Friday, August 7, 2009

Cyber Launch Party Day 20: The Ballad of Kay Cassidy

Welcome to Day 20 of the Ballads of Suburbia Cyber Launch Party! For all of the details on the party including guests, the daily contests and the grand prize drawing be sure to read the information at the beginning of Day 1's blog.

The latest interviews:
As I have the past couple of days, I'm linking to some interviews that I did on the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit tour. They were fun interviews, so feel free to check them out if you are interested and if you comment on them or spread the word about them, you'll get extra entries in today's contest. And with two of them, you can enter to win Ballads of Suburbia!

GCC Interview with me on Eileen Cook's blog
GCC Interview/Freebie Friday with me on Linda Gerber's blog (enter to win a copy of Ballads!)
Friday Spotlight interview with me on Kay Cassidy's blog (enter to win a copy of Ballads and guess what I'm lying about)

Of course, Kay Cassidy is today's guest, so we will meet her in just a second, first I need to announce...

Today's Winner:

Each day I am announcing the winner of the contest that was posted one week earlier. Today's winner gets Ink Exchange from Melissa Marr! And that winner is Sylsome from LiveJournal! I will msg you for your address shortly! Remember to enter last week's contests! Each contest lasts one week! The weekend is a great time to catch up on them so here's our week in review:

Day 16: Jeri Smith-Ready blogged and up for grabs is your choice of Wicked Game, Bad to the Bone or 20$ of WVMP swag. Deadline Monday 8/10

Day 17: Greg Logsted blogged and up for grabs is his book Alibi Junior High. Deadline Tuesday 8/11

Day 18: Simone Elkeles blogged and up for for grabs is Perfect Chemistry, a t-shirt and a water bottle. Deadline Wednesday 8/12

Day 19: I blogged and up for grabs is Ballads of Suburbia and Ballads of Suburbia taffy! Deadline Thursday 8/13

So enter, enter, enter and win!

Now, today's guest blogger is author Kay Cassidy!

Kay Cassidy is the author of teen fiction she wishes was based on her real life. The Cinderella Society takes readers behind the veil of a secret girl power society dedicated to defeating the mean girls of the world. The Cinderella Society won the 2008 Golden Heart award in the Young Adult category and will be an April 2010 hardcover release from Egmont USA with book two in the series to follow in Spring 2011. Kay is also the founder of the national Great Scavenger Hunt Contest outreach program for teen and youth librarians. Read more about the Cinderella Society series and The Great Scavenger Hunt Contest at www.kaycassidy.com.

Here's Kay's ballad:

MUSIC FOR THE WRITING LIFE

I’m not a musician, but music is a big part of my writing life. There’s nothing more exciting to me--other than writing the book itself--than discovering the perfect song for a scene or the theme song for a hero or heroine. When I’m stuck or looking for inspiration, music is the first place I turn.

Every book has a soundtrack in my mind. The Cinderella Society definitely had one from the very beginning. There are songs for Jess, the heroine... songs for Ryan, the hero... songs that capture pivotal moments in the book. As I sat down to begin book 2 in the series, the soundtrack was already in place. It’s just part of my writerly process now.

When I was writing The Cinderella Society, I can remember listening to a certain song a dozen times in a row trying to nail the emotions of a particular scene. When I had trouble connecting to a character, playing the character’s theme song got me back on track. Immersing myself in the soundtrack was also a great way to chase away the real world, especially when the real world was anything but conducive to writing.

Music does all that and more.

So... which artists are on my soundtracks? It’s a hodge podge, really. There’s some Jessica Andrews (for the feel good moments), Christina Aguilera (for Jess’s angsty moments), some Nickelback and 3 Doors Down (for Ryan’s struggle), even some Rascal Flatts (for that moment when it all comes together).

Most of the time, I don’t go looking for the perfect song. Somehow, it finds me. I’ll hear it on the radio or it’ll pop up when I’ve got my iPod on shuffle and I’ll think “That HAS to be on the soundtrack!” There are even times when a song will give me an idea for a new direction in the story. I’m a big time plotter so I don’t change directions mid-stream very often, but Savin’ Me by Nickelback literally saved the story (and my sanity!) when my first draft of The Cinderella Society hit a road block.

So take my muse on vacation if you must--and she really does deserve it--but don’t take my iPod when you go. As much as I love her, my muse can find her own tunes.

Today's Contest:
Kay has had some absolutely gorgeous special bookmarks made for The Cinderella Society. Two winners will be chosen for today's contest, one for each bookmark. At this time Kay can only ship to the US, but she will be giving away more bookmarks to international folks on her blog soon.

So these are the bookmarks:

To enter just leave a comment about Kay's ballad, maybe talk about what music is your muse (I have lots, but Social Distortion has been a constant for all of my writing) and about what bookmark you'd like, Glass Slipper or Butterfly (I have no idea how I'd choose!)

+1 for blogging/tweeting/etc about this blog
+1 for comments on the GCC interviews
+1 for blogging/tweeting about the GCC interviews
Just note your additional entries in your comment. Winner will be chosen at random on Friday, August 14th

Tomorrow's Guest:

Monday, Danielle Joseph, author of SHRINKING VIOLET will be guest-blogging. So please come back to see what she has to say!

16 comments:

Punk Rock Girl said...

When I was 15, it was the Who that expressed everything I was feeling, through "Sea and Sand" or "5:15." Since I first heard "Ball and Chain" up through "Faithless," it's been Social Distortion.

Unknown said...

I feel like I'm stalking Kay - see her on goodreads and twitter and here...but really Kay - I'm not! But, you are very inspiring...

I love both Nickelback and 3 Doors Down and sometimes get obsessed about songs. When I'm in a rut and need a change of pace or when I'm a certain place emotionally - some songs just help me get to the next level. My current obsession is One Republic.

Those bookmarks are flipping sweet as is the cover of Kay's book. I'd have to choose the shoe because I always fancy having a room just for my shoes - right next to the house for my books!

marina said...

it's always fun to write to music. the only problem i have with it is i start to sing along and end up writing some of the lyrics to the song mixed with what i was writing to begin with. it's a funny mix.

~bean.

Kristen said...

I'm with Brain Lair on stalking Kay. I actually got to meet Kay at ALA, which was awesome! She's so great. I love her blog and her ballad really makes me look forward to her book even more. I love music as well, but even I don't listen to the range of music all the time that she does. Kudos to Kay for being awesome!

Kristen said...

Tweeted! :)
http://twitter.com/bookgoil/status/3182274607

Kay Cassidy said...

LOL. So great to see you guys here! :-)

Thanks so much to everybody for stopping by today. I can't wait to find out who the winners are of the Cinderella Society bookmarks. Be sure to note your preference!

Diana Dang said...

Oh I have plenty of songs for my muse! One of them is called Fearless by Jay Chou. Every time I listen to it, I think of historical China which is most beautiful!

I have linked the bash to my sidebar www.orientaldesires.blogspot.com

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Yummy. Social D.

No need to enter me, ladies. I'm dropping in to let you know I posted about this at Win a Book.

Bianca said...

I agree with her on her the perfect songs just finds her!! Good ballad!

infinitemusic19 at gmail dot com

Just Your Typical Book Blog said...

Great ballad! I love seeing what songs authors listened to when writing. A soundtrack to a book is always awesome.

I use to listen to a lot of random music, sometimes whatever song came up as Kate said that just found me. But since about Janurary, it's been Seether. It doesn't matter what story I'm working on, there is always a good set of songs to go with it. They're my musical muse.

Those bookmarks are beautiful! I use to collect Cinderella stuff growing up, but I really, really love those butterflies!

Amber
sammyjones57(at)hotmail(dot)com

Kate at Read This Book! said...

Great choice Kay! Christina Aguilera for angsty moments. xD

I'm a big fan of Taylor Swift. I can relate to her songs and they cheer me up whenever I'm down!

I'd love to win the Glass Slipper!
kate.readthisbook [at]gmail[dot]com

Kate at Read This Book! said...

I tweeted: http://twitter.com/readingthisbook/status/3186735309

you might need to follow me to be able to see it.

Ellz said...

That's actually great advice for writer's trying to capture an emotion for a scene in a story. I love music!

Esme said...

Great post-interesting about her having music in mind while righting.

My music-it depends how I need to be motivated. Sarah Brightman Arabian Nights is a favorite.

chocolateandcroissants at yahoo dot com

ReggieWrites said...

The music that inspires me, are of The Veronicas and Amy Pearson...both are pop-ish and the Veronicas are a bit punk-ish/rock-ish...sorry for so many ish's...haha

regietc@gmail.com

Lori T said...

Hi Kay~

I do think that music plays a big part in our lives. I love Nickelback and 3 Doors Down. Their music just seems to talk to you.

I love your bookmarks...the glass slipper is so cool.