Last night the authors of Hazel Moon invited me to attend the Whitesnake concert taking place at Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First of all, the band still puts on a show to rival what they did in their prime in the '80s but today they seemed to have attracted an audience of loyal fans from a wide range of ages. David Coverdale's voice was a strong as ever and their new material was actually quite good! All that aside, how did going to the Whitesnake concert enter the world of Hazel Moon?
Lisa sent me links to two music videos where Lori was featured. I commented that she was Tawny Kitaen gorgeous and deserved the hot spot in the video. Then, it turns out that Lori loves Whitesnake, the band that made Tawny Kitain famous, and had a thing for David Coverdale. Within hours it seemed, it came to my attention that Whitesnake was apearing in a matter of days at our annual lakefront music festival in Milwaukee, and Lori, an actress by profession and a television personality as well, was planning to dress up as Tawny Kitaen in the famous Whitesnake video, and Lori could have been a standin for Tawny in the video, so that's how we all ended up there.
Lisa sent me links to two music videos where Lori was featured. I commented that she was Tawny Kitaen gorgeous and deserved the hot spot in the video. Then, it turns out that Lori loves Whitesnake, the band that made Tawny Kitain famous, and had a thing for David Coverdale. Within hours it seemed, it came to my attention that Whitesnake was apearing in a matter of days at our annual lakefront music festival in Milwaukee, and Lori, an actress by profession and a television personality as well, was planning to dress up as Tawny Kitaen in the famous Whitesnake video, and Lori could have been a standin for Tawny in the video, so that's how we all ended up there.
This concert means so much more because it seemed to be the apex of a series of "Magical" connections surrounding the unfolding, the birthing of the novel, Hazel Moon. First, there was the incredible Synchronicity of my "running into" Lisa at a Walgreens on the day before Easter, a day known to symbolize Resurrection & Renewal. I hadn't spoken to her in over 20 years, I'd seen her one or two times since then, but we weren't really friends, and yet that day I had to tap her on the shoulder and within minutes she learned I was a publisher, and I learned she had a manuscript for a novel.
Within days I had the manuscript copy and got to work, chapter by chapter, shaping the material into a form that would better appeal to a wide audience. From the first page on I recognized I had been given a diamond in the rough, a fantasy tale surrounding the coming-of-age of a girl whose religion, whose center came from the world and culture surrounding live concert performances and in general, music and song lyrics. The story's theme served as a powerful metaphor that any reader could apply to their personal source of inspiration and grow from the reading.
Running into Lisa was just the first of a long list of magical synchronicity happenings. For example, Hazel Moon takes place over a 24-hour period during a full moon in August of 1984 when characters November and Angela were all but desperate to see their favorite band in concert at the Hazel Moon Music Festival going on in their area. During the Whitesnake concert David Coverdale pointed the full moon out to the crowd and Lisa, Lori and I looked at each other and were the only people in the world who were thinking not of Whitesnake, but of the world they'd created in Hazel Moon.
Another example of an extraordinary connection, within hours of editing a scene where a little bunny was killed by a predator, I found a baby rabbit on my driveway in the same condition as described in the book. Also, within hours of editing a scene about a fawn, my sister came over and mentioned seeing a fawn during a walk for the very first time in her entire life. I don't pretend to understand the magic involved, but I suspect it is somehow connected to the power of prayer and intention and imagination to create our destinies. That prospect is a subtle challenge for the reader of Hazel Moon to wrestle with.
Early on in the project, I suggested meeting at the cafe where I do most of my writing. When Lisa & Lori arrived, they saw the many colored lights of a carnival going on nearby, and in the remaining mist of some rain clouds, Lisa saw a rainbow. In the book there are many many references to different kinds of beautiful, rare colors, and rainbows are featured in multiple scenes. Lisa saw the rainbow in the mist as a sign that developing the book was part of our collective destiny.
Then, we find out that the band featured in the book, Echo and the Bunnymen, were actually touring in America and would be in Chicago this coming September, giving the author's a powerful opportunity to engage the band in helping promote their novel.
Throughout the book, Hazel Moon, the authors press home the idea that magic is swirling around each one of us constantly, and all we have to do is open our eyes to see that the world is much more than we know.
