Today I am so excited to share a guest post from Laura Ellen as part of the Blind Spot Blog Tour! I LOVED this book, in case you didn't know already. You can check out my review HERE! Make sure you enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post to WIN a bag of Blind Spot swag and a $15 iTunes Gift Card from Laura because she's awesome like that :) (Open in the US Only. Sorry INT followers.)
Here's a synopsis in case you don't already know what Blind Spot is about:
“There’s none so blind as they that won’t see.
Seventeen-year-old Tricia Farni’s body floated to the surface of Alaska’s Birch River six months after the night she disappeared. The night Roz Hart had a fight with her. The night Roz can’t remember. Roz, who struggles with macular degeneration, is used to assembling fragments to make sense of the world around her. But this time it’s her memory that needs piecing together—to clear her name . . . to find a murderer.This unflinchingly emotional novel is written in the powerful first-person voice of a legally blind teen who just wants to be like everyone else.”
Guest Post by Laura Ellen:
Thanks for hosting the fifth stop on the Blind Spot Blog Tour. Blind Spot has been out now one whole week.
I’m doing something a little different today. At each of my other tour stops I left a bag of Blind Spot swag for my blog host to giveaway. I’m still doing that, but today the swag bag will include a $15 iTunes gift card in honor of my topic -- music!
Music played a big part both in the writing and in the plot of Blind Spot. As far as writing goes, I always have a playlist that helps me with whatever I am working on – not only does music inspire me, but by making playlists specific to my work-in-progress, I can play it and get back into the story after leaving it for a little while. It also helps set the mood for whatever emotion or tone or scene I am writing.
In the actual plot of Blind Spot, music is a lifeline for my main character, Roz. Escaping into music is how she copes with her life – and is how she first connects with Greg Martin. Before I sold Blind Spot to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, when it was a manuscript I was polishing up for my agent to submit, the chapters were actually split up into playlists and each chapter was a titled after music from that playlist. My agent later decided making the chapters a countdown worked better than the playlist idea. She was right, of course, but I did love my song chapter titles
Here are a few of those original chapter titles:
Dead Memories
- Slipknot
Blurry
- Puddle of Mudd
This is Hell
- Elvis Costello
Strange Brew
- Cream
Psycho in Copacabana
- Puddle of Mudd; Barry Manilow
Wasteland
- Trapt
Fallen
- 30 Seconds to Mars
Scars in the Making
- Fuel
Coming Undone
- Korn
What Lies Beneath
- Breaking Benjamin
Emergency Exit
- Beck
Another Version of the Truth
- Nine Inch Nails
Living Dead Girl
- Rob Zombie
That’s just a sampling of the chapters, but here’s the entire Blind Spot playlist if you want to see it. And speaking of music. . . did you get a chance to see the Blind Spot book trailer yet? My 14-year-old son James wrote and performed the music for it – I love it because he’s my son, but also because I think it is a great tune. See what you think:
Thanks for letting me hang here today! Before I go, let’s announce the fifth winner in my ‘Blogger Love ‘Giveaway!
Congratulations Beth Shaum at Foodie Bibliophile, you’ve won a bag full of swag from a ton of debut authors and your choice of either a blog button/badge exclusively designed for you by Giselle at Xpresso Design, or any book you choose ($15 value)! Enjoy!
Want to win that bag of swag and iTunes card I mentioned earlier? Just enter below – I am also giving away two signed hardcovers of Blind Spot on my website. Tomorrow is Halloween, and I’ll be speaking of spooky stuff with Shari on My Neurotic Book Affair. Come join us!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
For more about Blind Spot check out these sites!
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That's an awesome playlist!
ReplyDeleteI love music, and I love all sorts of music from classical to pop to rock, so I don't have a set playlist when I work. However, I can't really work with music on as it just sweeps me away:)
Awesome post and giveaway and Laura's book sounds incredible:)
Thank you:)
That's a really cool playlist. I don't really listen to a playlist when I'm working, I usually just turn the radio on and let it play. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteAwesome guest post and playlist!!! I love a good playlist.I create one for my jogs, when I did to be pumped up, when I'm having a bad day, or just doing homework.Making playlist are the best because you can listen to music based on your mood at the time. Like a musical mood ring :D
ReplyDeleteWhoa, amazing chapter titles! Music is SUCH a huge part of my life, so I absolutely love the idea of titling the chapters after songs.
ReplyDeleteMolli | Once Upon a Prologue
Sometimes I do use playlists when I'm writing if I need a certain mood, but lately I've been using my 'Film Scores' Pandora staion a lot.
ReplyDeleteI kind of always set playlists when working, blog writing, for music helps set the mood always! =]
ReplyDeleteEspecially when I am translating a book, I set a playlist to go with the mood in it, and it is funny because whenever I read the book again, I remember those special songs =]
I'm listening to music almost always! I have different playlists for my school and for cleaning and then I just listen to whatever when I'm not doing either of those. (:
ReplyDeleteI do use playlists :) I have a special "writing" playlist on itunes.
ReplyDeletedefinitely. When I'm working it's like I don't function without music:))
ReplyDeleteI don't use playlists but I use Pandora which always knows what I want to listen to:) Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYES!!! I have a specific playlist for writing!!!
ReplyDeleteNot really for working, but I use them for thinking :)
ReplyDeleteYes, sometimes! I used to always set a study playlist. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, and it's almost always the same bands that inspire me every time, like Brand New, Death Cab for Cutie, The Spill Canvas, The Academy Is... and more.
ReplyDeleteThose are like all my fav bands! They always inspire me every time!
DeleteThey distract me usually.
ReplyDelete