Author: Becky

on today’s list

I think I didn’t mention on here that before Christmas, when Houston froze, our plants did okay in the new pop-up greenhouse, but we had two pipes freeze and crack in the attic. Plumbers were able to get here and do repairs in time for it not to ruin the Christmas weekend, and we didn’t lose power as we did in the 2021 freeze.

Due to the leaks from the pipes, our longtime contractor Keith hired someone to repair our pantry and kitchen ceilings. That guy came today and figured out what’s needed, and the work should start tomorrow. That means the dogs got to stay at Aunt Debby’s this morning, and will tomorrow, which they love. We’re having another cold snap, and they pile on her couch with her and snooze all warm and comfy. Since no work began today and with the little barkers being at Debby’s for a while, it was a quiet day. I really needed it after yesterday’s stress.

I didn’t write today so much as review and plan. I’m bringing back a character who “finished” the previous novel after writing 100-plus pages with other characters in this one. It’s kind of like having a really good friend, and the last time you were together, some intense stuff went down in the friend’s life. Time has passed and when you see your friend again, you’re not sure exactly where things stand. Has the friend moved past it? What has replaced it in the friend’s thoughts and daily activities? Characters, like friends, are more interesting when they aren’t mired down in something that happened months before (I’m not talking major life change stuff, at least not in the character’s life). Interesting people keep moving forward and have something new to offer us. Or maybe that’s in fiction, and we sometimes wish people we knew in real life would do that. Maybe I wish I would do that! =)

Tried to explore that something new for my character as I listened to music and thought.

Today is Eddie Van Halen’s birthday. I probably should have broken out the Van Halen CDs, but I stuck with the plan and continued in the “C” section of the first binder.


Collective Soul’s self-titled 1995 release; The Cranberries, No Need To Argue; Cream, Strange Brew: The Best of Cream; Sheryl Crow, Tuesday Night Music Club; Self-Titled; The Globe Sessions; and Wildflower.

I have three more “C” CDs. Any guesses?

…and when I’m stressed…

I handle all my email. ✓
I journal in my planner. ✓
I clean the bathrooms. ✓
I mop the library. ✓
I plan dinner. (Debby has it covered.) ✓
I try to write and can’t. ✓

SO I PLAY WITH MY CHARACTER DOLLS. Here’s a grouping, probably never to be found in novels, I call “first rehearsal with new band members.”


Guitarist and leader/founder of the band. (No band name yet–still three members to recruit before that’s decided.)


Just-signed drummer setting up.


Manager and record producer (i.e., $$$$) aka brothers-in-law (to each other, not to band members).


Visiting pianist aka big sister.


A very tall woman needs a very tall fiddle.


Moral support and candid photography.


It’s complicated.


Seriously complicated.


Complicated makes better music.

Tiny Tuesday!

The weather got a little crazy in Houston today, but we’re okay here at Houndstooth Hall, Fox Den, and Fairy Cottage. I’ve heard there was tornado damage, but I tried not to stress out about it because the dogs pick that up. Instead, I stayed in cozy PJs all day while it stormed and wrote and rewrote and rewrote again the chapter that I just finished. I think I probably can’t write any more today, though I might edit a little after I cook and we eat dinner.


This is the wee boombox that now sits next to me while I write. I also picked up the kind of old-school headphones that I like and longed for after the previous boombox got unreliable.

I continue to think having music playing while I write is helping the process. Back in the earlier years of this century, when Tim and I wrote in the same room or at least one of the two homes on The Compound, he always had music playing. But for some reason, when I’d try to write alone, I didn’t want music. Maybe I overthought what I should listen to. Now that I’m just going alphabetically through the CD binders, no analyzing required.

These were today’s choices:


Patsy Cline, 12 Greatest Hits; Leonard Cohen, More Best of Leonard Cohen; and Paula Cole, This Fire.

Yesterday…


Front and back covers of B.B. King and Eric Clapton, Riding With the King; Eric Clapton, Reptile; Eric Clapton, Me and Mr. Johnson.

That was a cool selection because it set the mood for an entirely new character I introduced.

I have an anxiety-inducing phone call tomorrow afternoon. Another day to stay away from news and social media. Please send good vibes.

Mood: Monday

Previously, I posted a photo here of Machine, a pencil on paper work by the artist Stefan Zsaitsits from 2013.

The first six-plus hours of my day have been spent dealing with tech issues…and certainly not writing or any other fulfilling activity.

Even if you don’t have a mood guess for the art, feel free to drop a comment so I know you can see this and your comments are being published. Been dealing with website issues. Thanks!

Button Sunday

After struggling so hard over a few chapters since September, it’s amazing to finally feel like I’m hitting my stride again with the current draft of novel six. Is it the music? Mercury out of retrograde? That the weather has been more temperate? There have been many dramas NOT on the page and many activities through these months, and I’m sure there’ll be more. But for now, my characters and words are connecting.

I needed this.

ETA: More music than writing today because I was doing a lot of rereading and editing. Nonetheless, there was progress, and I need to rest my brain and body now. Hoping for a kickass writing day tomorrow.

Started off with Ray Charles’s Duets, an excellent offering that includes his duets with Norah Jones, James Taylor, Diana Krall, Elton John, Natalie Cole, Bonnie Raitt (pictured here), Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Johnny Mathis, and Van Morrison; Cher, If I Could Turn Back Time: Greatest Hits; The Chieftains, The Long Black Veil, another great CD that includes guests Sting, Mick Jagger, Sinéad O’Connor, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Ry Cooder, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones, and The Rolling Stones; Chloë (Agnew), Walking in the Air; Chris Bucheit Trio, Hard Disk Letters; Ry Cooder, Bop Till You Drop, one of my all-time favorite albums; and Eric Clapton, From the Cradle.

Productive


An amazingly productive writing day yesterday, YAY! Without intending to, I got through the “B” CDs in the binder. (Well, I haven’t checked the back of the binder. There could be more there that were purchased later.)

Pictured are: The Black Crowes, $hake Your Moneymaker and Amorica; Boss Drum, self-titled; Jackson Browne, Saturate Before Using, Late For The Sky, Running on Empty, and I’m Alive; Ry Cooder, Buena Vista Social Club; The B-52’s, Whammy! and Cosmic Thing.

Fun facts:
1) Boss Drum is the band Timothy was in when he lived in New York. He was a lyricist, vocalist, and keyboard player.

2) Many years ago, when I wrote three (unpublished) novels, the title of the first only coincidentally had a title that was also the title of a Jackson Browne song. When I began to rewrite that first book, I still wanted to use the title, but rewritten as a series, it’s the title of the fourth novel. When I needed titles for the others, I looked at and listened to the full body of Jackson Browne’s work. (By the way, I’ve replaced his albums I lost in the flood with either vinyl or as part of my iTunes.) Now six books: six Jackson Browne titles and counting. He has great titles that match my themes plus he’s one of my favorite singer/songwriters of all time. =)

Take your inspiration where you find it, and know that titles can’t be copyrighted.


ETA: And then on Saturday… Computer problems in the morning slowed me down, but finally I just put in the first CD, started writing, and was so glad to progress on the chapter I’m writing. A new character has arrived on the scene, the return of a favorite character is imminent, and I’m as giddy as if I’m really reuniting with someone after…91 pages! My listening pleasure today was Carpenters, The Singles (my gosh, Karen Carpenter’s voice); Johnny Cash, American IV: The Man Comes Around; Rosanne Cash, Hits 1979 — 1989; Tracy Chapman, Let It Rain; Ray Charles, Anthology. A lot of great music, and I know no one really cares, but doing this and posting it is helping me with my writing process, and *I* care a whole lot about that.

Being flexible

In the end, I didn’t get much writing done yesterday and probably won’t today, though I’ll try. Things happen, and those require a shift in priorities. Part of that shift meant that I needed to reorganize and repack all author copies of the Timothy James Beck books, Cochrane/Lambert novels, the anthologies we’ve edited (or appeared in, sometimes under mysterious pseudonyms 🤣), and of course, the two Becky Cochrane novels. Although one of our publishers gave us only a few author copies, and we had to split those 50/50, the TJB publisher gave each author a better number of complimentary copies–but once Tim moved to Houston, that meant double the number ended up with us. Those, and bound uncorrected proofs, are for authors to give away to reviewers, booksellers, people who are supportive and have promoted us, including family and friends (and of course, the publishers are also providing those to reviewers and to other authors they want cover blurbs from).

It can add up to a lot of books, especially if a book is released in hardcover and trade paperback. Like…eighteen bins of them.

We’ve heard from readers who are thrilled to find any of these books that are out of print, especially if they’re part of TJB’s Manhattan series of five books. If they only knew–SHOOT ME AN EMAIL (becky@beckycochrane.com). I can hook you up. If you ever need a copy of one of the books, or you’d like a set to give to friends, literally if you could cover the postage, they’re yours, both hardcover or trade and mass market paperbacks.

I think we have an ample supply of everything but The Deal. On that one, I have a few of the trade paperbacks because I’ve bought them used when I’ve seen them, and I own maybe four hardcover copies that were part of a now-defunct bookclub that released their own edition. The only person who could pry one of those hardcovers from me would have to be a member of the royal family, and by that, I mean 👑 Elton John and his husband David Furnish.

Writing tracks

From the first binder, pictured are the CDs I listened to while I wrote on Tuesday.


Treat writing like a sporting event, like it’s Super Bowl XXXVIII and Beyoncé is ready to get the adrenaline going! This was part of some promotional packet for something, no idea what. I definitely was not at the Super Bowl, though it was played in Houston. This is the infamous Super Bowl where the country lost its damn mind about Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction, because apparently a brief glimpse of a woman’s breast can trigger the apocalypse.


In order not to listen to only the Beach Boys all day (they are one of the bands I’ll get distracted by), I picked Pet Sounds from the 13 Beach Boys CDs in the binder.


Is this Erik Grant Bennett CD Tom’s? Did someone give it to us? Again, no idea. He’s from Georgia. We know people in Georgia.


As with the Beach Boys, in order not to lose myself in Beatles music, I chose this one of the seven in the binder: The Beatles: 1.


Big Head Todd and the Monsters: Another Mayberry. A band out of Colorado. Either belongs to Tom or was a gift.


What a fun finish for as much as I could write: Best of Bowie, a 2-CD set.

Brain was tired after a day’s writing and other stuff, and I needed to get in a groove: a drummer’s groove, because I’m introducing a new character. So I watched a documentary on Netflix called Count Me In, and now I remember why I always get crushes on drummers. Don’t tell the other guys in the band(s). This documentary also features rocking female drummers. Hope I remember all the inspiration when I pick back up in my chapter. I’d like to bring it to a close today.