Music to write by

I just checked my playlist. According to iTunes, the music I most often listen to while I write includes:

• Foo Fighters
• Incubus
• Gladiator soundtrack
• Inception soundtrack
• Muse
• Bruce Springsteen
• Ella Fitzgerald
• The Killers
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Outkast
• Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
• And, um, The Lion King.

Sometimes it takes a new song to help a writer understand how a character feels, or what she’s thinking, or how he sees the world. If I know what a character loves to listen to, and why, I start to understand him.

Sometimes I just need loud music to keep my adrenaline pumping so I can write a chase scene.

Today I realized that a major character in my current novel would burst into tears when she heard Dave Grohl sing Wheels. So I let her cry. Don’t worry, she wasn’t operating heavy machinery.

Bye, St. Louis

Bouchercon has been a blast. And not just because I got to shoot a decommissioned  Beretta 9 mm in a police fire range simulator. It’s been wonderful to see so many friends — readers and writers — and spend the weekend talking about great stories. Here’s the obligatory photo of the St. Louis skyline. The arch is really big, and it’s true: If you walk underneath it, you dematerialize and reappear in the Andromeda galaxy.

Last night on the way to dinner with Boba Brett and Pop Culture Nerd (great pho — I didn’t know there were such good Vietnamese restaurants in St. Louis) we passed the Scott Arena, where I nearly leaped out of the cab when I saw that the Foo Fighters were playing. It was only later that my son told me what’s been happening this week with the Foos:

Foo Fighters serenade Westboro Baptist Church.

Foo Fighters have responded to a planned protest by the Westboro Baptist Church.

The controversial church group were picketing the Foo’s show in Kansas City, but, ensuring they had the last laugh, Dave Grohl and co surprised the protesters with a comedy song.

Donning redneck beards, wigs and trucker hats, Foo Fighters took to the back of a pick-up truck to sing the specially penned ‘Keep It Clean’.

And here I didn’t know it was possible to love that band more than I already did.

Time to head to the airport. Enjoy your Sunday.

Thanks, St. Louis!