Soundtrack suggestions

I asked my friends to answer the following question for me:

"If you were writing a novel, and could only listen to one song, which song would you pick? (in other words... I need a new selection of tunes before November!)

This year I'm going for upbeat and bouncy, but I'll listen to any and all suggestions!"

Links to youtube videos for their responses:
From my boyfriend Kyle: ATI - Sands of Time: Very emotional piece, thoughtfully played
From Kate: Edward Maya and Mia Martina - Stereo Love: I love the accordion player
From Woogie: Nine Inch Nails - La Mer: This is an awesome reflective instrumental piece
From Katie: Katy Perry - Teenage Dream: Poppy Katy Perry - easy to get stuck in your head
From Donovan: U2 - Ultraviolet (light my way): Classic U2 - interesting to listen to the differences in Bono's voice in the more recent 360 tour as compared to the early 1990s
From Alex: The Killers cover of Bright Eyes - Four Winds: I like the original too so I've linked both
Also from Alex: Tiesto - Adagio for Strings: Pretty awesome trance
From my big brother, Phil: Blue Monday - Orgy: How does it feel... to treat me like you do... (throughout this song I picture my brother headbanging his formerly long hair)
Also from my big brother: Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield: Always loved this! Fantastic music.
From my sister-in-law: Jessie's Girl - Glee's cast version: Another poppy-ish one - I need to listen to it more before coming up with an opinion
From Michele: Tokyo Mew Mew Butterfly: total candy pop - hilarious
From Cynthia: Sarah Bareilles - King of Anything: upbeat and fun

A few I'm throwing in there:
Iron Butterfly - In A Gadda Da Vida: plot bunnies need rock'n'roll too
Mika - Relax, Take It Easy: plot bunnies also need to de-stress
Four of my typical play'n'write songs:
Miriam Stockley (I think?) - Kissing in the Rain
Battles - Atlas
Citizen Cop - Let the Drummer Kick
CSI Investigation Suite

Getting so excited

It's that time of year again: the novel ideas are falling like leaves and the plot bunnies are jumping into your neatly raked piles and scattering your thoughts and plots alike.

But this year, I'm ready. While in the past, I'd be dithering between this story and that character and wondering how to make it all work, this year I'm just raking it all into one - and jumping into those tantalizingly crinkly ideas alongside the plot bunnies. The difficulty of dealing with the dastardly bunnies is what my novel is all about, and that means I can do pretty much anything I want.

So far, that means reading The Maltese Falcon and watching clips of Humphrey Bogart - for research. It means going to the Night of Writing Dangerously fundraiser (you can still donate on my sponsorship page!), and incidentally spending American Thanksgiving with my boyfriend and his family in the San Francisco area. It means buying a trilby (like a fedora, but with a narrower brim that turns up sharply at the back). It means trying to learn how to draw bunnies - this hasn't worked out very well so far!

Mostly it's just a lot of fun.

Soon it'll be a lot of work, too. Writing 50,000 words in 30 days doesn't happen without a little effort: 1,667 words per day. I'm hoping for more, and this year I've challenged myself by joining the Vancouver regional word war team, which is challenging "fake" Vancouver (Vancouver, BC vs Vancouver, Washington). And if this still sounds like fun and not too much work, you should join too!