Inspired By A Song

Did y'all like the article I posted last week? Well, if so, here's another
one written for Poetic Monthly Magazine in February 2009.

[If you are like me, anything can inspire you to create. If you are not
like me, then you may feel left in the dark by what I am going to write
about in this article. Some writers glance through phone books or magazines
to get their inspiration. Some can read a story or see something in the
news, and suddenly, they know where to go with the next scene. For me,
however, it is and always has been music.
You already know I'm a lover of a good story; this is true whether the
story has been written and placed in a book, a movie or a song. And,
nothing tells a story like a traditional country ballad. Take Loretta
Lynn's "Coal Miner's Daughter" for instance; it tells the story of her life
as a child, growing up in Butcher Holler, as a daughter of a coal miner.
Another example, more recent, Tracy Lawrence's "Paint Me a Birmingham" tells
about a man asking an artist to paint him a picture of what can never be.
So, when some of my readers began begging me for a sequel to "Wild Heart",
you can guess where I turned for inspiration-that's right, country music.
It took me almost fifteen years to write, "Wild Heart", so when it comes
to a sequel, honestly, I was not in the mood to write about those characters
anymore. However, I knew if I wanted to keep up my reader base and add to
it, I needed to get inspired, and fast. So, I thought on it a bit, then
hopped on the internet, went to You Tube and began looking up songs. After
a couple of hours, I had it!
"And, just how are you going to write a Christian book, when you are using
sad, depressing, drinkin' songs, as your inspiration?"
Ah, my friend, don't you know those are God's favorite people; sad,
depressed, drinkin' folks who need only look up for their inspiration. Yes,
you heard me, right. God takes the worst part of what we go through and can
turn it in to something wonderful, not only for His glory, but for your
good. So, if you wanna know how to get from deepest pit to God's grace,
reck'n you'll have to wait like everybody else, or you could read the Bible.
In the meantime, read "Wild Heart". It too, takes you from trouble to
triumph, showing you all the time how to get to God the Father.]

Now, I put brackets around that article so you would know where it started
and stopped. Ok, are we as clear as mud? lol

Are you curious to know which songs in particular helped give me inspiration
for the book? Well, then, reckon I'll list them for you. The songs I
remember hearing that inspired me to write "To Tame A Heart" were as
follows:

"Monday Morning Church" by Allen Jackson
"Cheap Whisky" by Martina McBride

That's it. Only 2 country songs. The rest came from reading God's holy word
and from those oldtime hymns, modernday churches are bound and determined to
forget...um, that's another subject for another day. :) To get back to what
I was saying, some of the hymns that inspired me, are:

"There Is A Fountain",
"Come Ye Sinners" AKA "Ten thousand Charms",
"Just As I Am",

All 3 of these hymns you will find in the story, itself.

So, did it wet your appetite for the next book in the series? I hope so. If
you want to learn more about the sequel to "Wild Heart", which I started in
Feb. 2009 and finished in June 2010, find the blog post further down called,
"To Tame A Heart". At least, I think that's what it's called. "To Tame A
Heart" is the name of the next book. I said back in Oct. 2010 that the book
would be out in a month or so, but, as you can see, it isn't. My proof
reader took longer than I had expected her too, but I have the book back and
will be making the few changes, shortly. I hope to have it available some
time in Feb. of this year. Kind of cool, huh, publishing just 2 years after
beginning it?

If you like these articles, then keep coming back each Wednesday for 3 or 4
more weeks. I will be posting them, and I believe there are 3 more articles,
maybe 4. If there is anything else you faithful readers want me to talk
about in this blog, go ahead and ask. Comments are certainly welcome.