Lee Thompson's Blog: Lee's Musings

Please excuse me for being absent from this blog recently. It has been a perfect storm of events keeping me away. I’ll forgo the details.

I am still writing (which is part of the storm), I can’t write books and blog at the same time, and I’ve chosen books over blog when I have had time to write.

I have stated I am working on the sequel to Jeremy’s Kiss. As I progress, characters from Jeremy’s Kiss are finding their way to make appearances in Natalie’s Hunt. It feels like old friends are coming back to visit. Some of these characters felt special to me when I first created them in Jeremy’s Kiss. Their parts were small, but they were there because I felt they added to the story. When they come back though, they are still the same character, only their place within the story has changed.

It’s like reconnecting with someone you knew as a single person, only now they are married and have children. The person you knew is the same, but their life has changed and there are new things to get to know about them. Such as the same with my characters. It has been months since they were first seen (within the context of their lives), and things have happened since they first appeared.

They are alive within the pages, breathing and existing. Their lives will continue and we will see the parts they play within the new pages of the story.

Back in 2000 to 2002, there was a short lived television series called Special Unit 2. It was about a Chicago police unit whose job was to deal with “links” – also known as mythological creatures that could harm humans (such as Medusa, Black Widows, Gargoyles, and more).

In one episode of the series, the group Joydrop appeared and played themselves, and they also played two of the songs in the show. This one happens to be my favorite.

Sometimes he can see it all with clarity, and sometimes everything he sees is cloudy, murky, and indistinct.

I need him now. The chains are still holding him in the room. They are clearly weaker, but his strength is not yet enough to overcome them.

It’s only a matter of time. It will happen. But I do want it to happen so much faster than it is. I want him to be free now, to come out of the room and be everything he was meant to be.

His arms are chained to the wall. His thin frame stretches down to the floor. His only clothing is the remaining shreds of blue jeans around his waist. Dirt and grime cover his chest and leaves his hair hanging limp.

The days of isolation and confinement are taking their toll on his body and mind. He still has strength and will power left, as he has only been confined here for two months, but that strength will wane if he does not escape soon.

The captivity was not voluntary, nor was it intentional. Just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time in a manner of speaking. The chains holding his wrists above his head prevent no only hold him captive, they also keep him from using his abilities. His hands are part of his trade and without the use of them, he is effectively helpless. No matter how intelligent, and no matter how hard he thinks through, escape is not possible until his hands are freed.

The captor has a name, but does not have a face or a voice that he can confront. The captor simply exists and is neither evil nor good. It has done good things for some, and bad things for others, and in this case it took him prisoner. Where this man would remain until the life span of the captor comes to an end.

Only when the captor becomes weakened may he attempt to free himself from this bondage. Only then may he escape the cramped stone cell and return to his life. He holds no malice for the captor, but he will never again face or confront the captor.

The chains are growing weaker. He freed one hand. It is only a matter of time now before he is fully free.

In 1989, Swedish duo Roxette finally got their breakout hit. A song that literally went around the world for them and made them an international pop sensation. Several more songs would follow, including some more really big hits.

But this song is where it started.

I did a little experiment today with Jeremy’s Kiss.  When I first released the book I had the pitch on the back cover.  Later I changed the pitch and entered the book in a contest (sadly the pitch wasn’t good enough to get into the next round of the contest).

I was not able to tell which pitch was actually better though.

So I asked a friend who has a daughter who knows nothing about me at all (they live across the country) to read both pitches as if they were 2 different books and tell me whether or not she would be interested in reading the book.  Then which book she would prefer.

So my non-scientific experiment with an unbiased person indicated that I should be using the newer pitch.  I think I’ll keep it.

That’s quite a huge question while working on a novel. Not just any novel either. This is a sequel to my first novel. So I need to follow up that story, keep the characters consistent or growing.

I get into the story…then find myself at a point where I am not sure what is happening next, or how events proceed. Or in my current case, how do I get from what I have written to where I expect the scene to get to?

I’m at that point right now. I know what I want in the scene, but I need to get from where I have written so far to that point. It’s like it’s on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t quite say the word. It will come to me. I just have to relax. Rest. Exercise. Ride the motorcycle, and survive difficult times at work.

This story will come out.

Terri Nunn was the lead singer for Berlin, an American group formed in Los Angeles in 1978. They really don’t have anything to do with Germany or that small little hamlet in Germany (maybe its a touch bigger than a hamlet…can’t say I’ve been there myself, but I’ve heard of it).

Now for a little bit of trivia about this band. The lead singer Terri Nunn left the band for a short time to try to become an actress. She auditioned for the role of Leia Organa in a film that didn’t have many big name actors. Leia Organa is best known as Princess Leia and the role went to Carrie Fischer, the rest is history of course.

We had visitors for the past 10 days, and it was a joy to have them here. I didn’t do much writing while they were here, and I am perfectly ok with that. After all…we have to take a break from working now and then and have some time with family and friends.

I think though. I need to return to working and get this book really going.

This is a difficult song for me to say something about.  Because it isn’t available in the US.  That’s really frustrating too.  It’s a great song that really fits the mood I want to be in while writing on Natalie’s Hunt.

So I built my Natalie’s Hunt playlist on my iPod.  And I added all the songs I wanted (that I found first on YouTube and listened to enough to know I want them), except for this song.

Well, you can’t buy it, but you can enjoy it here (and on YouTube).