me. ;) I actually write in my bed with my laptop on my lap. This is my favorite place to write. Occasionally, I will take my computer downstairs and sit at the dining room table, but more often than not, I'm in my room.

I don't listen to any special music or anything like that, but I usually have the television on in the background. I'll pick out what I want to watch and a lot of times forget all about it. After I've been writing for a while, I'll look up and notice that a completely different show is on, one I don't even like, LOL. It rarely distracts me from my writing.

Every once in a while, if my muse is being particularly difficult, I will find myself distracted by the TV. When I'm working on a scene that I don't really feel into, then I'll watch a show and pull myself out of the story. But this happens rarely and my system seems to work for me so far.

Another thing I usually do is go into a chat program at the Romance Diva's website. I can go in there and find someone to do a challenge with me. This is when I do my best work. When we challenge, we have someone keep time for us and we write for 20 minutes. At the end of the challenge, everyone posts their progress, usually word count, depending on what they are working on. Occasionally, we post short snippets of our work for others to read. This practice is very motivating and helps me to get a lot of work done. Of course, we also chat too which is quite fun!

Anyway, this is my process. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my writing habits. I'd love to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let me know!

Sierra