Cami 12/22/21 Cami 12/22/21

My Top 10 Songs (w/Lyrics) 2021

I’ve mentioned I love music. There are probably lots of factors, but one is that I grew up around music. My grandfather and his three brothers sang professionally as a barbershop quartet in the 1950’s.

The House Brothers: Bill, David, Tom, and Dan (my grandpa).

One of the last times they sang together. From left to right, Tom, Bill, David and Dan.

My mom and her three sisters also sang together. My mom was in a band with my dad, and they were worship leaders at church. I grew up immersed in music, watching and listening to performances at every family gathering. Then I participated, spending time performing music with my parents and sister.

My mom and her sisters. From left to right: Terry (my mom), Danice, Susan and Judy.

As a writer, music contributes heavily to my writing process. When I sit down to work on a story, I make a playlist. The playlist is usually a mixture of music with lyrics and instrumental. Last year, Spotify informed me I spent over 85,000 minutes listening to music. That’s 16% of my year. Calculate it out into a day, it’s about 4 hours of my day. And if I’m only awake for an average of 16 hours a day, that calculates to more like 25% of my awake life is listening to music. That’s a lot of time.

I’m a moody listener. My tastes are often in a minor key. Lyrics are reflective, and I adore a vibe. One of my favorite things is to find “new” artists who are just getting started. It’s like unearthing a treasure (maybe a little like indie authors :).

So without further ado, this is the top ten songs I listened to this year starting with the most played. I filtered out the instrumental songs (because there were a ton) and kept it to only the ones with lyrics. Want to hear samples, hit up my Instagram stories. Want to hear them, look up my playlist on spotify “Top Ten Ten Times”. It has my top ten songs with lyrics for the last four years.

Happy Listening (please buy the artists’ music if you like it) and have an amazing CHRISTMAS!

Cami 5/20/19 Cami 5/20/19

Writing Inspiration: Music

When I was little, family gatherings were defined by music. From my grandfather and his brothers who sang Barbershop quartet, to my mother and her sisters who’s harmonies drew us all together, and my father - a gorgeous lower register tenor - would croon to us. Then the rest of us cousins (vocalists, guitarists, pianists, drummers) would offer our musical sacrifices. Music was our definition.

So, as a writer, music isn’t just a step in my process; It is the origin of my process. Music transports me, swirls like a sound cosmos, effervesces inside my brain and inspires my creativity. And then I tell the story.

When I was little and a classical piece was playing, my mom would say: What’s the story? We would close our eyes and listen to the undulation of the melody, the kinship of the instruments, the rise and fall of the music from beginning to climax to conclusion, and when it was over, we’d tell the story.

Try it. Find a piece you like, close your eyes, and watch the story in your mind. Then write it down.