Music that Inspired the Series
Fun fact about me: Cecilia is my pen name. When I decided to use a pen name, I immediately knew which name to choose. Although I’m not a practicing Catholic any longer (in fact, I refer to myself as a recovering Catholic!), I did select a confirmation name in high school. I remember that when we were picking our names, we were encouraged to choose a saint we had something in common with or were drawn to.
For as long as I can remember, I have always loved music. As a teenager growing up in the 90’s, I was the typical angsty alt-rock teen. Music has always been there for me and helped me through my life. As I was researching saints to pick my name, I knew it needed to be Cecilia, as she is the patroness of music and for musicians.
Fast forward to 2021, and I was getting ready to publish Always Forward; the name Cecilia was the perfect fit. Because, in writing the series, music was more than ever there for me.
Music plays a huge role in my writing process. That’s why, for the Fifth Anniversary Edition, I decided to share my top picks in a soundtrack for the series. Each song on the playlist played an integral part in one of the books.
From "The Noose" by A Perfect Circle to “Only if for a Night" by Florence and the Machine, each song holds a piece of the Always Forward story. There were times when I would literally play a song on repeat for hours, allowing myself to feel every emotion needed to write a specific scene. Sometimes the music would bring me to tears, and sometimes I would need the song to pull me back to reality.
A few of these songs appear in the series, such as "State of Love and Trust" by Pearl Jam. Perhaps when you’re reading Tara’s chapter, you put this song on, close your eyes, and envision her driving to the hospital in Germany. Maybe you even imagine what it would feel like to be in her shoes, getting ready to face a real-life ghost!
You see, this is the beauty of music and the written word. You can allow yourself to be pulled into another world, even if it’s just for a moment or two.
It was so important to me to share these songs with you, the reader, so you can begin to feel the same range of emotions. Maybe you’ll even discover a new favorite song or band in the process!
You can listen to the songs on my Spotify or Apple Music Playlists here:
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