Enhancing the Experience

Sometimes inspiration hits you. Literally.

I awoke this morning with a clear idea that I wanted to add a link to the mini-memoir about B.B. King’s live performance at the Blue Note. My idea is to allow readers to read the story while listening to a stream of Blues.

It certainly would enhance the experience and it’d be a fully integrated technology because on the iPod Touch, iPad and SmartPhones you can stream in the background while you use another app (like Kindle or Stanza).

At the moment I am researching the legal implications of linking directly to a streaming service, although it is just as easy to suggest folks read while using their existing service. Of course, most of these services have limitations (some are only available in the US, for instance).

I was thinking of putting together a folder of free music on Google Docs to download to e-readers that allow for mp3/mp4 files. I couldn't possibly afford the licensing of adding B.B. King's music, so they idea of including this might not be too smart. Though any kind of Blues is always a good thing.

My fantasy is to do a book launch party at B.B. King’s Blues Club and Grill in Times Square, but I am not sure I can tackle that right now. It just seems like such a natural thing to do: food, drink, blues and good company.

Maybe it doesn’t need to be a book launch, and perhaps I’ll find another excuse altogether to do it. We can just do A Night at B.B.’s, though the weekend brunch looks like fun too!

Other than that, I have been envisioning a flying fortress for the steampunk story, and this has opened up a few more story arcs. I also figured out something about the characters that puts an interesting twist on things. It’s fascinating to allow this story to write itself, because I certainly have no idea where it is going and I am letting the characters dictate what happens.

Right now, I’ve come to realize that as I freestyle this story what I am doing is outlining the series in long prose. It will take longer to write than “Justified” but it is a stimulating exercise.

Meanwhile, real life keeps intruding and I am not getting as much writing as I wish. This is only temporary. I’m still mulling over whether I will participate in NaNoWriMo – there is this inert desire to do it and then a more practical voice tells me that I have things to do that must be done. Drats! Yes, I said drats!