Whiskey and Writing

 I think most people enjoy music.  It sets a mood, it reminds us of things, we have favorite genres, and favorite songs.  These days we can listen to music whenever we want because we can put it on our phones.    We went from playing it on albums to tapes, to CDs, to downloads. I made a playlist for a crime novel I’m working on, and I’ve even got to the point of making playlists for certain sections and places of the story.  They mostly are filled with decades old jazz artists like Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, and others.  That’s when jazz was jazz.  It got into your soul, and you knew music was good.  It seems to me that older music had a heart that it doesn’t know.  People make a quick single to try and get famous and rich, and it sounds like something that’ll give you a seizure.  Music is supposed to be good not so much synthesized crap.  At any rate, I made some great playlists to t...

The title kind of speaks for itself doesn’t it? We’re supposed to all these things, and have responsibilities, it just depends on how many you decide to take on for yourself.  And there’s been a lot of change in the last couple of years too.  We’re taking on either more or less, or finding ourselves doing things we didn’t think we’d be doing before. I’ve been spending most of time trying to figure out career changes at forty, and trying to write a few books at the same time, hoping even one will be successful.  I try to take stock of life and see how crazy people are now, and what drives them, and I can’t fathom how people get to the point of sheer madness. I think it’s important to find something that doesn’t drive you to stupidity or hate. For me I try to do a lot of things, because I get bored easily, and I try to find things that give some kind of meaning.  That’s it really. Find something, anything. I’m trying to do some things, and enjoy things because there ar...

 I’ve spent a lot of time working on books recently.  I’m doing two more and I think I might call it quits after that but we’ll see.  I did two already, and I’m not sure how much more I have in me.  But I do like to work on them when I’ve been drinking whiskey.  I dunno why that is.  I usually put on some jazz, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and I’ve been playing BB King quite a bit these days too.  BB King obviously isn’t jazz, but he’s probably my favorite musician, and I think a little booze and the right music will give you the right mood for a book.  I’m not talking about being so drunk you can’t see straight, but a couple of shots just seem to do the trick.  I’ve been drinking several different kinds Jack Daniels, Leadslingers, Jameson, and Johnnie Walker.  I know we all have different backgrounds, different things we want to do in life, but I think the right drink and the right music will give your whatever it is you’re working on...