A few days ago I was driving home from work and one of my favorite songs of all time, “Dakota”, by the Stereophonics, started playing as I drove along the waterfront. (Yep, I admit I’m old school in regards to listening to the car radio).
Something that really annoys me, and where Murphy’s sodding law invariably makes itself known, is that perfectly serviceable music will play on the radio right up until you’re just about home, which is when one of your faves will start. I have been known to drive straight past the house and do a tiki tour around the neighbourhood until the song ends.
Music is important, but it’s not part of my creative process. I recall a favourite author saying he has an album on repeat for each book he rights. He plays it loud. And he doesn’t listen to soothing tunes. He wrote one novel listening to The Killers latest album. I couldn’t do this in a million years. I need quiet.
Those who can tell a story in two minutes and marry it with a tune have my undying admiration. I wrote a short song for a scene near the beginning of ONE FOR ANOTHER, and although the words came easily I had no clue for a melody to fit, so it’s as well it was confined to paper.
Other favourite songs I would drive around the block for?
“Black”: Pearl Jam
“Hallelujah”: Leonard Cohen
“Born to Run”: Bruce Springsteen
What are yours?
NB: Even though I enjoy it, I’m the first to admit I can’t sing to save myself unless a few wines are involved. Then I’m convinced I am a cross between Whitney Huston and Pat Benetar.

So if you haven’t dipped into Hennessey’s first adventure why not pop onto my website, chose your preferred platform, and take advantage of this deal?
AndreaJackaAuthor
Did you know . . .
- At Fort Knox no one person knows all the procedures to open the vaults. If someone were to break in they wouldn’t get far as the vaults can all be filled with water: an excellent deterrent in my view.
- 649.6 million ounces of gold were held at Fort Knox in December 1941, the highest amount ever held there.
- Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth I worked for a company that, among other things, sold bullion. Nearly forty years later I can still reel off at the drop of a hat the random fact that 1 troy ounce = 31.1035gms.
Take care and happy reading,
Andrea
P.S. If you’d like to get in touch, feel free to drop me a line.
On my bedside table at the moment is THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, by Colson Whitehead.
The blurb describes this novel as: “a magnificent tour de force chronicling a young slave’s adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South”.
I would have to agree, although more than once I have put this book down in order to gather myself, then picked it up again: it is a confronting, gut-wrenching read.
A powerhouse of a novel, it’s one of two by this author to win the Pulitzer Prize.
“Write what should not be forgotten.”
– Isabel Allende