Every year, on or around my daughter's birthday, I write her a letter. I don't know when she'll open it or if I'll even give it to her, but there's something about capturing what's happening here and now that I want her to maybe feel a little bit of whenever she reads it. Maybe it's just an ego thing, some hope that a part of me will live on longer than I actually do. Who knows?
In these letters—and, granted, there are only two—I jot down a song or two that I'm listening to, something that resonates with where we are in life, what's going on in our household. This year, I mentioned Ruston Kelly's "Closest Thing." I don't know who Ruston wrote it for, but there's something about the interwoven chaos and serenity that captures pretty accurately how it feels to raise a two-year-old during a pandemic. It’s beautiful and messy all at once.
That's the thing about music—it captures how we're feeling in a way the written word doesn't. This isn't to suggest that one's better than the other. I mean, I clearly like writing things down. They work pretty well together, though.
I can't write while listening to music, but music informs a lot of what I do. A song will grip me in a certain way, maybe remind me of a time I hung out with a friend or a trip I took with my wife, and I'll hold onto that, carry it close, channel out all the rest and try to make something adjacent to that single feeling.
I've collected the songs that did this for me while I wrote The Jackals, which is admittedly a pretty long time. I started writing it in 2015, and, well, here we are six years later. A lot's changed for me since then. I switched jobs, sold a house, bought a house, had a kid, lost my mom, lost my cat, met my nephew. The playlist captures the spirit of the book pretty well, though. One thing that's cool about operating Moonshine Books and pushing this out myself is that I can do whatever the hell I want, so I've slapped a QR code on the paperback on what I'm calling the "suggested listening" page. It might be a waste of space, but if I'm being honest, I figure the worst that can happen is that someone will skip it. You can check out the playlist here if you’re interested:
Speaking of The Jackals, the files are all off to the printer, so I should be reviewing proofs and all that soon. Hoping to have preorder information available by the time my next newsletter hits your inbox. Until then, happy holidays.
Some recommendations:
I recently read a flash piece by Nicole Tsuno titled "Divorce Party" over at HAD. It's short, it's clever, it's funny, it's sad. It's very worth checking out.
Shaky Knees Festival recently dropped their lineup, which is amazing and also introduced me to Gerry Cinnamon, a Scottish singer-songwriter. He's also clever and funny and sometimes sad, and his music has a fun, energetic Scottish feel that, well, takes me back to how I felt exploring Scotland with some of my best friends in 2017. His music is the kind of thing you'd expect to hear in a pub, maybe drink a cask ale over and stomp your foot to while huddled around a small table with your besties.
Talk soon.