GUEST POST BY CAROLINE FARDIG

ABOUT THE BOOK 

Coffeehouse manager and reluctant sleuth Juliet Langley returns in a gripping novel from the bestselling author of Death Before Decaf and Mug Shot. Just as things are perking up in Nashville, a serial killer sends tensions foaming over. 

Juliet’s personal and professional lives have recently received an extra jolt of energy. Her romance with the hunky detective Ryder Hamilton continues to simmer, and business at Java Jive has never been better. But her good mood quickly turns as stale as day-old espresso when she finds out that Ryder has been promoted to his precinct’s homicide division. With him risking his life to catch the worst kind of criminals, Juliet’s growing sense of unease ignites when a local college student goes missing.

Suddenly every Nashville resident is on high alert, especially Juliet’s neighbor Chelsea. Juliet does her best to calm the girl’s nerves, but her worst fears are confirmed when she finds Chelsea dead. Even though she tries her best to stay out of it, Juliet’s involvement puts a strain on Ryder’s first homicide case. The situation soon becomes even more personal for Juliet and her best friend Pete Bennett when one of their employees disappears during her shift. As a killer lurks in the shadows, Juliet, Pete, and Ryder seek out a double shot of justice.

GUEST POST BY CAROLINE FARDIG

I’m a little new to songwriting, but I’ve found that it’s one of my favorite things to do.  I’m even taking songwriting lessons (along with my nine-year-old daughter, who is super creative and musical) from The Honey Vines, a fantastic local singer/songwriter duo.

The first thing I decide is what kind of a song I want to write—a soulful ballad, an up-tempo pop tune, a jazzy throwback, etc.  That totally dictates the rest of the process for me.  Then I decide what the main theme of the song is going to be.  Am I going to deal with love, loss, and break-up, or is it going to just be something fun?  Once I have some kind of idea where I’m going, I listen to other songs in the genre and songs with similar themes to get some ideas.

When I’m ready to buckle down and do some actual work, I begin by jotting down notes outlining the theme—ultimately, the points I want to make in the song.  Then I start playing around with chord progressions I think “sound” like they’ll go with my idea. 

I take the notes I’ve jotted down and then write some snippets of lines and phrases I want to use.  Building on that, I take those phrases and group them by ideas that would fit together.  I group those ideas by ones that might rhyme, or be made to rhyme, and I decide what parts I want to include in the verses, chorus, and bridge.

After I have a clear idea, I nail down the chord progression and strum pattern I’ll use on the guitar, which forces me to firm up my phrases into real lyrics that will fit into the rhythmic pattern I’m planning to use.  Once that is done, I let my creative juices flow and come up with a melody that works with both the chord progression and the lyrics.  That’s not always an easy task, and most of the time I have to go back and tweak the lyrics to better fit within the melody.

As with any writing endeavor, I go back over what I’ve done with a critical eye, making changes to tighten everything up and smooth everything out.  When I’m sufficiently happy with my nearly-finished product, I make a rough recording so I can sing along and come up with some harmony vocals, which is my favorite part.  If given the choice, I always want to be the backup singer instead of the lead, because I think harmony is way more fun. 

The only thing left to do after that is to use my Finale program to make a professional-looking copy of the sheet music, which is the worst part.  After enjoying so much creative freedom, it all comes down to fighting with a computer in order to be able to share my music with the rest of the world!

To learn more about my book writing process, follow the A WHOLE LATTE MURDER blog tour for more of my guest posts.  And to hear my latest song, “You Are Mine,” from A WHOLE LATTE MURDER, go to www.carolinefardig.com/music for a list of retailers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Caroline Fardig is the author of Death Before Decaf and the Lizzie Hart series. She worked as a schoolteacher, church organist, insurance agent, funeral parlor associate, and stay-at-home mom before she realized that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Born and raised in a small town in Indiana, Fardig still lives in that same town with an understanding husband, two sweet kids, two energetic dogs, and one malevolent cat.

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