This week’s Words & Music Monday author is bringing the nostalgia AND a “new to me” piece of musical info!! Here’s a little more about how Jamie Wesley’s writing is inspired by music.
Hello, it’s Jamie Wesley, romcom author extraordinaire! (a girl can dream about the extraordinaire part, right?) Anyhoo, I love music, and it’s a huge part of my writing process. Don’t believe me? Here are a few fun facts about me that involve music.
- My first book is named Tell Me Something Good. I got the idea for the book one driving home from work when I heard the song of the same name on the radio. As I was singing, it hit me. That would be a great title for a book! At that point, my mind started racing with ideas. The rest is history!
- My favorite movie is Dirty Dancing. How much do I love this movie? Not only do I have the original soundtrack, I am also the proud owner of the second soundtrack that the studio released when the first soundtrack did so well. Yes, there are two Dirty Dancing soundtracks! More Dirty Dancing has a lot of songs left off the original soundtrack, so, of course, I had to have it. But wait, there’s more! When I’m deep in writing mode, I turn on the soundtracks. You know I’m serious about getting some words down when “She’s Like the Wind” can be heard from my office.
- I create playlists for all my books. The second book in my Sugar Blitz series, A Legend in the Baking, is a second chance/brother’s best friend romance. The two leads have HISTORY. And since this is the second book in the series, I dreamed of what this book would be long before I ever started writing it. During that period, one of my favorite pop artists, Ariana Grande released a song called “Break Up with Your Girlfriend.” I love that song (it’s such a bop), but every time I heard it, I was like “Ari, get out of my head!” The song’s theme has a lot of parallels to Legend. The Legend playlist contains a lot of songs that deal with yearning, which is very on theme for the book itself.
To create the playlists, I listen to music like I always do on the radio or YouTube or wherever and when I hear a song that reminds me of the book I’m writing or will write in the future, I add it to that book’s playlists. I listen to the playlists when I write. FYI – all of my book’s playlists are available on the individual book pages at my website, jamiewesley.com.
What’s your favorite movie soundtrack or theme song? Do you ever hear a song that reminds you of a character or a book?
I hope you’ve enjoyed this Coastal Magic Convention Featured Author Spotlight post.
Jamie will be one of the amazing authors we’ll get to hang out with during the 14th annual reader weekend in Daytona Beach, FL, Feb 19-22, 2026.
For a full list of Featured Authors, info about the weekend, and link to register to attend, visit http://www.CoastalMagicConvention.com.
And be sure to watch for more Featured Author spotlights coming up here each month!
Funk-N-Fiction 