Monday, July 23, 2012

Music Monday - Bob Reynolds

Bob Reynolds - Melody Architect
By most jazz listeners' standards, I am a newbie, especially when I start to mention my favorite jazz artists.

It's okay.  I'm cool with that.  Because jazz is an acquired taste and to really appreciate it, you have to study it.

Bob Reynolds is a super talented jazz saxophonist, composer, and all around good guy that I "discovered" through...guess who...John Mayer.

I first heard Bob on stage with JM during the Continuum era and I thought "hey, this guy is good.  My mom would really like him."  My mother is really into smooth jazz.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Write What You Want To Write


“I’m the kinda guy, I’m always gonna need new colors to paint with. And it makes it difficult on, I think like a emotional or whatever— like commercial side, because you’re not really quite sure what another of my records is gonna sound like, so it’s kinda like starting over again with an artist. It’s not like you can just put the next record out by me and people go ‘Oh, that’s Mayer, cool.’ I like being sort of the author of many different types of books, but the tone of my writing is kind of the fingerprint.”

John Mayer recently said this when speaking of his upcoming album, Born and Raised,  When I read this, I was thinking about book genres and typecasting.

The success of A Hustler's Promise (1 and 2) really got me thinking about my writing and what genre I want to stick to in order to acheive the type of success and have the type of career that I've dreamed of.  I've got my foot in the door...

Now what.

In reality, I can write just about anything.  Whether it's good or not remains to be seen.  I want to write contemporary romantic fiction with a real life aspect to it.  I want to write relatable characters and focus on the experiences that many of us go through every day.

I want to write romance...but I'm not talking about "Roman Candle Fireworks, Hollywood, Hot Pink Love.  I'm talking about "I GOT YOUR BACK LOVE"

I like to believe that all my books carry that element, that underlying element that makes women think that I can have a Jay, a Corey, or Rayshawn because THEY DO EXIST.

Face it...no matter how plain and ordinary Anastasia Steele is, we all aren't stumbling upon Christian Grey.

But can we take a minute and swoon over him. *swoon*