BITTER SWEET...

Bitter sweet is a good description of what I'm feeling.  

Sweet... because a huge dream of mine has recently been fulfilled with the making of the 3 song EP which, Matt Lande did for my DarkStar novel and the filming of a couple of the DarkStar music videos. We just edited the third draft for the "DarkStar" video and it will soon be released. Can I just tell you have awesome it is to watch Matt sing as scenes from my novel bring my characters, Alec & Amrie, to life in the very settings they take place in in my book...so cool!!

Bitter...because this phase of our project is almost complete.

It's been a fun ride....

A year ago, I became associated with, Matt Lande, someone who I had no clue would become such a big part of my life. When he read my novel, I don't think either of us was aware of what a great venture we had in store for both of us. We teamed up on our Kickstarter project; Magic...when word & song collide, and was fortunate to be successful because of the amazing people who believed in what we were trying to accomplish. With the help of those backers, (you know who u are...TY!!:), we were able to move forward, complete the 3 song, DarkStar CD, (almost) complete Matt's "Welcome Home the Child" CD and connect with, Daniel Webster, the awesome, Park City, cinematographer who shot our DarkStar videos in Logan, Utah.

When Matt flew into Salt Lake on July 7th, believe it or not, it's the first time we had actually met in person. We've been working together for a year now and had planned on meeting sooner, but it never happened. It's amazing how technology has made it so you can associate with people so closely...without meeting. Matt & I actually met on Twitter, so I'm grateful for the social networks. It's kinda funny, because at the time we met, I had just barely become acquainted with Twitter and hardly knew how to use it.

Matt & I bonded instantly as we headed to City Creek to shop for him some new "British" clothes since he was playing the part of my main character, Alec, in our music video.  I have an awesome friend from England, Sharon Cairney, (my UK mentor and correspondent:) who advised me as to what Matt should wear since, Alec was considered born of Royal Blood. Nothing like breaking the ice with a shopping trip...oh yeah...and sushi. Matt loves sushi so I told him we would have it while he was here. It was the first time for me, but I gotta say, Matt did a great job choosing what we ate cause I thought it was pretty dang good.

That night we had the opportunity to do our very first, ( hopefully the first of many) joint book/music signing at Hastings Book, Music & Video in Logan and Matt also did a few sets and mesmerized everyone with his intriguing voice. I fell in love with Matt's voice the first time I heard it, but I gotta say, hearing him first hand and watching him when he goes into his "zone" when he sings was pretty sweet. What amazing talent!

 Daniel did such an awesome job shooting the videos. He was so organized and had everything figured out before we even began. We planned on being at the Wind Caves trail head at 6:00 a.m., but when everyone stayed up until the wee hours of the morning...no one was too spry when we began our hike. Two miles doesn't sound far, but since you're climbing up... it's a bit of a "kick butt" hike, and carrying all our gear made it even more so. You should've seen the reaction of people when they saw us carrying all our stuff all the way up there and especially, Matt's guitar...too funny. I wish I could tell you all the hilarious details of the day:)

 The Wind Caves are awesome! You don't even know they're there until you come upon them and once you're there...wow...amazing! When I hiked it the first time with my daughter, Brittany, I knew they needed to be part of my book and when planning the music video, filming there was a must. Daniel and I spent a day in June, going to all the places I wanted the video shot so he knew what to expect, but Matt didn't....lol. He got a first hand taste of our "Rocky Mountain High," coming to the high mountain elevation from sea level. He loved it though:)  Haley King played, Amrie and we knew she & Matt wouldn't even be able to get ready until we reached the caves. Everyone was such troopers, making the hike, changing clothes in the bushes, hanging mirrors in the trees to put on makeup & do hair, dodging rattle snakes...classic! I'm so glad we did the shoot there and so was everyone else....turned out pretty sweet...you'll see!!:)

We were able to shoot the videos in one day because of Daniels expertise, organization skills and his awesome film crew, Russ & Kinzie:). We shot footage at Second Dam, First Dam and on the summit above Bear Lake. It was a beautiful day, but very hot. For those of you who have read, or will read, DarkStar, you'll know that the scene at the Wind Caves was in the late fall, after the frost hit the foliage, but the scenery was so beautiful that I just wanted it left as it was. When you see it, you'll know why. Utah is an extremely beautiful state!!


I think that there is a stigma that follows Utah as many people think that, because we are a predominate "Mormon" community, we aren't cultured and that we don't know how to have fun. I think that Matt will beg to differ, as for four days, we shopped, ate sushi, Colombian, Indian, Mexican & Italian foods, hiked the beautiful Rocky Mountains and shot a music video in some of the most breathtaking scenery you'll find. He loved the serenity he felt here and I know he's excited to come back this fall to do more book/music signings and acoustic shows. I will keep you all posted as to where and when they will be.

I didn't think taking Matt to the airport would be as hard as it was. When you anticipate something for so long and it comes and goes in a flash...it's difficult. Dropping him off, so he could catch his flight to Florida, meant that we were finished with this phase of our project.Given, he will be back and we have a lot more planned in the DarkStar world, the filming of the DarkStar music video will always be near and dear to my heart. We have an awesome team in place and anticipate the music Matt will write for my next book, Wizard...and the fact that the music video's will be done in England!

No more bitter...just SWEET!!

Talk soon:)xo