Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / [EP 426] 5 Rock Songs, 5 Dark Stories: The Music Behind the Nightmares with Courtney Skelton
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I actually had a dream about the story. Sometimes you
- 0:03Speaker 1: have dreams where it plays out like a movie. I
- 0:05Speaker 1: was about to lose this story. I didn't have an ending.
- 0:07Speaker 1: I didn't have a title. I didn't have anything that
- 0:10Speaker 1: tied together. I was just leaving my mom's residence in DeKalb.
- 0:13Speaker 1: I pulled out to Annie Glitter Road, and the almost-to-song
- 0:17Speaker 1: Lifeline came on. And I realized at that point, I
- 0:20Speaker 1: know what the title's going to be. I know what's
- 0:22Speaker 1: going to tie it all together. So I went home,
- 0:24Speaker 1: wrote it all down. Without that song, I would have
- 0:27Speaker 1: lost it.
- 0:28Speaker 2: But we're totally booked.
- 0:29Speaker 1: Rock and roll! Well, I think I'll leave you to
- 0:32Speaker 1: your reading.
- 0:33Speaker 2: Little hand says it's time to rock and roll.
- 0:35Speaker 1: Rock and roll!
- 0:36Speaker 2: We are totally booked. Welcome back to Booked on Rock.
- 0:44Speaker 2: Conversations with authors, musicians, and insiders revealing the stories behind
- 0:48Speaker 2: classic rock's greatest songs, albums, and artists. I'm Eric Senech.
- 0:51Speaker 2: I want to thank you for supporting Booked on Rock
- 0:55Speaker 2: on Patreon and Those who are subscribing get every episode,
- 0:59Speaker 2: audio and video commercial free. And before everybody else, if
- 1:03Speaker 2: you'd like to get in on this and grab the
- 1:05Speaker 2: backstage pass, it's just $ 5 a month. Click the link
- 1:07Speaker 2: in the show notes or go to BookedOnRock.com. Now onto
- 1:11Speaker 2: our show. Courtney Skelton's Inspired brings together five thought-provoking stories,
- 1:18Speaker 2: each sparked by a song and transformed into its own
- 1:21Speaker 2: tale of struggle, survival, and unexpected turns. In this episode,
- 1:25Speaker 2: Courtney joins me to talk about how music from bands,
- 1:28Speaker 2: including Reign of Z, Bullet to the Heart, Eden on Fire,
- 1:31Speaker 2: and The Almas, became the starting point for these stories,
- 1:35Speaker 2: and how he turned the emotions and ideas behind the
- 1:37Speaker 2: songs into fiction. Welcome to the podcast, Courtney.
- 1:40Speaker 1: Thank you for having me.
- 1:42Speaker 2: Most writers start with a character or an idea, but here,
- 1:45Speaker 2: your stories begin with songs. So talk about what inspired
- 1:48Speaker 2: you to turn music into fiction.
- 1:50Speaker 1: The first one was Reign of Z. I started seeing
- 1:54Speaker 1: them in concerts. A few years ago when they were
- 1:56Speaker 1: on their Left 4 Dead tour. Let me back up
- 2:00Speaker 1: a little bit. I was writing a book. A full
- 2:03Speaker 1: length book. I was going through the editing process. Which
- 2:07Speaker 1: told us the editing process can be a little bit tedious.
- 2:10Speaker 1: But I wanted to keep my writing skills sharp. So
- 2:14Speaker 1: I wanted to get something out of the side project.
- 2:18Speaker 1: Therefore I thought about. What if I took one of
- 2:21Speaker 1: the songs from Reign of Z. And turned it into
- 2:23Speaker 1: a story. Because several of those songs, like a good
- 2:27Speaker 1: artist or a good songwriter, makes it ambiguous enough where
- 2:33Speaker 1: anybody can fit their own life into that story. So
- 2:39Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be just what happens to the
- 2:41Speaker 1: author's life. Took it to the rate of day. What
- 2:44Speaker 1: about before I wrote it? What do you think if
- 2:46Speaker 1: I wrote this song, took this song, made it into
- 2:49Speaker 1: a story to love the idea? So, okay. Wrote the
- 2:53Speaker 1: story from the song. cellophane and took the lyrics, as
- 2:59Speaker 1: you know, into this title, took it to them, they
- 3:03Speaker 1: loved it. I said, well, this is an idea, let
- 3:06Speaker 1: me just build on that. Went to Bullet to the
- 3:09Speaker 1: Heart next, they followed the pedal line with them, made
- 3:13Speaker 1: another story, and they came to know there was five
- 3:19Speaker 1: stories out of four bands, and somebody said to me,
- 3:25Speaker 1: Before I would realize what I had, you should make
- 3:28Speaker 1: an anthology book out of this. I read it. I
- 3:31Speaker 1: loved the idea. Hence, here we are.
- 3:33Speaker 2: How did you choose these particular songs?
- 3:36Speaker 1: Two of the bands, I like them all equally, but
- 3:38Speaker 1: two of the bands I like, because they come around
- 3:41Speaker 1: this area quite a bit. I've seen them, the Olmos
- 3:43Speaker 1: and Ray of Z tour together. So I'm more privy
- 3:47Speaker 1: to them. I haven't seen Eden on Fire, but because
- 3:51Speaker 1: they toured with Ray of Z, I picked up on
- 3:54Speaker 1: their music. Through internet and through Facebook and social media.
- 3:59Speaker 2: Okay.
- 3:59Speaker 1: How I chose these songs was the songs I related
- 4:04Speaker 1: to the most. Each of them have a wide library
- 4:07Speaker 1: of songs that anybody can relate to. Cellophane is the
- 4:11Speaker 1: one I relate to. The song has so much emotion
- 4:17Speaker 1: and it struck a chord with me.
- 4:21Speaker 2: Where are you from?
- 4:22Speaker 1: I am from Sycamore, Illinois. I live in Balbany, Illinois
- 4:25Speaker 1: right now.
- 4:25Speaker 2: Okay. So these bands come around your way to perform.
- 4:28Speaker 2: What genre would you consider? They're metal.
- 4:31Speaker 1: Radom Gee had more metal. The Almas, Bullets of the Heart,
- 4:35Speaker 1: and Edelman Farrar would say more just straight piss to
- 4:41Speaker 1: the mouth of hard rock.
- 4:42Speaker 2: Did you discuss your interpretations with any of the musicians?
- 4:46Speaker 1: Surprisingly, they gave me a card block. You make a story,
- 4:50Speaker 1: we'd be flattered. have you write something about our songs.
- 4:54Speaker 1: Because I was worried that, I've heard stories about, I
- 4:57Speaker 1: remember with Jeff Tate of Queensryche, he was never going
- 5:00Speaker 1: to make a movie out of Operation Mindcrime. I was
- 5:05Speaker 1: thinking if I went to them, they would say, no,
- 5:07Speaker 1: don't you encroach on our words. These are ours. Keep away,
- 5:11Speaker 1: which I would have respected. But each of them said,
- 5:14Speaker 1: do what you will to never put out any guardrails
- 5:18Speaker 1: at all.
- 5:19Speaker 2: Let's get into the stories now. Don't Suffocate, that's inspired
- 5:22Speaker 2: by Reign of Z's cellophane. Sophia's a waitress attacked in
- 5:26Speaker 2: her home. What about that song inspired this story of survival?
- 5:31Speaker 1: The song, to me, sounds like somebody was making their
- 5:36Speaker 1: solution to a problem somebody else's. I created a character
- 5:42Speaker 1: that was getting away with his first character long until
- 5:45Speaker 1: they read a cross path of Sophia. and the old attitude,
- 5:50Speaker 1: fight or flight, she wasn't going to fly, she was
- 5:54Speaker 1: going to fight some, but this fight back and stand
- 5:57Speaker 1: up for herself, which, according to the story, should have
- 6:00Speaker 1: happened long before now.
- 6:02Speaker 2: And then after escaping Roger's attack, Sophia turns the tables
- 6:05Speaker 2: on him and puts him through a similar ordeal. Did
- 6:08Speaker 2: you want readers to celebrate her revenge or question her actions?
- 6:13Speaker 1: I would say more or less, yeah, I would say celebrate,
- 6:17Speaker 1: close to there. If you want to, question or action
- 6:19Speaker 1: that's up there or reader's interpretation. But at some point,
- 6:25Speaker 1: you know, everybody sees the class bully gets away with
- 6:29Speaker 1: it too long until one person stands up and ups
- 6:33Speaker 1: it out.
- 6:33Speaker 2: And Sophia's been estranged from her mother, Helen, following a
- 6:37Speaker 2: disagreement over her ailing stepfather. Why did you have Sophia's
- 6:40Speaker 2: traumatic experience lead to their reconciliation?
- 6:44Speaker 1: Good question. What it is is when she's in that
- 6:46Speaker 1: room of Roger's house, she sees the memorabilia of other
- 6:51Speaker 1: mothers and that connects to Doss to her own life
- 6:55Speaker 1: and realize she has her own transition she needs to
- 7:00Speaker 1: tie up as well. So that reminds her of what
- 7:04Speaker 1: she's been leaving open in her life and then that
- 7:08Speaker 1: causes a cathartic effect on her own life and that's
- 7:11Speaker 1: why she reaches out to her mom. So by pursuing Roger,
- 7:18Speaker 1: She sees this, and then she comes to a realization
- 7:23Speaker 1: she needs to fix things a Rolex.
- 7:28Speaker 2: The next story is Sins Away, inspired by Bullets of
- 7:31Speaker 2: the Hearts Falling Away. This one follows Jessica, who survived
- 7:35Speaker 2: a difficult childhood, but later murdered two women, including her mother.
- 7:39Speaker 2: This is some dark stuff. Why did you want readers
- 7:42Speaker 2: to sympathize with her?
- 7:44Speaker 1: There's so many times when... movies about either good or bad.
- 7:50Speaker 1: I want to create a character that's both sympathetic yet
- 7:55Speaker 1: has her own transgressions as well. Yes, she had a
- 7:59Speaker 1: tough start, but she had some choices that she could
- 8:02Speaker 1: have done better herself. Nobody's perfect, so I want a
- 8:09Speaker 1: character that's both good and bad as well. You can
- 8:15Speaker 1: sympathize with her But you can also say, no, I
- 8:19Speaker 1: can't go along with that.
- 8:20Speaker 2: Courtney Skelton, the author of Inspired. The book is out now.
- 8:22Speaker 2: We'll let you know where you can get a copy
- 8:24Speaker 2: of the book. Jessica, that character, she discovers she's pregnant.
- 8:30Speaker 2: She repents and pleads for her baby's life. Her son survives,
- 8:35Speaker 2: but she dies. So what are you exploring there about
- 8:38Speaker 2: forgiveness and punishment?
- 8:40Speaker 1: Well, at that point, she realizes that, yes, she went
- 8:45Speaker 1: too far. She pleads for her baby's life. At that point,
- 8:53Speaker 1: she realizes she has a choice. She has to give
- 8:57Speaker 1: herself up for her baby's life. And she does all
- 9:01Speaker 1: she can to make things right. She can't undo what
- 9:03Speaker 1: she did, but she can only ask for forgiveness for
- 9:08Speaker 1: her baby's life in place of her own.
- 9:10Speaker 2: What's cool about this book, it plays out almost like
- 9:13Speaker 2: a Netflix series.
- 9:15Speaker 1: Oh, thank you.
- 9:17Speaker 2: Story is a new episode in a series, which would
- 9:22Speaker 2: be cool. That would be cool if you get these
- 9:24Speaker 2: turned into some kind of a film series. Never Again,
- 9:28Speaker 2: inspired by Eden on Fire's Fallen, which follows Amy, a
- 9:32Speaker 2: young woman held captive in a basement. Why did you
- 9:36Speaker 2: give the different sides of her personality their own voices?
- 9:40Speaker 1: That was actually based on the song. If you heard
- 9:44Speaker 1: the song, the one of the first line, if not
- 9:48Speaker 1: the second, she says, even on fire says, all alone
- 9:52Speaker 1: in a crowded mind. And so the character has so
- 9:57Speaker 1: many people inundating her with what she should do, different
- 10:03Speaker 1: facets of her own mind, crowding her mind. So that's
- 10:09Speaker 1: where the character has these, plus, as you know, from
- 10:13Speaker 1: the character that comes into her mind during the story,
- 10:17Speaker 1: that also is trying to help her through her play.
- 10:20Speaker 2: And Amy also speaks with Cassandra, who we discover was
- 10:24Speaker 2: a real girl, abducted years earlier and never found. Did
- 10:28Speaker 2: you plan that supernatural twist from the beginning?
- 10:32Speaker 1: I planned it from the beginning. It took it to
- 10:35Speaker 1: the very end to actually tie in together. I wasn't
- 10:40Speaker 1: sure where exactly it was going to connect. It wasn't
- 10:43Speaker 1: until the very end I realized, you know, this is
- 10:45Speaker 1: where I'm going to have her come in from her past.
- 10:48Speaker 1: So that's I had to write it out myself fully
- 10:53Speaker 1: before I appreciated where I was coming from.
- 10:56Speaker 2: I'm curious, do you have an inspiration, an author that
- 10:58Speaker 2: you follow yourself, or authors, plural, that inspired your style
- 11:03Speaker 2: of writing?
- 11:04Speaker 1: Absolutely, authors, plural. The two big, lately, well, Stephen King,
- 11:12Speaker 1: which the guy is, he took it to the mountain.
- 11:16Speaker 1: When he's not reading, he's not writing, I don't know
- 11:20Speaker 1: what else he has time for because he does both
- 11:22Speaker 1: so well. And Clyde Barker, who's a huge fan of his. Lately,
- 11:30Speaker 1: Freda McFadden has been impressing me with her work. She
- 11:33Speaker 1: writes so thought-provoking and such easy to follow, easy to read,
- 11:40Speaker 1: short chapters, short paragraphs. So she's inspired me to write
- 11:45Speaker 1: more easier to read literature.
- 11:49Speaker 2: You mentioned Stephen King, and I'm a fan of his too.
- 11:51Speaker 2: There's always that criticism that he writes too much, which
- 11:54Speaker 2: I always find that just funny to just even have
- 11:58Speaker 2: somebody say that, because it's like, if you don't want
- 11:59Speaker 2: to read something of his, then you don't have to
- 12:01Speaker 2: read it and wait until the next one comes out.
- 12:03Speaker 1: I'm just impressed with how much he puts out. If
- 12:06Speaker 1: it came around to criticism, I misspoke. But yeah, he
- 12:10Speaker 1: reads and writes so much. That's the term that you
- 12:14Speaker 1: want to try to emulate. You want to be like you,
- 12:18Speaker 1: like Woody Riles. If I could be like him, if
- 12:21Speaker 1: I could be half of what he is, I'd be happy.
- 12:25Speaker 2: He literally is the king. Do you have a favorite
- 12:27Speaker 2: book of his? Favorite Stephen King book?
- 12:30Speaker 1: Favorite Stephen King? The one that was, you know, went
- 12:34Speaker 1: on the radar. I always liked Gerald's Game.
- 12:38Speaker 2: Gerald's Game, yeah. The interesting one is The Shining and
- 12:41Speaker 2: how Stanley Kubrick took that and just took license with
- 12:45Speaker 2: it and Stephen King was never happy about that.
- 12:46Speaker 1: Yeah, Stephen King himself, he said, I threw him a
- 12:49Speaker 1: hand grenade and Stanley Kubrick threw his body on top
- 12:53Speaker 1: of it.
- 12:53Speaker 2: Yeah. All right, getting back to your book inspired, A Purpose,
- 12:59Speaker 2: inspired by Rain of Z's Whispers in the Walls, which
- 13:02Speaker 2: follows Crystal who moves into an apartment haunted by a
- 13:05Speaker 2: young girl named Amanda. This might be my favorite one.
- 13:09Speaker 2: How did that song inspire this supernatural mystery?
- 13:12Speaker 1: Yeah, that one actually is a deep cut. I'm not
- 13:15Speaker 1: sure where it's available, but it's not even on iTunes.
- 13:19Speaker 1: One of Renazine's first songs put out. From what I understand,
- 13:24Speaker 1: the song was originally about a death close to the author,
- 13:28Speaker 1: but I took it as somebody looking for help from
- 13:32Speaker 1: the afterlife, looking for someone, anyone, to help them from
- 13:37Speaker 1: their trapped life. So that's when I... had a chance
- 13:44Speaker 1: to do a writing project. They had to start, the
- 13:47Speaker 1: line had to start, the book had to start with Linda, the,
- 13:52Speaker 1: what do you call it? It's the, the picture moved,
- 13:57Speaker 1: eyes moved as he went by. I merely connected to
- 14:00Speaker 1: that song. So I listened to that story all over
- 14:05Speaker 1: and over until the song and the story became one.
- 14:08Speaker 2: I believe that is On YouTube, because I know there
- 14:11Speaker 2: was a few songs where they weren't on Spotify, and
- 14:14Speaker 2: I had to search a little deep for it. I think,
- 14:17Speaker 2: let's see, Reign of Z's Whispers in the Wall. Let's see,
- 14:20Speaker 2: Reign of Z.
- 14:21Speaker 1: Yeah, without a different format. I can't remember what the...
- 14:24Speaker 1: It is on YouTube, yes.
- 14:25Speaker 2: Yeah, it's on YouTube. Yeah, I see it here. Crystal
- 14:28Speaker 2: eventually helps free Amanda, but in doing so, finds a
- 14:32Speaker 2: sense of purpose herself. Was that connection between the two
- 14:35Speaker 2: characters always central to the story?
- 14:38Speaker 1: Right. It was almost as if Crystal was wondering why
- 14:42Speaker 1: she was pulled into this city that she has nothing about,
- 14:45Speaker 1: knows nobody. But now she realizes maybe this is the
- 14:49Speaker 1: reason why she was here. Everything happened for a reason.
- 14:52Speaker 1: This was her purpose.
- 14:54Speaker 2: Bones, the next one, inspired by the Alma's Lifeline. And
- 14:58Speaker 2: this follows Gerald, an older man grieving his wife Judy's
- 15:01Speaker 2: death seven years earlier. What about this song inspired Gerald's story?
- 15:06Speaker 1: This was a little bit different. They came in from
- 15:09Speaker 1: the tail end, if I could expand upon that. I
- 15:12Speaker 1: actually had a dream about the story. I'm lucky enough
- 15:15Speaker 1: that I sometimes have dreams where it plays out like
- 15:17Speaker 1: a movie. But if I don't write it down right away,
- 15:22Speaker 1: I lose it. I was about to lose this story.
- 15:25Speaker 1: I didn't have an ending. I didn't have a title.
- 15:29Speaker 1: I didn't have anything that tied together. And I was,
- 15:32Speaker 1: it was circling the drain. I was just leaving my
- 15:35Speaker 1: mom's residence in DeKalb. And I still remember the moment
- 15:39Speaker 1: I pulled out to any glitter road from her place.
- 15:42Speaker 1: I had my music on shuffle and the almost his song,
- 15:46Speaker 1: the lifeline came on. Well, just lifeline, I should say.
- 15:51Speaker 1: And I realized at that point, I have a common denominator.
- 15:55Speaker 1: I know where the title is going to be. I
- 15:57Speaker 1: know what's going to tie it all together. So I
- 16:00Speaker 1: went home. wrote it all down. That's where the title
- 16:04Speaker 1: bones and the connection to, without that song, I would
- 16:09Speaker 1: have lost it. It would have had no connection whatsoever.
- 16:12Speaker 2: That's cool. Does that happen often?
- 16:14Speaker 1: Not as near as much as it should.
- 16:16Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 16:17Speaker 1: But it does every once in a while, which kind
- 16:21Speaker 1: of like Jerry Seinfeld once said, you have to stand
- 16:25Speaker 1: underneath the tap and wait for it to come out,
- 16:27Speaker 1: and when you get it, make sure to make the
- 16:29Speaker 1: best of it. Yeah.
- 16:30Speaker 2: And I think he's the one that said, always have
- 16:32Speaker 2: that notepad behind you. Or nowadays, you know, you could
- 16:34Speaker 2: put it in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When do, when does
- 16:38Speaker 2: creativity come to you most?
- 16:40Speaker 1: Mostly time in those quiet moments. Usually it takes, unfortunately
- 16:45Speaker 1: it takes a good moment of solitude where I'm doing
- 16:51Speaker 1: nothing for a good time, but on time. But then
- 16:54Speaker 1: after a little bit, something inspires me like a, Write
- 16:59Speaker 1: a few things. Keep writing. Keep writing yourself nothing and
- 17:03Speaker 1: then become something.
- 17:04Speaker 2: Okay. So your recommendation to those who are just starting
- 17:07Speaker 2: out writing, just keep writing.
- 17:09Speaker 1: Correct. It was said to me once, writing is like
- 17:13Speaker 1: a puppy. If you don't take care of it, it's
- 17:15Speaker 1: going to peel the carpet. It's going to chew up
- 17:18Speaker 1: your shoes. If you take care of it, you'll do
- 17:23Speaker 1: great by it and it'll take care of it.
- 17:25Speaker 2: And don't wait for it to come to you.
- 17:26Speaker 1: Just keep the way for it to come to you.
- 17:29Speaker 2: Musicians do that too. A lot of times they just
- 17:31Speaker 2: roll tape. Let's see what we come up with and
- 17:33Speaker 2: then listen back to it later. And okay, we've got
- 17:35Speaker 2: something there. Let's work off of that.
- 17:36Speaker 1: Right. Like the kiss said once in Beth, he says,
- 17:41Speaker 1: I hear him calling. I don't know how long it'll take,
- 17:44Speaker 1: but we're going to keep working on this style. Maybe
- 17:47Speaker 1: you just got to keep plugging away.
- 17:49Speaker 2: Zosia is a mysterious angel like figure who guides Gerald
- 17:53Speaker 2: toward the helping a young girl named Haley. What did
- 17:56Speaker 2: you envision Zosia to be, and why did Gerald need her?
- 18:00Speaker 1: Basically, as you saw, he had his own demons he
- 18:06Speaker 1: was facing. He was looking to rid himself of his
- 18:09Speaker 1: own guilt. Zosia is his character, but everybody has angels
- 18:17Speaker 1: of a white-winged, angelic like the character from Wizard of
- 18:24Speaker 1: Oz but I want to make a different one that
- 18:28Speaker 1: has a different look to it but with the same
- 18:30Speaker 1: good intention Haley is the character next door as you
- 18:35Speaker 1: know that incidentally he helps in the place of his
- 18:41Speaker 1: own he realizes he can't help put himself above somebody
- 18:47Speaker 1: that's younger that he can help out so he takes
- 18:51Speaker 1: care of her before his own needs. Therefore, in the end,
- 18:54Speaker 1: he ends up saving himself.
- 18:57Speaker 2: So those are the five stories. Now that you've written
- 18:59Speaker 2: those stories inspired by five songs, has that experience changed
- 19:03Speaker 2: how you listen to music? Do you find yourself hearing
- 19:06Speaker 2: potential stories in other songs now?
- 19:08Speaker 1: Yeah, with a good, like I said at the beginning,
- 19:11Speaker 1: a good author, or a songwriter, I should say, writes
- 19:15Speaker 1: songs that are ambiguous enough that you don't have to
- 19:19Speaker 1: necessarily go through divorce to hear. There's so many rights
- 19:24Speaker 1: about divorce that you have to go through divorce to
- 19:30Speaker 1: understand it. They write it ambiguous enough where it can
- 19:33Speaker 1: fit any narrative. So when I hear those songs, to
- 19:38Speaker 1: answer your question, yes, I hear songs and other songs,
- 19:41Speaker 1: stories and other songs as well. I haven't repented any recently.
- 19:46Speaker 1: I've been working on a different project right now. But
- 19:50Speaker 1: I could easily pick up another song or two and
- 19:54Speaker 1: make them into a story. I did retell a couple
- 19:56Speaker 1: of other artists. They haven't responded back yet. But if
- 20:00Speaker 1: they should do, I would be glad to do the
- 20:02Speaker 1: same respect.
- 20:03Speaker 2: So maybe we'll get some more. So these five songs,
- 20:06Speaker 2: were they.
- 20:08Speaker 2: The only five songs you wrote stories around? Or were
- 20:11Speaker 2: there some that were on the cutting room floor that
- 20:12Speaker 2: maybe you just didn't feel right and you put them
- 20:14Speaker 2: aside for now?
- 20:16Speaker 1: At this point, no. These are the only five songs
- 20:19Speaker 1: right now. But again, I'm young enough. I can make
- 20:24Speaker 1: some more. I love the positive reaction. I gave them
- 20:28Speaker 1: each a copy that I could. Brimsey, you all must
- 20:31Speaker 1: have a copy. But I think now that I talk
- 20:35Speaker 1: this out, even on fire, actually purchased a copy of
- 20:39Speaker 1: their own. So I know he's got a copy.
- 20:41Speaker 2: That's great. So I'm sure they're sharing it with their
- 20:43Speaker 2: fans on social media and letting them know.
- 20:46Speaker 1: Absolutely. I'm so appreciative of that.
- 20:49Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great idea. And I'm sure you get
- 20:52Speaker 2: people probably requesting, like I'm thinking of some songs right
- 20:55Speaker 2: now that I'd love to have you write a creative
- 20:57Speaker 2: story around. You start thinking of ones like, hey, that'd
- 21:00Speaker 2: be a good one to write about. Well, Inspired is
- 21:02Speaker 2: out now and you can find it through Amazon. Is
- 21:04Speaker 2: that the best place to go?
- 21:05Speaker 1: Best place to go, Amazon, Inspired, by typing in my name.
- 21:09Speaker 1: There's a few other songs, I'm sorry, a few other
- 21:12Speaker 1: books named Inspired. But you can type in Courtney Skelton.
- 21:16Speaker 1: It brings up all my books along with Inspired. I purposely,
- 21:21Speaker 1: with a publisher, priced it only just not even $ 8.
- 21:23Speaker 1: Because I realized, yes, it's what it is. I marked
- 21:29Speaker 1: it lower to give everybody a break. I want the
- 21:32Speaker 1: gifts to get the word out there. I'm not trying
- 21:34Speaker 1: to milk your last penny. I like wanting people to
- 21:37Speaker 1: read about it, but that cash out your light saying for.
- 21:40Speaker 2: Yeah. And I, I believe it's also, uh, you can
- 21:43Speaker 2: get a Kindle copy, right?
- 21:44Speaker 1: Correct.
- 21:45Speaker 2: Yeah. There is a Kindle copy that's available. It's a
- 21:47Speaker 2: great book. It's a fun read. And it's one of
- 21:50Speaker 2: those where you can just do one story at a time,
- 21:52Speaker 2: put it, put it down. It's, it's a great escape.
- 21:54Speaker 2: You know, you can read a story and kind of,
- 21:56Speaker 2: you know, escape from all the stuff going on in
- 21:59Speaker 2: the world.
- 21:59Speaker 1: That was the whole purpose of it.
- 22:01Speaker 2: Yep. That's cool. Courtney, by the way, Courtney Skelton is
- 22:05Speaker 2: a great name. Is that your real name?
- 22:07Speaker 1: Or is that a, Oh, that's my real name. It's
- 22:09Speaker 1: a Skelton is a word I got from my dad
- 22:14Speaker 1: and Courtney, my mom named me that because she thought
- 22:18Speaker 1: of the court day shortened the court because she thought
- 22:20Speaker 1: that was very masculine.
- 22:21Speaker 2: So I love that. That last name Skelton, man, you can't,
- 22:25Speaker 2: that can't get better for a name. If you're writing
- 22:28Speaker 2: about a whore and, and, you know, and, Things like
- 22:32Speaker 2: Stephen King related. You can't go wrong with that name.
- 22:34Speaker 2: I love it.
- 22:35Speaker 1: I'm a free kid.
- 22:36Speaker 2: Courtney, thank you so much. All the best with this book.
- 22:39Speaker 2: People go out and get this. Look on Amazon for it.
- 22:42Speaker 2: Can people find you online, Courtney?
- 22:44Speaker 1: Absolutely. I'm on Facebook as well as Instagram if they
- 22:47Speaker 1: have any questions, comments. I'd be glad to reach out,
- 22:51Speaker 1: you know, correspond with any kind of hands or just
- 22:55Speaker 1: have a question in general. I'm open to anybody. I'm
- 22:59Speaker 1: not the first one. You can reach me.
- 23:00Speaker 2: Excellent. I'll look for those online and put the links
- 23:04Speaker 2: in the show notes. Or if you want, just send
- 23:05Speaker 2: me an email with the links to both of those
- 23:07Speaker 2: so I can.
- 23:07Speaker 1: Let people know. Yeah, once we can wrap up here,
- 23:09Speaker 1: I'd be glad to.
- 23:10Speaker 2: Great. Courtney Skelton, thank you so much. Take care.
- 23:12Speaker 1: Take care.
- 23:20Speaker 2: That's it. It's in the books.