I am a music fanatic. I’ve always been that way. Even back when I was 4 years old, music playing on the stereo would make me jump out of the tub and run, wet and naked, on fast little feet out to the living room to dance. My parents probably thought there was something developmentally wrong with me.

In school, I was in choir, marching band and concert band. Plus, I listened to music non-stop at home. When the Walkman came out, it became my constant companion. No need to tell you that I'm an iPod devotee.

But music is also one of my primary sources of inspiration for my writing. Without music, would there be words? I'm not sure. I use music to manipulate myself emotionally, setting up playlists for characters, for certain scenes in books, and general play lists for novels.

Several of you have asked about my playlist for Naked Edge, but rather than just listing that, I thought I’d put them all up here. So whether you’re on Team Reece, Team Julian, Team Marc or Team Gabe (or are preemptively signing up for Team Zach), you’ll find something here to give you insight into those characters — or at least the odd inner workings of my brain, which is much less exciting.

So get ready to sample some tunes at the iTunes store. I won’t be able to list everything here, just the most significant songs for each book.

Extreme Exposure
I haven't saved this list — it’s been a while now — so I’m going from memory. I listened to a lot of Eminem (esp. Lose Yourself and 8 Mile) while I wrote this. Not sure why. But the most “Reece” song to me was Five for Fightin's Superman (playcount 1,630). I saw Reece as a hero who was almost too good for the world around him, a man who just wanted to be a man but whose sense of right and wrong was so strong that it led him to this sea of conflict — but also, ultimately, happiness with Kara. That song for some reason evokes that for me. For the scenes at the cement plant at the end of the book, I wanted something that sounded violent and evoked factory machinery. So I listened to U2’s “Mofo” from Pop. And that's about all I can remember...

Hard Evidence
I still have some of this playlist on my iTunes.
“Jerusalem Poker” by Bruce Cockburn — evoked Julian’s inner cool during violence
“Savin' Me” by Nickelback — This might sound like a Marc song (in fact, he might have grown out of it), but to me it evoked Julian’s inner struggle and his being trapped in a sense of worthlessness. It is the most “Julian” song I can think of. Plus he was in prison at one point.
“Feelin' Way Too Damn Good” — this made me feel his sense of disbelief that he’d fallen in love
“If You Wear That Velvet Dress” — This was the end of the story for me. It starts at Julian’s bleakest moment when Tessa is gone, then resolves into their being together and all danger being past. This is one of those instances where it’s more the emotion of the music than the lyrics.

I also listened incessantly to a mixtape put together by Joe Thunder and some of his homies. This was hip hop from Aurora — A-Town, Julian’s stomping ground. This was right off the street. You can’t get it anywhere, plus none of the songs have titles.

Unlawful Contact
The name of this playlist is actually MARC&SOPHIE. I think in terms of characters, because they have to feel like people to me to feel real to you.
The love scene in the prologue needed a sense of innocent sensuality, and I got that from “One Summer Night” by the Danleers. Think of Marc's ’55 Chevy.
“Spybreak” and “Clubbed to Death” from The Matrix soundtrack fed the actions scenes.
“Running Away” by Hoobastank — what else but prison escape music? “Where Do I Hide?” by Nickelback came in there, too.
“Running to Stand Still,” U2's song about heroin addiction, was Megan for me. Love this song.
“Worthy To Say” by Nickelback and “Cocaine” by Eric Clapton helped feed the street scenes, particularly anything having to do with drugs.
“Better Than Me” and “Lips of An Angel” brought to mind Marc's sense that Sophie deserved better. Again, it’s not always the lyrics. Sometimes it’s just the emotion it evokes.
As for the love the two felt for each other, “Truly Madly Deeply” and “Chasing Cars” were high up there.
And the ultimate Marc song? “When I'm Gone” by 3 Doors Down. This was the beginning of my 3 Doors Down obsession. See if you think this fits:


That scene that made people really anxious toward the end of the book, the one that involves bullets... (I’m trying to do this without spoilers) I listened to one song for an entire weekend just to convince myself that the worst had happened and that it was O-V-E-R in a permanent way. And that was the love theme from the 1969 film Romeo & Juliet, titled “A Time for Us.” And I cried my way through an entire box of Puffs writing that scene.

Excerpt:

Marc met her gaze, gave her fingers a squeeze, then spoke haltingly. “I’m sorry… Dragged you into this.”

“Shhh!” She ran her knuckles over his cheek, trying not to cry and failing miserably. “You just rest now. Save your strength.”

“Don’t cry… No happy endings… not for us… not this time. But for you… you’ll find happiness… the right man.”

“Don’t you even say that, Marc Hunter, damn it!”

“You helped me… find Megan. Thank you… is not enough.” He looked to where his sister sat crying quietly, the baby clutched in her arms. “I love you, Megan… Promise me… no more drugs. Be… a good mom. Tell Emily… I love her, too.”

“I-I promise.” Her face contorted with grief, Megan gulped back a sob and held the baby out so that he could touch her, Emily’s little fist closing around his finger.

“Cop… ” Hunt’s gaze shifted to Julian. “Watch over Sophie. Megan and Emily, too.”

“You know I will.” Julian met Sophie’s gaze. “Three minutes, thirty seconds.”

“Sprite?” Hunt took another shaky breath, his pale face a mask of pain, his gaze searching for her.

“I’m here, right here.” She squeezed his hand, but this time he didn’t squeeze back.
His seemed to relax when he saw her. “I... love you… Always have… Every day… you. My fairy sprite.”

“I love you, too, do you hear me?” She sobbed the words.

His mouth curved in a weak grin. “I… hear you.”

Their gazes locked, the love she saw in his eyes undimmed by pain. And for a moment it was just the two of them—just her and Hunt.

“You mean everything to me, Marc Hunter. Everything.” She leaned down, pressed her lips to his, her palm pressed against the rapid thrum of his heart.

He answered her kiss, his lips like ice.

Then the distant beat of a helicopter drew her gaze to the sky.

By the time she looked down again, his eyes were closed.

And that brings us to...

Naked Edge

I have many playlists for this book. Kat has one. Gabe has one. The sex scenes have their own list. The book in general has one. The big scene at the end of the book has its own playlist. If you absolutely must know all of the songs, e-mail me. Here are the highlights:

Gabe:
“Closer” by Nine Inch Nails — what else could be the soundtrack to his sex life?
“Unforgiven II” and “Fade to Black” by Metallica for his climbing scenes
“Broken” by Lifehouse for Gabe’s feelings about Kat
“It's Been Awhile,” “Right Here,” and “Tangled Up In You” by Staind are strong Gabe songs, especially the first, which is kind of the ultimate Gabe song:



I listened to a lot of 3 Doors Down, too, but Staind really took over after the first six months or so.

Kat:
The entire soundtrack to the movie Thunderheart
The soundtrack to How the West was Lost
“Meditations on Dinetah,” by R. Carlos Nakai (Dinetah means Navajoland, and Nakai is Diné)
The entire CD Fire Crow by Joseph Fire Crow

This music also served to fuel the action scenes toward the end.

Other significant songs:
“Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak and “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias for the love scenes (together with a bunch of others)
“You and Me” by Lifehouse for their wedding at the end and the epilogue.
“Supermassive Black Hole," by Muse for skiing scenes (that turn into snow angels).
“Sometime Around Midnight” for Gabe's broken heart


And for the scene that made you hate me? This will probably seem weird, but Annie Lennox singing “Into the West” from the third Lord of the Rings movie. It is, after all, a song about dying and grief.

And there you have it.

I’m always looking for new music. Oftentimes, when I feeling like I'm suffering from writer’s block it's actually musical ennui — being sick of all my music. So feel free to share, especially if you’ve got music that evokes torture. I could use some of that for Zach right now. (Let the teasing begin! Bwahaha!)

No, Man-Titty Monday has not been extended. Today is Tuesday, and so today we set the man-chest aside and get on with other things, important things, things of consequence.

I've had readers ask me if I have any specific images in mind when I write. Most often they're referring to characters when they ask that question. And I do try to piece together images that evoke my characters, particularly the heroes.

The image above is a favorite of mine. I love it. The model isn't really rock climbing, but if you squint your eyes and turn your head sideways, all you see is his nicely haired chest, his muscular arms and his six-pack, and you don't care what he's doing. So that's a nice image of Gabe when his feet slipped when Kat found him climbing at Mesa Butte.

But I also collect images of objects: Reece's Sphinx, Julian’s SIG, Marc’s Glock. I had lots of photos of the Capitol when writing Extreme Exposure, gang graffiti when I wrote Hard Evidence and a black Jag when I wrote Unlawful Contact.

I had to look at bridal catalogues when writing Heaven Can't Wait to see what kind of gowns Lissy might have chosen. So the Vera Wang (or Very Wang as Will calls it), the Badgley Mishka, and the others were real gowns I saw in magazines. For that story, I also bought a Scrabble board and played Sex Scrabble myself to map out their moves and the points Lissy and Will earned. (Wait... If I play Sex Scrabble by myself, is that Masturbation Scrabble?)

I didn’t collect a lot of images for Naked Edge, in part because it was derived heavily from things I’ve seen and done. No hogaans. Been in plenty. I didn’t need to look at a sweat lodge because I can go sit and pray in one every other Saturday. I didn't need photos of buttes because we have one right here... And climbing — I grew up stepping over coils of rope and nylon cords hung with pitons and carabiners and crams. In our house it was normal to see people hanging from door jams and doing fingertip pull-ups. One day when he was bored, my brother went outside and climbed his chimney. (No, I'm not kidding you, and this was after he was a grownup.) So no climbing photos were necessary.


I did keep a photo of Naked Edge, the climbing route, handy. I watched some hardcore free soloing and skiing videos. And I did search the 'Net for photos of their wedding rings as if I myself were shopping for them.

Kat’s is above — an antique white gold setting of turquoise and diamonds. I had this to look at as I wrote the end of the story.

Gabe's ring, below, is the signature style of a local jeweler, who makes rings to match a number of mountain ranges.



The mountain range inset into this ring is the one I see every day of my life. It’s very recognizable to anyone from Boulder. It's the backdrop against which our little town is set. Pretty cool, I think.

This last photo is just a fun extra. It's the couple from the book trailer in a slightly more erotic pose than the ones Jenn and I chose. I thought it was really sexy, so I just kept it.

First, the man-titty. I feel better now. How about you?

I'm busy writing this weekend — I threw out everything I had for Natalie’s story and went in a completely different direction — but I thought I could share this with you. It’s a bit of inspiration for the day. My muse and I both say, “Yummy!”

So what is this new direction, you ask? I don’t think I’m going to say anything yet, except that Zach MacBride is still a deputy U.S. Marshal and the story still begins in Cd. Juárez, Mexico, with Natalie being kidnapped off a bus full of journalists.

I spent yesterday thinking through this new direction on her story while spreading compost over our vegetable garden. And I have to say that being able to spread compost that my son and I made — through both thermophilic composting and vermiculture (i.e, worm composting) — was very exciting. I’m serious! With our little worm buddies, we turned all kinds of kitchen scraps, garden waste and coffee grounds into rich, black dirt.



Yes, this is the dirt in my garden. The lighter patch in the center is the unamended soil, while the darkest patch is the compost. The other areas show where I had raked it in to the topsoil.

I hope to plant spring greens today or tomorrow — if I can reach a lull in my writing when it isn’t snowing.

Last year, Benjy, my younger son and I, began the process of transforming our yard — or at least the part of it that isn’t a rose garden — into an urban homestead. Eventually, we plan to grow most of our own fruits and veggies. We already have raspberry bushes, herbs and a huge vegetable garden area. Last year we used only 1/3 of it and grew green beans, broccoli, zucchini, butternut squash, cucumbers and tomatoes, together with herbs. This year we're going to cultivate 2/3 of it, adding more of the stuff we eat a lot of, but also adding the greens and kitchen veggies like carrots and radishes, as well as turnips, beets and chard.

We plan to add fruit trees soon, as well as chickens for fresh eggs and a beehive for honey. It's legal here to have hens and bees in your backyard, and we mean to take full advantage of that.

It's lots of work but it’s the best kind of work, far better than being in an office. And the reward is huge. Not only do we save money on food, but we don’t have to worry about getting e-coli or pesticides with our dinner.

Do any of you garden? Are there any other urban homesteaders out there?

Coming on Monday: Hop over to Cecile's blog for an interview with the I-Team heroes. Reece, Julian, Marc and Gabe will all be there, and Julian has some news to share with the guys.

First the news:

Heaven Can’t Wait is now available on Kindle for real. There was some kind of glitch that told readers it wasn't available in the United States, but that has been resolved. If you don’t have an e-reader, it is available in some formats that enable you to just read it on your computer.

Surrender is now available in Japanese. The title translates to something like, “Kissing the Warrior in the Kilt.” So we’re not the only ones obsessed with Scottish heroes. Nice to know! I love the cover!


I’ll be spending most of Thursday at the state capitol meeting with the senator who is carrying the shackling bill and others who are interested in supporting the bill. As soon as I have a bill number, I’ll write about it for the paper, as will other reporters I know who want to support what I’m doing. Hey, I can’t help it if have great media connections.

Also, I won First Place in SPJ’s regional journalism contest (Rocky Mountain states) in the Legal Affairs reporting category for an article I wrote last year about kids awaiting trial who are kept in 23-hour lockdown. The purpose of the lockdown is to segregate them from adult male offenders for their own protection (they're mostly boys), but the result is that panicked kids who haven’t yet been found guilty are treated in the same way as the most dangerous and worst of adult felons. They’re given a level of isolation that is reserved as a punishment for misbehaving or dangerous and violent adult inmates. And some kids, in a panic and alone, have committed suicide in their cells. Truly tragic and utterly unnecessary!

And now for the answers:

I combed through more the 70+ pages of text from the spoiler chat and found a few unanswered questions. Given how fast the text was flying by, I’m amazed that I didn’t miss more. Heck, maybe I did. But here are two I plucked out of obscurity.

Dana asked: “I liked all the overs of the I-Team series, but unlike the others, Kat’s face was covered. Why?”

Answer: First, let me say that Kat’s face is covered with man-chest. That’s waaay better than a burka or something. See the comparison below.





But, you're right. Her face isn’t showing. Since I didn’t really participate in the creation of the cover, I can’t really say why. It might have had something to do with not finding finished art of a heroine who has American Indian features. Or maybe they felt that seeing the heroine from behind like that so that the image focused more on the hero’s biceps would be a fresh look.

Ronna asked: “Are we going to see deleted scenes [from Naked Edge] or Natalie/Zac scenes soon?”

Answer: No and no. My editor didn’t cut anything out of story, so there’s nothing lying on the cutting-room floor for me to share with you. The only thing that my editor had me change was the beginning of the epilogue because she felt people would be too freaked out reading about a woman who was nine months pregnant having sex. I changed the scene so that it starts after Kat and Gabe have, er, finished. So unless y’all want to read that...

As for Natalie and Zach — I changed the spelling of his name — I will eventually post excerpts, but I have to write something first. I have only eight pages written, and I’m throwing out half of that. The story has evolved by leaps and bounds in the past few days, and now I have to start over more or less.

What you might be able to read off and on are “scenes between the books,” i.e., scenes that fill in the stories of certain couples between the books. That might be anything from the I-Team heroes going to a baseball game together to the birth of Julian and Tessa’s baby girl to who knows what.

And, unlike some authors, I have no problem with readers writing fan fic/slash. In fact, I post it on my website. The only thing I ask is that the writing be tasteful and true to the series and characters. So if anyone writes any more of that, you’ll have that to tide you over, too.

And now for the videotape:

Shortly after I finished Naked Edge, I came across a VHS documentary about the traditional Diné titled, Seasons of a Navajo. Filmed in the 1980s, it shows the lifestyle of a traditional Navajo family over the course of year. It is truly beautiful and captures the rhythm of life among the traditional Diné. I shared it with Kat and she had the same reaction I had: tears. We both freaking loved it.

The hogaan, the sheep pens, shade houses, the Navajo version of a sweat lodge, people speaking Navajo, frybread, mutton, a Navajo grannie weaving — this has it all. This would be like seeing Kat’s grandma and her Uncle Allen going about their daily lives. It would be seeing how Kat grew up. I thought you would really like that.



So I bought two copies of the tape — one for myself and one to share with all of you. Here’s how it will work:

If you’re interested in seeing the video, let me know by posting here. I’ll draw a name from all of those who want to see it, and that person will be the first to see it. Then she will mail it to the No. 2 person, who will mail it to No. 3 and so on. Or if you don’t feel comfortable sharing your address with someone else, that person can mail it back to me, and I’ll mail it to you.

The only drawback is, obviously, paying for postage (though it’s probably going to be roughly as cheap as renting it) and the fact that you must have a VHS player to watch it. A lot of people have only DVD players these days.

Let me know if you want to participate!

You can also post responses even if you don’t want the video, just let me know whether you want to be in a link in the video chain or not.

Did any of you try the frybread recipe yet?

Coming next week: The I-Team heroes recently got together for a group interview, and the results will be posted soon as part of a guest blog.

“Get me to the powwow.”

That’s a line that always draws chuckles from my friends when we watch Dreamkeeper, a wonderful family film about Native legends and the preservation of Native culture. I recommended the DVD a couple months back both for adults and for kids. It’s perhaps the best film I’ve ever seen about the need to preserve Native stories and culture, bringing to life the legends and history of many Indian nations as a grandfather attempts to help his troubled teenage grandson.

Grandfather is a traditional storyteller, an elder who keeps the dreams of his Lakota people. His grandson, Nathan, has gotten himself into trouble with a rez gang and doesn’t want to drive his grandfather to the All Nations Powwow far away. But, of course, Grandpa gets his way, and Nathan’s life is forever changed.

If the Indian aspects of Naked Edge interested you, I can’t recommend Dreamkeeper highly enough. Get it through Netflix, borrow it from your library or buy it from Amazon. It is absolutely 110 percent worth it. The ending brings me to tears every single time, and it’s wonderful watching Native people acting out their own stories. Plus, the actor who plays the leader of the rez gang is a friend of ours who got his start in acting in Dances With Wolves.

Speaking of powwows, today is the culmination of the Denver March Powwow, an annual event that draws thousands. Denver lies in the heart of Indian Country, sitting between the reservations to the north and those to the south. So it’s a natural meeting place.

Those of you who've read Naked Edge might remember that the heroine, Kat, met Grandpa Red Crow, a Lakota holy man, at the Denver March Powwow, where she’d gone in search of decent frybread (though I suspect she makes good frybread herself). The real Kat is there now, along with other friends. I have chosen stay home, in part because I need to write and in part because Benjy left this morning and I'm moping. But back to frybread...

At the recent spoiler chat, someone asked for a frybread recipe. In honor of Kat’s search for frybread — and the deep friendship that she discovers with Grandpa Red Crow — I thought today would be the perfect day to share what I found.


What you’ll need:

• Crisco, oil or lard for frying melted to about 1/2-inch depth
  
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 T baking powder
• 2 T salt
• 2-1/2 cups warm milk

In a heavy frying pan, melt lard or shortening and heat to 356 degrees F. Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and mix well. Kneed a bit. When the dough has pulled together, divide it into balls that roughly fill your hand. Flatten these into tortilla-shaped rounds. Place one at a time into the hot oil. When the rounds bubble up, test with fork to see if you can flip them. Flip and cook until golden. Set aside on power towels. Serve hot.

If you want to watch the process before you try it, there are many frybread videos on YouTube. This one includes some tips on turning the frybread and shows some different ways of stretching the balls of dough. This one is fun because it shows a group of women making frybread on the rez over a communal fire at a community event. The guy in the background goes back and forth between speaking English and Diné, so you get a chance to hear that. Plus, one of the women is turning her frybread with a very basic cooking tool — a long stick.

So what do you do with frybread once you make it? You can eat it with a meal or as a snack. You can put seasoned ground chicken, bison, beef, elk or whatever meat you like on top a piece of frybread, add black, pinto or refried beans, shredded lettuce, shredded jack cheese and salsa for what’s commonly called an “Indian taco.” Yum! I also like to eat it with warm honey as a kind of dessert. Powdered sugar probably works nicely, too. Maple syrup? Could be tasty.

However you choose to eat it, eat it all, because by morning your luscious frybread will have become cold, greasy, doughy discs. I have tested this theory myself, having taken a bunch of frybread and honey camping with me in the desert on the rez. I thought I had breakfast all ready and waiting for me. Instead, I had a mouthful of ewwww.

Enjoy!