That song in your ear - Every Move playlist

Music – do I use it to write?  The answer is yes, when I need some inspiration, or to get back into the groove of something I’m writing.  Then I’ll hit my playlist of songs that bring back the atmosphere of whatever I’m working on (usually while I’m driving).  The answer is also no, because when I’m actually writing I just can’t seem to tolerate lyrics in my ear.  Sometimes when I’m concentrating hard on getting words together, even instrumental music can change the tone in my head.  So I don’t listen while I’m writing.

But I do have a playlist for every book I’ve written – it seems to be a good way of sustaining the mood of a piece, especially over a long period of time (months or years).  Here’s a few of the songs that I used to sustain me for Every Move.  Some are character or scene specific.  Others just seemed to be a good fit for the book.  I’ve listened to all these songs dozens of times, and by the time the book was written, I felt like I’d milked all the goodness out of them and could barely stand to listen to them!  Now, after the book’s release, I can finally add them to my playlist again J

Wolf – Pyramid

Definitely scene specific: it’s the getaway scene, when Rachel and Mycroft and Harris escape to Five Mile.  Mentioned by name on p223.

White Noise – Disclosure

‘A new song by Disclosure comes on over the tinny PA system…’ – yep, it’s the chaos of Harris and Mycroft’s punch-up at the school dance.

Carried Away by a Moonlight Shadow – Mike Oldfield

On p231, Rachel is hearing Harris’s story while ‘Through the car speakers, a woman sings plaintively of being carried away by a moonlight shadow’. This is a really old song, but it’s odd and weird, and a strangely good fit for this scene.

Nanganator – Drunk Mums

You know Mycroft has to have a song for every book, right?  Well, in this book he kind of had two songs – this one for his anarchic moments at the start…

What I Like About You – The Romantics

…and this one, for his lighter, more funny moments with Rachel.

Jessie’s Girl – Rick Springfield

Folks, if you haven’t worked out that this is totally Harris’s song for this book, then…well, I mention it specifically on p251. (NB: This video is from Glee, and I think it's pretty much a perfect version by Cory Monteith - miss you, Cory)

Riptide – Vance Joy

Rachel ‘exercises [her] wooden fingers on a Vance Joy tune’ when she finally starts to recover her mojo after self-defence training.  Actually, this song was everywhere while I was writing Every Move, and I started to think it was the book’s theme song.

Bonfire – Knife Party

In Mai’s room, ‘Some Knife Party song is playing, the electronic effects groaning out like a continuous belch.’  This song has a nice, ominous tone which I liked.

Strong (High Contrast remix) – London Grammar

This is a sad song, but this remix is high energy, and the soaring feeling of it was a good fit for Rachel in her recovery period, and closer to the end of the book.

Hope you like ‘em!

And wow, the launch is next week!  I’m actually not excited yet, more flabbergasted that it’s all happened so quickly.  Right now I’m thinking about food, and drinks, and door prizes, and trying not to say anything too sentimental at the launch (because then I will start getting all weepy – I’m a bit pathetic like that).  If you haven’t RSVPed to Readings Carlton, and you’d like to come along, please do - then the lovely Readings folks will know what they’re in for!  The Every Move launch is on Monday 16 March from 6-8pm, and you can call 9347 6633 to come along (it’s free), or sign up at the event page on Facebook.  If you’re dropping by, please make sure you grab me and say hi – I will be a bit frantic, but I do want to make sure I get to say hello to everybody.  The next day I get on a plane to present workshops and hang out at Somerset Celebration of Literature, so if you're in Queensland, I'll be with you soon.

Thank you to everyone involved in the blog tour – huzzah!  It’s been a great week, and if you’re keen to see what people are saying about the book, go check out some of the reviews:

YA Midnight Reads: has a review and a giveaway happening...

Delicate Eternity: also has a review and a giveaway...

Novels on the Run: had a fun time trying to keep Mycroft 'on task' during a character interview with Rachel (and a great review)...

The Rest is Still Unwritten: has a review and giveaway going as well

Also, Birdee Magazine are running an Instagram competition for Every Move – go here to their post, and enter for a chance of winning $300 worth of books!  I think that’s a prize I could happily live with J

Have a good week, and I’ll update again soon.

Xx Ellie

Every Word playlist, and I can’t believe we went camping!

In the rain and snow!  In July!  But hey, we did.  It’s school holidays, you’re supposed to do crazy stuff like that.  Well, maybe not that crazy.  But it was great!  I saw and played in and skied on solid snow for the first time in my life.  I fell down and lot and got a damp bum.  I had a good time, which is funny cos I was dreading it.

Much like book release periods – I dread being so busy that I can’t write, and I feel drained and exhausted afterwards, but I have a strangely fun time.  Now that Every Word is out there, fending for itself, I feel oddly unoccupied.  Wah!

Anyhoo, just for the feels, here’s something I promised I’d post up: the Every Word playlist.  These are the songs that inspired me during the writing of certain scenes, or just seemed to ear-worm me at different times while I was writing the book, and gave the writing a heartbeat.

Prytania – Mute Math: For the opening credits.  Something about this ‘shaka-shaka’ song really reminded me of Rachel and Mycroft’s whole journey for this book.

Rocksteady – The Bloody Beetroots: For the roller derby scene, obvs.

Gold on the Ceiling – The Black Keys: Mycroft’s current Black Keys fave – he always has a Black Keys song on the hop.

Lay Your Love on Me – Racey: For the hot make-out scene in Mycroft’s room.  I changed my mind a few times about this song, because I thought it was too daggy.  But you know, Mycroft is kind of daggy, in an off-beat way.  What finally convinced me in the end were the lyrics: ‘Every word you say/ every move you make now…’

Wide Load – Ainslie Wills:  This is a beautiful, mournful song of regret by a Ballarat singer-songwriter, and it set the mood perfectly for the scene where Rachel sees Mycroft through the window of his room, late at night.

London Calling – The Clash: Arriving in London.  What else could you use?  Plus, Mycroft mentions the Clash specifically during one of those hair-raising drives with Professor Walsh.

Royals – Lorde: In the Underground tunnel, before Alicia and Rachel visit the Sherlock Holmes museum. This song was soo big while I was in London, omg, it was played everywhere. 

Fine Shrine – Purity Ring : This is for Rachel, swimming back to consciousness after a (no spoilers!) traumatic event.  It sounds like a bubblegum pop song that’s been warped and turned inside out so you can see the entrails – which is a lot like I imagined Rachel would feel at that point.

Burning Down the House – Talking Heads: This song would not leave me alone during the writing of Every Word.  Honestly, it’s addictive – try it.

Stay – Rihanna: Out in the yard, before the final scene of the book.  Mentioned on p:327.

Straight Lines – Silverchair : Another song that ear-wormed me.  Consider it a final credits song – for me, it’s about trying to be good and find a balance in your life.

There you go!  Hope you like these tunes, and maybe they’ll give you a little perspective on where I was at while I was writing the book.  I’d like to say thank you too, to all the people who’ve written in, and posted reviews, and gotten in touch through Twitter and Facebook to say they’re loving Every Word.  That makes me incredibly happy.

The Goodreads giveaway has wound up – congratulations to the three winners, from the US, Canada, and Great Britain!  I’ll be sending your copies of Every Word through this week.  Thanks to everyone who participated in comps and giveaways on the blog tour, and again, special thanks to the book bloggers who supported the tour.  Hugs.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to keep you updated about the progress of Every Move, which I know people are keen to hear about (it’s going to the printers in November – that’s the current timeline, at any rate), and I might even have time soon to put up a new Crime Report interview, which is something I’ve been rather slack about.  Until then, hope you’re doing okay – the weather here is truly miserable and cold (I can’t believe we went camping!), with drips all down the windows, and mud on the front step.  We’re keeping the house fire stoked high, and drying our socks that way.  Hope the weather is better for you, wherever you might find yourself, and have a good week!

Xx Ellie

Playlist of the stars!!!

‘…We walk into her room, where her speakers are wafting out Triple J…’

Every good book deserves fruit.  Hang on: that should be ‘every good book deserves a playlist’.  It’s taken nearly two years to get Every Breath onto bookshop shelves, and in that time I’ve had to keep the flame alive.

I find the best way to do that, largely, is to have a theme song (or two, or three…) that gets you back in the mood for the characters and their lives.  Certain scenes have their own songs.  And yes, because it’s taken two years, we have a little problem with dated material…but y’know, I can live with that.

So here’s the playlist for Every Breath, and if you’re knocking around at the launch with me, you may get to hear some of these tracks wafting out of the speakers in the background.

* ‘Plans’ - Birds of Tokyo : For reasons unknown I always imagine this song playing during the opening credits of Every Breath: The Movie.  No doubt any producer putting aforementioned movie together would have the sense to use something that wasn’t so old-hat (also something by a band that didn’t immediately follow up a really decent song with a really lame one like ‘Lanterns’).  But I still love the lyrics, and find them just right: We made plans to kiss the sun at night/Hopeless dreamers, hopeless times…

* ‘Boyz’ – MIA : Did you know that Every Breath originally started with a fight scene?  This was the soundtrack to Mycroft crackin’ skulls.

* ‘My Sharona’ - The Knack : Do I need to explain why this is Mycroft’s theme song?  (And did you also know that – tv-nerd-alert – the Girl Watson character in the old tv show Monk was called Sharona?)

* ‘Gimme Shelter’ - Rolling Stones : Probably my fave Stones song ever.  Has the requisite tension, plus a mix of violence and self-awareness that creates good accompaniment for the pivotal scenes in Chapter 2 & 3 (the title should give this away).

* ‘7 Nation Army’ - White Stripes : God, I really dug into my back list for these tracks, huh?  If I tell you what scene is attached to this song I’ll be accused of spoilers.  But it involves a certain drunken confrontation…  The beat and tone of this song is so dark, so deep and resonating, I couldn’t go past it for Mycroft’s dark moments.

* ‘Jungle’ - Emma Louise : Always think of this one as Rachel’s ‘my head is too full!’ angry song.

* ‘Embrace’ - Oliver Tank : Post-dramatic finale.  You know how, when something really full-on happens, there’s that feeling of everything being in slow motion?  This song is perfect for that, and also the lyrics are poignant for Rachel in that scene.

* ‘The Nosebleed Section’ - Hilltop Hoods : Because ‘…someone puts Hilltop Hoods on the stereo, away down the block…’  I love Hilltop Hoods.  Love, like lerve.  My lerve is like a river of lerve, that meanders on down to a great ocean of lerve…  And hey, I mention them in the book, so they had to go in somewhere.

* ‘Allies’ – Mutemath : A nice upbeat number for the end credits.  Plus a totally appropriate title.

Okay, before I go I have to say this really loud: OMG, IT’S HAPPENING!!!  We are having a book launch TOMORROW NIGHT!!

My excitement is clashing together with my nerves right now, to the point where it’s all bouncing around together in my head like a…well, like a Skrillex song or something.  I’m sort of terrified that the cake won’t be ready (Note to self: phone about the cake).  I have to work out what to wear.  I’m taking lots of deep breaths.

If you want to come along and see me sweat, haha, then go for it.  The Every Breath official launch is on at Readings Carlton, 6.30pm, Thursday 12 Sept.  If you haven’t RSVP’d, and you’d like to come, do it now!

If you want to come but you can’t make it – bummer.  We’ll miss you!  But you can join in the action on Twitter on the night @elliemarney.  Or if you’d like to check out the fun interview I did on Bad Ass Bookie, go have a look.

I’m also still giving away copies of the book – see the sidebar and click to enter the Goodreads giveaway, or go over to the site (there’s some awesome reviews of Every Breath over there as well!)

And if I haven't said this to you, personally, yet - thank you.  Thank you for reading, thank you for reviewing, thank you for supporting, thank you for being as into Every Breath as I am.  I am full of the loves right now, for everyone who's been with me on this journey, and for all the friends and family who've given me a hand along the way.

YOU ARE ALL MADE OF AWESOME.  Just so that's clear :)

See you tomorrow night!!

xx Ellie