Today, I’d like to welcome my good friend and RWA chapter mate, Kristina Knight to my little corner of the web.  When I first started thinking about this feature, Kristina was the first one come to mind. Especially when it comes to ’80s music, we’re soul-sisters.

Welcome to my blog, Kristina.

Hey, Constance, thanks for having me here today. You and I have talked about music and writing – a lot! – especially our love for 80s music. When I was in high school, I got my first job in radio at a local country music station. All my friends were music fans and I used to make them mix tapes – have a break-up? Kristina will make you the best cry-into-your-Coke mix! Have a new boyfriend? Let Kristina make the coolest falling-in-love mix. So when I started writing it was natural to me to create a playlist for the characters in my books, too.

My iPod makes it a lot easier – and less wasteful! – to create playlists at the drop of a hat. Or to add songs in and take them out.

For me a playlist helps me get into the mood of the story or scene. Happy scene? The right song gets that happy, euphoric feeling going right away – even if I’m dead-tired from a crazy day. Black moment? Give me a dramatic ballad and I’m right there, going through the emotions with my characters. I don’t listen to the playlist while I’m writing, though. The editing and planning stages are where my playlists really get airtime in my office. You know what’s funny? I never get tired of a playlist, even if I’ve listened to it a hundred times during the writing of a book…and sometimes I miss the playlist after I’m finished with a book. But I don’t want to cheat on the next characters so I have to delete each one…that’s maybe a smidge crazy, but, it’s part of my process.

My debut novel, What a Texas Girl Wants, comes out in June, and I drew on a lot of country music influences for this one. Makes sense since the book is set in Texas on a horse ranch.

Here’s a sampling of my longer-than-usual playlist for What a Texas Girl Wants:

Carrie Underwood, Wasted:

Dierks Bentley, Come a Little Closer:

Jane Weidlin, Rush Hour

Sara Evans, Real Fine Place To Start

Jake Owen, Barefoot Blue Jean Night

Bio:

Once upon a time, Kristina Knight spent her days running from car crash to fire to meetings with local police – no, she wasn’t a trouble-maker she was a journalist. When the opportunity to write what she wanted – business and family/parenting articles – and to focus a bit of energy on the stories in her head, she jumped at it. And she’s never looked back. Now she writes articles for magazines and such by day and writes romance novels with spice by night. And any toddler-free, five-minute break she has. She lives on Lake Erie with her husband, 3-year-old daughter and 20-year-old fur-kid. Happily ever after. Visit Kristina at her website for more about her books – and some of the music that inspires the writing.