I don't have much time to play guitar these days, so I have this little tradition to keep the music alive in me: I write a song for every story I write. This one's for The Carousel Graveyard. The waltzy, carousel-like tune popped into my head in the middle of the night last August. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I got up and recorded a voice memo on my phone of me humming in a groggy voice. Then a few days ago, I found that memo and decided to put words and guitar to it and finish the song. I played it for my fifteen-year-old daughter yesterday, and with wrinkled brows she said, "Wait, this is a love song." (She hasn't read my story yet, but it does have "graveyard" in the title, lol.) "I know, this is just a happy moment," I replied. Next time I'll have to write a creepy song, but until then, let's all feel the sweet innocence of young love. :-)
DREAMERS
Holding your hand in the moonlight
Waves dance, stars bright
Waltzing in time inside your dreams
Hearts beat, it seems
I’m falling in love
Falling in love
With you
With you, with you, with you
Stepping through sand by the black sea
Night birds calling
Lips touching lips, breathing your name
Feeling the same
We’re falling in love
Falling in love
It’s true
True, true, true
And you say we’re spinning
‘Round the carousel
And I say we’re drifting
in the spell
Sea breezes swirling through your hair
Soft sighs, no cares
Wandering dreamers, we’re soul bound
Time lost, we’re found
We’re falling in love
Falling in love
It’s true
It's true, it's true, it's true
True, true, true
True, true, true
To say I'm artistic is a huge understatement. Ever since I was a little girl I've been drawing, singing, acting, writing--basically doing anything I can to create, create, create. So when I saw my first piece of fan art, I completely flipped out!
My critique partner, Ilima Todd, recently asked me if she could let her fourteen-year-old daughter read my latest manuscript. I said yes and a few days later, Ilima told me how much her daughter loved my story--that it's one of her top five favorite books (and she's a voracious reader). This made me all kinds of happy. I write YA stories, but I've never had someone in my target audience read anything of mine. So to see such a positive reaction was thrilling.
Then to make things even more wonderful, Ilima's daughter (Emma) sketched a drawing of the love interest in the story, Gabriel Stonebrook. She told her mom she'd been a little depressed ever since finishing my manuscript because no boy at her school will ever compare to Gabriel. :-) Happy sigh. Can I just tell you much I love Emma right now?
So without further gushing over Emma, here's how she sees Gabriel:
Look at his suspenders! His lopsided dimples! His sweet, but haunted expression! And my favorite, the hearts around his name. Oh, and I didn't see this until now--very faintly on top it says, "for Kathryn Purdie."
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Thanks, Emma, for making this author's day--week--year. And here's hoping you find your own Gabriel someday (and with any luck his mom isn't trapped in the purgatory of his dreams and he lives in your own time dimension). ;-)
Have any of you authors received fan art? Did you have a similar reaction? Or for you readers, have you ever loved a book so much you made your own fan art for it?
