Perfect Day for Writers, Music Lovers, and Cruisers

November 12, 2025

I seem to set a few of my stories on cruise ships. It’s the perfect setting to me. The location is mostly contained, which I find very helpful as a writer, and I happen to live not far from a cruise port where I love to hang out for a bit of breakfast after church early Sunday morning. It’s a perfect day.

“Star of the Seas” is in port on Sundays right now. We’re counting down to our cruise on her with a stop at “Perfect Day at Coco Cay.” So it’s a perfect day in more ways than one.

Here’s my latest short video on YouTube.

 

“Real Women Wear Red” Audio Excerpt #audio #cruise #amwriting #NovNov

November 11, 2025

Counting down to my 25th cruise, I’m remembering my first published novel – the one that got me an agent. And how another agent had said that “Cyn was fabulous!” Maybe this will motivate me back to writing “Night Moon” for Nov/Nov, although I might have to change the setting to a cruise ship – lol!

Here’s a little audio excerpt I did for YouTube.

Night Moon #NovNov

November 3, 2025

NovNov has begun, replacing NanoWriMo, the 50K writing challenge every November. I did it once and created a bunch of garbage. Looking for some kind of challenge, this year I stumbled onto NovNov (November Novel). I’m not aiming fpr 50K this month but I do hope to write something each day.

I also hope to finish the first draft by February so I can write the album during FAWM (February Album Writing Month). I’m scribbling some song ideas down as the writing is inspiring the music and the music is inspiring the writing.

You Say #rocktober #cover #song

October 28, 2025

This year’s rocktober is winding down. Rocktober is when our little songwriting group shares cover songs. This song stood out from “The Voice” last week. I struggled with the chorus because I don’t have the chops to hit those high notes. So I went lower but to compensate for the build of the chorus through the vocals, I gave the piano a boost to build the excitement of the chorus.

Praying for the people of Jamaica!

Rocktober 2025 Song #2 – “Counting Stars” #coversong

October 2, 2025

So I was streaming some IndiePop songs on YouTube and found this one by OneRepublic – it caught my ear so I had to give it a Screamie Birds spin for Rocktober.

Mixed in headphones (recommended for listening).

“Cooler Than Me” – Rocktober 2025 is Happening! #rocktober #coversongs

October 1, 2025

“The Voice” season has started and that means I may be inspired to do cover songs this month just in time for Rocktober. So when I heard Max Cooper’s version of “Cooler Than Me” by Mike Posner, I knew I had to try it. Totally different “Screamie Birds-style” and I changed some of the lyrics to add a rhyme to some of the verses (marked by parens) and one for language.

Mixed in headphones (recommended for listening).

“The Bungalow” Now Streaming on Spotify

January 15, 2025

“The Bungalow” from the “Once Upon A Time” album is now streaming on Spotify. Fun fact: this is my husband’s favorite song and the one that plays  in his head most often – lol!

Available on the “Once Upon A Time” album on BandCamp.