On the Lizard Radio: a Revision Playlist by Pat Schmatz + GIVEAWAY!

Later this month, I'll be sharing my thoughts on Pat Schmatz's just released just about to be released Lizard Radio, which has one of the most unique and interesting synopses I've seen in a good long while (but more on that below). But today, Pat has stopped by to share a playlist of revision / inspiration songs, AND a chance for three of you to win copies! Check it out below, let us know your thoughts on the playlist in the comments, and then make sure to enter to win!

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Top 10 Revision Tunes

I create a different playlist for each book that relates specifically to character and setting. But the revision process can be long and grueling, so I also have a shortlist of revision tunes. When I feel like I’m not smart or creative or talented or brave or strong enough to make it through, I rely on these songs to fire me up and remind me why I’m doing this writing thing in the first place.

1. Die Vampire Die – [title of show] soundtrack
   One of my best friends says, “Make art every day.” So on a down day, this song reminds me to draw a picture of Tippy Turtle or make a shrinky dink or something – anything to keep those vampires away.
2. Over My Head – Semisonic
   Over My Head takes me back to my original motivation to write – The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. When I start getting too worried about reviews or sales or the business, I go right back here.
3. Dueling Banjos – Deliverance soundtrack
   This call-response between guitar and banjo starts out so simple – anyone can play a single run of notes back, right? Then a chord or two…then the energy builds until they’re blowing each other away. One sentence at a time, story builds on story. But you have to start with some single note-plucking.
4. Space Oddity – David Bowie
   Any writing day that I can float in that most peculiar way is a good day. It’s all about leaving the capsule.
5. Over at the Frankenstein Place – Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack
   Rocky Horror Picture Show was a joyful bright light in some very dark nights of my teen years. I believe in the power and beauty of both dark and light, and try to bring the full spectrum into the worlds I write.
6. The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel
   As a kid, I took some hard knocks at the hands of other people. It wasn’t (isn’t) easy to step past the fear of those hands and words and eyes. They knocked me down, but they didn’t shut me up. The fighter still remains. Lie-la lie.
7. Rabbit Run – Eminem
   Eminem is one of my favorite revision artists, and this is a perfectly ferocious revision song. There is no possible way for me to quit on myself with these words in my head. If I have half a chance, I’ll grab it…
8. I Sing the Body Electric – Fame soundtrack
   This show tune is so full of youth and potential and fire and hope and dreams, for the younger me and the older me and for all of us. It reminds me that there’s always a me yet to come.
9. Not Afraid – Eminem
   Eminem is fierce when it comes to telling his own truth, and Not Afraid is a rap that brings the rest of us along to exorcise those demons who are doing jumping jacks – and start gazing at some stars. 
10. Take Me To Church – Sinead O’Connor My most admired artists are those who try to do something new and different with each work and this song inspires me to shake the past – both good and bad – start over again with the truth and look for the love.

****GIVEAWAY****
To celebrate the release of Lizard Radio, the awesome folks at Candlewick have offered up three copies of the book for giveaway!
Open to US ONLY.
Ends September 12th, 2015 at 11:59pm EST
Fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter.
Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz
Get It | Add It
Gender Bender/Dystopia, 288 pages
Expected publication: September 8th 2015 by Candlewick Press

In a futuristic society run by an all-powerful Gov, a bender teen on the cusp of adulthood has choices to make that will change her life—and maybe the world.

Fifteen-year-old bender Kivali has had a rough time in a gender-rigid culture. Abandoned as a baby and raised by Sheila, an ardent nonconformist, Kivali has always been surrounded by uncertainty. Where did she come from? Is it true what Sheila says, that she was deposited on Earth by the mysterious saurians? What are you? people ask, and Kivali isn’t sure. Boy/girl? Human/lizard? Both/neither? Now she’s in CropCamp, with all of its schedules and regs, and the first real friends she’s ever had. Strange occurrences and complicated relationships raise questions Kivali has never before had to consider. But she has a gift—the power to enter a trancelike state to harness the “knowings” inside her. She has Lizard Radio. Will it be enough to save her? A coming-of-age story rich in friendships and the shattering emotions of first love, this deeply felt novel will resonate with teens just emerging as adults in a sometimes hostile world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Growing up in rural Wisconsin, Pat's passions were reading, basketball, and the woods. She lived in Michigan, California, and Minnesota before landing back in central Wisconsin. She still travels whenever she can, from Japan to Rhode Island to Vancouver to New Zealand, and anyplace she can get in between.

When she's not traveling, Pat does administrative work for the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, helping those dedicated and talented public interest lawyers provide free civil legal services for low-income folks and people with disabilities. In the summer, she is on the staff of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. In between, when she's not running or skiing in the woods or swimming in the lake, she studies Spanish and Japanese, watches the Green Bay Packers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and reads and rereads and writes and rewrites.