Getting to Know You, Round #75 — Plus a Tiny Royalty Plot Twist
Every so often, Kymber posts another round of her “Getting to Know You” questions, and I always enjoy jumping in. Round #75 landed this week, so here are my answers — equal parts honest, reflective, and lightly caffeinated.
1. What drives you to get up in the morning?
At this stage of my early 60s, it’s a blend of urgency and devotion. Time feels more finite than it used to, and the stories in my head are far too restless to let me sleep in. Between the ticking clock and the writing impulse that refuses to take a day off, staying under the covers isn’t really an option.
2. Cities or remote places?
Cities, without hesitation. I’ve lived in both urban and rural settings, and while small towns have their charms, they also have a lot of…stillness. Too much stillness. If I’m going to be “remote,” I’d at least like a bookstore, a movie theater, and a decent cup of coffee within reach.
3. Best concert you’ve ever been to?
I’ve been to a wide range of concerts over the years — pop, classical, and a few that defy easy categorization. On the pop side, Billy Joel’s Storm Front tour stop in Miami back in March 1990 still stands out as the gold standard. On the symphonic side, nothing beats watching Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope at Ruth Eckerd Hall while the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra performed John Williams’ score live. Goosebumps, nostalgia, and the thrill of hearing that opening fanfare played by a live orchestra — unforgettable.
In Other News
This morning, as part of my daily ritual, I checked my Kindle Direct Publishing dashboard. I wasn’t expecting much movement — unless Amazon ships the copies of Reunion: A Story and Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen I’m sending to a friend before January 31, things usually stay pretty quiet. After all, I’m not Stephen King. (I don’t even own a haunted car.)
But I’d forgotten about Kindle Unlimited. Someone out there read Reunion: A Story from start to finish, which nudged my January royalties up by a mighty 32 cents, bringing the total to $14.58. According to KDP, that’s 67 KENP pages read — meaning one reader single‑handedly accounted for 2% of my earnings this month.
For an indie author, that’s not too shabby. Every page read, every penny earned, and every reader who spends time with my work — it all matters, and I’m grateful for it.
A Certain Point of View, Too 
Comments
57 responses to “Getting to Know You, Round #75 — Plus a Tiny Royalty Plot Twist”
Interesting answers to the questions. About the second one, it is interesting that you prefer cities so strongly. I grew up on the country side in northern Sweden but have lived in cities ever since my twenties, and I still prefer the country side even though that is not where I have lived for a long time. Well, there’s one issue. Here in the US most people on the country side are a bit strange/MAGA in my opinion. The same is not true for Sweden.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was born and raised in Miami, with a side jaunt to Bogota, Colombia that lasted almost six years. Except for the 10 months I spent in New Hampshire, big cities have been home. I have been lucky to not have lived in the core of a city…just the suburbs.
If circumstances had been different (mainly, the person I lived with in NH), I am 65-75% sure I’d have adapted to rural life. I was getting used to the climate, although now that I’m back in Florida the occasional cold fronts and arctic blasts affect me the way they used to before I moved to New England.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That makes sense. You are comfortable with what you are used to, especially what you get used to in childhood.
LikeLiked by 1 person
True.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The other guy I shared the house with in Madison and his friends (who visited him often) are all MAGA supporters.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would not like to be around that either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If I had my druthers, I’d live in the country, but not too far from doing things like weekly shopping. I like the quiet. I like to be able to walk around in the woods where no one sees me, though I’ve lived most of my adult life in cities.But I’m not anything close to MAGA. and F*CK ICE. I happen to have family in and around Minneapolis. Not all of them were born in the US.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I also like the quiet and being alone in the forest and in the mountains, or on a deserted island. I think that is heaven. However, here in Texas private land owned by people fiercely guarding it with their guns is the rule. The freedom to roam does not exist in Texas. Texans have lost so much freedom but they don’t know it. In the past, for example, when Obama was President I’d in general prefered being around conservatives even though I had mixed leanings, but with the crazy MAGA delusions and the blind support for the worst President in US history, I’d rather not deal with such people. The Texas countryside has nothing for me, so why not stay in city.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Conservatives claim they’re for freedom, but the only freedom they seek is to “conserve” the perks they get from being in the privileged class (or the dominant ethnic group, really). That’s why I’m not a conservative in 2026.
LikeLike
I completely understand. Every once in a while, I hear people say something our great (*cough*) president I walk away if I can or I say nothing. It’s not worth it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes that part correspond to a huge difference between Texas countryside and Swedish countryside.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Maybe I should learn Swedish. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll race you to the Finnish line.
I’ll see myself out now, thanks. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ha ha funny. The border between Sweden and Finland is very cold and dark in winter. Trust me, I spent a year outside there (army service).
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m glad you got a laugh out of my joke!
LikeLiked by 1 person
*GROAN*
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ha ha, there’s also the winter temperature and the winter darkness. My wife complained.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’ll never forget how much shorter days are in winter, especially in mid- to late December up in the northern latitudes. I can’t imagine visiting Sweden in winter, especially up near the Arctic Circle!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was three weeks straight with no sun at all up there close to the Finnish border. It was faint twilight at noon, but no sun, and by 2PM it was already pitch dark. About the temperature 40 below. On the other hand on clear nights you had a spectacular night sky and sometimes spectacular auroras.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Details. 😕. As long as I don’t have to drive in the snow. ❄️.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They offer classes for ice driving. One problem with snow driving is that everything around you might be white, which makes it hard to see the road.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I learned to drive in snow long ago and far away in upstate New York. I just haven’t had to do it for a while.
Classes in ice driving is a good idea. I think I learned when I asked, “I’m fishtailing. What do I do?”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes I haven’t done it in while either. However, I think I am still a lot more skilled at it than most Texans. In 2011 we had a similar ice storm and on my way to work I counted 50 cars in the ditch and 100 idiots on the road. It seemed like I was the only one who knew how to drive.
LikeLiked by 2 people
YIKES! The snow’s bad enough. Then you got to worry about idiots. My sister lives outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. Her tires froze on the way to work one day.
I remember driving home from work once when I was about 17 (?). It was dark, along a river road. ground blizzard. Couldn’t see hand in front of my face. Power was out—not that there were many streetlights to worry about. I was sure I was going to end up in the river. Lived to tell the tale.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I can understand that it was certainly a scary experience
LikeLiked by 1 person
The peace and quiet aspects of life in Madison, NH, were a bit unsettling at first, but I had ways to cope with those. And I still honestly believe I would have adapted to the colder climate up there. I might have even made more friends up there, you know?
That said, the deal-killer for me was the other tenant who lived in the house. He (unfortunately) didn’t want me there, and he went out of his way to make me feel stressed and unwelcome, even though he was kinder to me during my last few weeks in the Granite State.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Unsettling? That’s the way god intended the world to be! Seriously, I understand. And I know the housemate was the deal-killer. Where do you go when the person you’re sharing a house with decides to be a pain in the butt? Can’t go home.
LikeLiked by 2 people
One thing that Other Tenant did was to go to the mailbox area (quite distant from the house) on his electric-powered bike, retrieve his mail, and leave mine in the mailbox. When I got a ride to the mailbox, I’d get his and my mail and take it to the house, no questions asked.
Now, you might ask, was it a deliberate slight on his part, or simply forgetfulness? Once, even twice, during my 10 months there could have been accidental. But constantly? Nay. It was deliberate. He even fessed up and said he was being, quote, an asshole, end quote.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That guy was a roommate from hell. You had no choice but to move.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t want to move again, not so soon after leaving Florida. But I could only take so much from that guy, y’know?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I certainly understand that. I would never have been able to suffer that fool either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How incredibly petty. And apparently, he succeeded in his desire to be an asshole. I wonder if he felt better about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, he didn’t make it easy to stay, that’s for damn sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I remember, in your case you had to deal with a fellow tenant who was a nutcase and I certainly would never stay around for that either no matter where I lived. You had no choice at that point.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for playing, Alex!
Your answers are great! I like that you have different tastes in music. I do, too. I love it all. I’ve never seen Billy Joel live, but I’ve wanted to. It just never worked out. Maybe someday.
Happy Thursday!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think my dominant genre is classical music, which includes symphonic film scores. I’m pickier about other genres than I am about classical, though.
Here are my top five musical genres/styles:
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the genres and styles you listed. Big Band/Swing/Jazz are favorites, too. Film scores really make you feel something.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I listen to film scores, classical music, and standards when I’m writing fiction. It sounds counterintuitive, but I often write story beats based on the music I’m hearing at any given point.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s really cool. I enjoy learning how different authors go through the process of writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think part of it is that I grew up at a time which coincided with John Williams’ most prolific and spectacular creative period: the late 1970s and 1980s. Some of the earliest albums I bought with my own money were the soundtracks from Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. So when I wrote my first “novel” for English class in 9th grade, I scored it (mostly) with themes from Superman – for writing purposes, not for reading…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s so interesting! Those are all wonderful soundtracks, too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My writer’s mind is highly receptive to music as a catalyst for stories. It takes a composition – such as “Love Theme from Superman” or Saving Private Ryan‘s “Hymn to the Fallen” – and repurposes it as inspiration to “character themes” or story beats. And it’s not just movie themes, either. Leroy Anderson’s “Forgotten Dreams” suggested itself as “Marty’s Theme” when I started writing my novel, Reunion: Coda,” and many scenes in that book came about because I was listening to songs like “All the Things You Are” and “Moonglow.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! It’s inspiring how much music means to you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Here’s Anderson’s “Forgotten Dreams” (“Marty’s Theme”).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! Heading there now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was so beautiful. Very moving.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This was a case of musical serendipity.
I was just starting to write the Prologue to Reunion: Coda; I’d finished an introductory vignette about how Jim Garraty doesn’t like some overused cliches, and now I was reintroducing the Jim-Marty arc from Book 1 (Reunion: A Story) in the second vignette. I was trying to convey why Jim loved this girl so much while I was listening to Mantovani: Great Concerts. Some of the tracks were not helping, but then “Forgotten Dreams” came on…and Marty’s face flashed in my mind, as vivid and hauntingly beautiful as if she were a real person. Since then, Anderson’s composition has been “Marty’s Theme.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Even just describing how this all came about and how music played a part in your writing, makes me feel like I was there. If that makes sense.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a topic that is near and dear to me! I discussed it with Thomas Wikman when he interviewed me in September 2024, when I was still working on the novel.
Another song that influenced Reunion: Coda is “All the Things You Are” by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. If “Marty’s Theme” is beautiful but haunting, “Maddie’s Theme” had to be shamelessly romantic, memorable and hopeful. It’s even mentioned in the text (Marty’s Theme is not), and some of the chapter titles are derived from Hammerstein’s lyrics.
You can listen to one of my favorite covers here: All the Things You Are (choral version)
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s cool about your interview with Thomas. He’s a great person.
Now that is pretty cool, too!
I’ll click through now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was beautiful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad you enjoyed that cover. “All the Things You Are” was originally written in 1939 for “Very Warm for May,” a not-very-successful musical. The stage version is seldom performed, but Kern and Hammerstein’s abridged version has been covered many times in many different styles. I love the version I shared with you, though I also recommend Jack Jones’ rendition.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jack Jones did an amazing job with it. I liked it very much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I mention Jones’ cover in the novel in a Jim and Maddie scene! That’s how much I liked it when I listened to it the first time on YouTube.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I loved your books, but I don’t remember that. Maybe it’s time for a re-read. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s in the chapter when Maddie comes back to NYC after a work-related gig in London. She’s tired, irritable, and a bit frustrated over a change in plans for the evening. She vents her frustration on Jim, but our stalwart historian somehow keeps his cool and avoids a fight (thus subverting the “dark moment” trope) by calmly explaining why the agenda was changed. As Maddie calms down, WCBS radio plays “All the Things You Are” as covered by Jack Jones.
A re-read would be nice! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a lovely moment in the story.
I agree!
LikeLiked by 1 person