Welcome Guest Author Judi Fennell!

I'm excited today to welcome author Judi Fennell to Cheeky Reads! Judi writes a super fun paranormal series with Mer Men and I'm pleased to have her with us today. Judi's even been kind enough to offer one lucky reader a set of the first two books in her series, In Over Her Head and Wild Blue Under!

Welcome Judi!

Thanks so much for inviting me on Cheeky Reads! I love to think my Mer series falls under the heading of "cheeky," but I have yet to come up with appropriate music to score the stories.

I love reading about soundtracks authors have for their stories. It's like the story collage idea - both of which I think are really cool, but both of which I don't do.

I will say that Microsoft's OneNote has changed the story collage idea somewhat for me. I now take the research that I used to mark as "Favorite" on my Internet Explorer toolbar and copy and paste it into a OneNote document, so I can go back and look at the buildings/maps/etc. when I'm working somewhere offline, but the soundtrack thing still eludes me.

I do write to music, but I use it more as white noise than any kind of inspiration. Oh, I started out with an ocean sounds CD, hoping to get inspiration from the seagull and dolphin song, but, more often than not, I'd find myself getting lulled to sleep by the wave action. I love listening to the ocean, but when you're writing action/adventure/life-and-death scenes, the last thing you want to do is fall asleep. Makes for a pretty boring action scene if it puts the author to sleep.

So I uploaded a bunch of classical and new age music. Instrumental as opposed to lyrical because I can't write new scenes with lyrics be-bopping around in my head that I start to sing to. (And if you've heard me sing, you'll know why this isn't a good thing—especially for those around me. Okay, I'm not that bad, but Simon Cowell definitely won't be calling.)

There's no rhyme or reason to the music I listen to. I like to listen to anything I won't get caught up in. Some songs are slow, some fast, some loud, some soft, some well-known, some not so. Beethoven, Yanni, Tchaikovsky, Irish Step Dance music, the soundtrack from Robin Hood… a very eclectic list that I've created on my iTunes list. I have a playlist titled "Writing Music" that goes on right after I upload the most current edition of my WIP.

I guess that is a soundtrack of sorts, but to me, a soundtrack signifies songs that fit the mood of your story. The tone and rhythm. If I wrote to the rhythm of what I listen to, I think I might make readers (and myself) seasick, as I just hit "Shuffle" and what comes out, comes out. It basically becomes something to block out sounds around me so I can focus on what's in my head. I find that I don’t even notice the music after a while, that the characters' voices become easier to hear. Although, when I do take out the earphones, it's amazing how quiet everything is.

That being said, when it comes time to editing (around the third pass through) I can listen to music that I can sing to - but I have to listen to it for a while before I can get beyond the words. Case in point, I watch the show Real Housewives on Bravo and one of the Atlanta Housewives recently released a dance song, "Tardy for the Party." It's a catchy little ditty and I've found (now that I've played it a gazillion times) it's upbeat enough to read through action scenes and I'm no longer singing along, so it's perfect background music.

But after listening to it for five hour stretches, I have to say, it's looking to be replaced. Soon.

I'd love to hear what other people listen to. How do you write/read a story if there are lyrics playing in your head at the same time? How do you choose which songs you'll write/read to?

And while you're listening to your favorite writing music, feel free to stop by my website, http://www.judifennell.com/, and register to win one of two remaining romantic beach getaway weekends (the first has already been awarded), to either the Atlantis Inn in Ocean City, NJ (http://www.atlantisinn.com/) or the Hibiscus House in West Palm Beach, FL (www.HibiscusHouse.com).

Answer Judi's question regarding what kind of music you like to listen to while reading or writing and you'll be entered to win In Over Her Head and Wild Blue Under! Check back tomorrow morning to see if you've won!

Bonus: +1 for being a follower of this blog / +1 for Tweeting about this post and giveaway

Contest is open to U.S. and Canada residents only.