How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

If I could only pick one album as the soundtrack to The Fifth, it would be Deep by Peter Murphy (and not just because Peter Murphy was the original inspiration for Anastase -- more on that, later).  Murphy is the former lead singer of Bauhaus, so it's not surprising that the album is dark and moody and mystical. But unlike a lot of music in the genre, Deep isn't sad or depressing . . . at least not entirely. :)  One of my favorite songs on the album is this one, "Cuts You Up," which is really a very representative song for the whole album.  I listened to this album incessantly for several years, so much so that parts of it made its way into The Fifth, like these lyrics: I find you in the morning after dreams of distant signs. You pour yourself over me like the sun through the blinds . Which some of you may recognize as very similar to the scene where Suzanne wakes up from the cantilever ceremony. ::whistles in the dark:: Also, is this the most Anastase B...

Hi, I'm Jay. I know, you're thrilled, right? I'm 35, I live in Ohio, I'm a lawyer, and I write young adult novels. Let's start with the first question: why do I write? I don't know. I always have. My first book was finished at the age of four - a ten page novel, illustrated by moi, about the adventures of a pony named "Bittersweet" (named after the Crayola crayon. Do they still have that color anymore? If not, they should, because that was an awesome color, sort of caramelly and warm, just a great shade of brown, like the light brown M&Ms they used to have. Oh, jesus. Hi, I'm Jay. Welcome to my nostalgia trip.). Anyway, it was quite a hit among my older female relatives, if I do say so myself. Since then, I've written a lot of things - short stories, novels, fan fiction (no, I won't tell you what about) - but I haven't sold anything. Truthfully, I haven't tried. Until recently, I hadn't dedicated myself to writing, not in th...