Soundtrack for Summer Snow

One of the things that I do early on in the writing process of any novel is make a soundtrack. A few years ago my dad bought me an i-Pod nano for Christmas, and since then I've filled the little device with nearly 1,200 songs. If you scroll through my song list, you'll find everything from Metallica (yup, I went to high school in the 90's) to David Crowder's Passion Hymns. There's even a smattering of country, some folk, and a few songs by Fergie--I can't help liking her husky, smoker's voice.

As I make the soundtrack, I focus on the themes of the book, the characters, and the tone that I hope to convey from the first page through to the very end. Usually I start with just a few songs and add more as I continue to write. It's interesting how the songs affect my writing, and how they affect me... It's been a year since I completed Summer Snow, and yet, to this day I can't hear John Mayer's Wheel without thinking of one of the final scenes in the book. It makes me teary just thinking of the goodbye that Julia has to say. Crazy, eh?

Anyway, someone recently asked me what my Summer Snow soundtrack looks like. Well, here it is! Now you know a sampling of what takes up space on my i-Pod.

Blonde on Blonde (Nada Surf)
Wheel (John Mayer)
The Scientist (Coldplay)
Heal Over (KT Tunstall)
Far Away (Nickelback)
Thief (Our Lady Peace)
4am (Our Lady Peace)
Happiness And Disaster (Stabilo)
Don’t Look In Their Eyes (Stabilo)
Make Up Your Mind (Theory of a Deadman)
Scared (The Tragically Hip)
All Uncovered (The Watchmen)
Brighter Hell (The Watchmen)
Better Man (Pearl Jam)
Gates of the Country (Black Lab)
Brave (Nichole Nordeman)