Since this week’s writing theme is about intentions, and we are still discussing disguises, I felt like it needed to be a different kind of Music Monday. A side you haven’t seen of me or my characters…

Masquerades can be freeing, releasing inhibitions and allowing for deeper desires. Or, they can be the masks we wear to cover the things we feel. Like that smile you put on even if it feels like every day is the same day, the only difference is the weather outside.

Masquerade – Berlin

Sometimes it’s more than deja vu masking. Pretending gets you from point A to B in your day, and can be exhausting. Some people, and characters, find ways to turn off feelings so that it doesn’t hurt and they don’t have to fake things. Me? I pretend just about every day. Because I might be working the day job, but my head and my heart are always here, writing about Tweety and Woods, or new characters and story lines I never quite feel ready to talk about yet.

The Great Pretender – The Platters

But the thing about pretending? Sometimes it’s more fake it until you make it. For someone like Tweety, she doesn’t wake up every day thinking she’s the queen of the bar world. She earned that by acting like it until other people told her she was. I tell myself regularly that there is a whole world out there that wants my writing, they just don’t know it yet. Otherwise I might stop, change my plans, and believe the negative side of things. Every time I see you guys reading, I feel a little closer to the goals. As long as I have one fan, there is no reason to stop, merely continue to pivot until I find the right course for myself, same as I do for all the written characters.

You Should See Me In A Crown – Billie Eilish

Being confident and sure of an outcome isn’t always how it goes. Woods is the type of character who poorly masks how ruined he is. But how he feels? That’s safely covered in some male bravado and British accented charms. If you aren’t distracted like he means you to be? You know him too well. His intentions aren’t evil, he simply survives until, well, until someone wakes him up.

I’m A Ruin – Marina And The Diamonds

IF we’re talking Red Letters, as much as a T Swift song sounds like it’s Tweety, and it totally could be, it’s actually a Woods and others song. Despite all the rumors, and the things she does for the bar business, Tweety stays faithful. There are other female characters that act man crazy, but Woods? The joke becomes naming the girlfriends by numbers because names get forgotten. He’s the guy with a blank space for your name, until he remembers that you aren’t the once in a lifetime love, simply the one that passes the time. As for me? Blank spaces are blank pages. Places to create stories that read like movies. Characters that come to life on their own, and live in my head rent free. It’s October, a month for dark and spooky pulls. I haven’t given up on getting Red Letters out there the traditional way. But I am working on something that I would be more comfortable releasing in some hybrid indie way. So, maybe I have my masks on, keeping your focus on Red Letters, while I distract myself with new ranges. Tiny related but totally unrelated spoiler for early readers? I don’t write fight scenes yet, but there’s an outline for a bit of karate life in one of the new ideas. Here’s hoping the blank space will only be me staring at a page, not you guys waiting for my posts… I know I get forgetful.

Blank Space – Taylor Swift