#AtoZChallenge: M is for Music

Music. I totally couldn't live without it. It relaxes, inspires, takes you back in time, gets you in the mood (for whatever it might be that you want to get in the mood for!!), makes you cry, makes you laugh, makes you sing... out loud (especially when you're alone or in the shower)... it really is an amazing thing. I always wished I could sing or play a musical instrument. Sadly I can do neither... not that it stops me from singing, and I have been known to get up for karaoke (yes, I'm one of the embarrassing ones that thinks they sound good when... well, it's probably really quite the opposite. Especially when I'm singing something like Like a Virgin... cringe. Thankfully, I no longer get drunk enough to do this any more!).

Here are just a few of my all time favourite songs (I got a bit carried away so there are quite a few!)...

Cry Little Sister, Aiden

Stay, Shakespeare's Sister

Black Velvet, Alannah Miles

Poison, Alice Cooper

Born To Die, Lana Del Rey

Skyfall, Adele

1000 Years, Christina Perri

Rule The World, Take That

I'll Be There, Jackson 5

Skyscraper, Demi Lovato

Hear You Calling, Aurora (this one gives me the shivers!)

Possibility, Lykke Li

The Voice, Celtic Woman

The Promise You Made, Cock Robin

She, Elvis Costello

Mystic's Dream, Loreena McKennitt

All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You, Heart

Somewhere Out There, Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram

Perdoname, Pedro Alboran & Carminho

Take On Me, Aha

Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler

Need You Now, Lady Antebellum

Gangsta's Paradise, Coolio

Time After Time, Cyndi Lauper

Titanium, David Guetta featuring Sia

Love Bites, Def Leppard

Hungry Eyes, Dirty Dancing

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This), Eurythmics

Fields of Gold, Eva Cassidy

My Immortal, Evanescence

Big Girls Don't Cry, Fergie

Chocolate, Kylie Minogue

Nothing Else Matters, Metallica

November Rain, Guns n' Roses

Said I Love You, But I Lied

Home, Michael Buble

I Bruise Easily, Natasha Bedingfield

Empire State of Mind, Alicia Keys

When Doves Cry, Prince

Who Wants to Live Forever, Queen

Fable, Robert Miles

Crazy, Seal

Wherever You Will Go, The Calling

Don't forget to download your FREE copy of Daisy Madigan's Paradise, a Morgan Sisters novella. Raven, the first book in my other series (The Raven Saga) is also FREE!

Day Two of the Morgan Sisters Virtual Tour

Well, yesterday went brilliantly well over at the Writers Ally with YA author S.A Larsen and I'm delighted with all the good wishes from all my friends, author pals, readers and social networking buddies!
And I woke up this morning to find yet another awesome review of The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw:
" The Ghost Of Josiah Grimshaw :well suzy has done it again ! loved suzys raven saga didnt think she could get any better .The ghost of josiah Grimshaw had me hooked from the very start and all the way threw . had a hard time putting this book down as I wanted to keep reading to see what happened next. I thought the book was extremely well written and I found myself so engulfed in the story I felt as though I was right there in the middle of it all. I am desperately wanting more, I can't wait to see what happens next. A must read!! The only downside is i have to wait untill may for book 2"

** HAPPY DANCE **

Today I can be found on the brilliant YA author E.J Stevens book blog, From The Shadows, where I'm briefly talking about the man who inspired the book. I'm also on author Tony Riches excellent blog with an excerpt from the book. So come join in the fun!

The inspiration behind The Raven Saga

I put this little book trailer together using videos I took whilst in Canada in 2009. I wanted readers to get a sense of the beauty of British Columbia where The Raven Saga is set...

My inspiration: Jenny Colgan

I think it was Cosmopolitan Magazine, maybe 10 years ago (give or take a couple), there it was, an interview with an author who I admired. Her name was Jenny Colgan, she was perhaps a couple of years old than me, and I'd previously read one or two of her books. Her style of writing just spoke to me, you know. She was so funny and the stories just captivated me from the very first page.

I think the first book was called Amanda's Wedding and it was chick lit at it's very best. The second was Looking for Andrew McCarthy and it tickled me just as much as the first. I've since read more of hers, of course.

But it was reading the interview that spoke to me and inspired me. Jenny spoke of how her first book had sparked a bit of a bidding war between a couple of publishers and that she'd been paid a nice little advance. To be honest, I can't remember all the ins and outs of the article but I do remember that it made me start to believe in myself, in my own writing. I hadn't yet written anything lengthy but I knew, after reading that article, that I would do. I still believe that Jenny Colgan was the inspiration behind my very first (still unpublished) novel. I wrote it in a matter of weeks, tried to get an agent, failed, and then shoved it in a drawer where it stayed for years.
In the meantime, I wrote two completely different YA novels - one of which is slowly selling online and the other is to be released in September.
Earlier this week I opened that drawer and took out my first book, just to have a look. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't actually that bad! So, I'm now considering re-writing it and releasing it as an ebook and see what happens. The book was originally called Molly (I may change it, I'm in two minds about that) and it's a romantic comedy... chick lit. Its quite naughty though.... worlds away from The Raven Saga!
Thank you, Jenny for being such an inspiration to me.

Check out what Jenny is up to at the moment at her site http://jennycolgan.com