Michelle Renee DeBellis, award-winning author, "The Music We Make"

Mark Stinson, host: [: 00:00:00

And we're speaking with author Michelle Renee DeBellis. Michelle, welcome to the

Michelle DeBellis, author: show. Thank you for having me. Mark. I am honored for the chance to expand creativity to your

Mark Stinson, host: audience. That's what we're all about. And Michelle is the author of a terrific new book called The Music We Make. It's an award-winning novel, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for literature and and a fiction, but also a Kirk Star, an award-winning novel.

ou use this kind of novel in [: 00:01:00

Michelle DeBellis, author: I think that all of us are moving through our lives, trying to make sense of our human experiences and as we muddle through. And for me, as I wanted to approach being a writer, I felt like the most important thing I could do was use the power of story to do exactly that.

And I think that since the beginning of time since the beginning of language story has been something that has brought humans together and allowed them to evolve their humanity and. To express it to each other. And I think that story is one of the ways that we overcome boundaries of ethnicity and race and judgements that we hold against other people that, that we.

a novel and I remember as I [: 00:02:00

As a writer. And I remember saying, no, I don't want to, I want it to just happen. I want it to happen right now. And then I laughed at myself as I'm pretty good at doing and said, okay, you have to grow. And this book my novel, the music we make is really a testament to my commitment to growth.

And I think that the growth as creative people is paramount. It is the goal, it is the important thing. And I also wanna say that growth is only scary when we are. When we're fighting it or when we're resisting it, but that when we actually embrace it, that it is the most enjoyable things that we do as human beings.

ng with each other in a more [: 00:03:00

Michelle DeBellis, author: The music we make is really a metaphor for the connections that we make and for the relationships that we make.

I think especially in the musical world of this book, it was about that collaborative experience in making the music. It is so important to reflect on how much our lives are enhanced by the people that we have relationships with. And in this novel, music is really a metaphor for relationships.

Mark Stinson, host: Give us a brief synopsis of the book. An overview of not just the story, but I think there's an undertoe of a message for humanity as well. Absolutely.

ich occurs not only from his [: 00:04:00

And for me as a writer who experienced a difficult car accident and fell into the opiate addiction that I think is common. In today's society where opiates are pushed so heavily by the medical society for pain as pain killers for surgical situations, I wanted people to be able to empathize with that situation.

But From in the story as the young man is reaching rock bottom with his opiate addiction and his grief, he receives inspiration from his mother from Heaven to write a song that will guide him through that pain and that grief. And as he struggles to write it, he meets a very seductive woman who is a music producer who sucks him into this Very tumultuous love affair and Hollywood pop music recording contract, that makes it much more challenging for him to write the one song that will help him make peace with his mother's death.

And so for me [: 00:05:00

It's like it goes down so smooth, but you definitely feel it. You can definitely feel the bite. And as a creative person, as a writer, I always wanted, as I said before, to write something important and for there to be a message, but that message has to. Be the backseat to the story.

It has to be so nicely wrapped up inside that enjoyable story that you don't even feel it until later.

Mark Stinson, host: And you mentioned the song, being Central to the Story, I definitely want to come back to that, but perhaps first I could ask you to read short excerpt. From the book for us to get a okay.

Wonderful flavor of that

ellis, author: style. That's [: 00:06:00

And I said, time feels strange to me. Sometimes it stretches into endless waking hours, and sometimes it's swallowed up by whole days of sleep awake. I detect my father outside my bedroom door and hold my breath. Dad moves on down the hall, my face burns. Next day, I pop like a coiled spring. When Lucy hits me with a book, I glance at the title and read the word grieving in a cursive font.

ake up to the night at night [: 00:07:00

She wipes her face with the back of her hand. I'm making you a sandwich. I won't eat it. The pills have zeroed out my desire for food. My appetite only returns when I let the time between doses stretch a little, her head shake softly. I'll get you a glass of water. I gulp down the water with some extra Norco and two Ambien.

I set the half empty glass on the nightstand and wait for the sleeping pills to weave their magic, but a trippy thing's happening lately. The opiate buzz wires me up, so I'm still awake in the ambien's. Hypnotic hold. Thirsty. I guzzle what remains in a large green glass. At the bottom I find a pond. Lucy and I used to swim in at our grandparents' house.

tom of the gray water alone. [: 00:08:00

I need a real plan. Help me, mom. That's when tiny bubbles tickle my feet on their way to the surface of my illusion. What is that? Laughter? No music. Yes. Faint. Original music. The melody of a song Burst to Life. I sucked down a huge breath and clutch four musical notes as I emerged from the depths. My arms are plastered with goosebumps.

ow is this. The notes didn't [: 00:09:00

Mom sent them. She sent them to keep me alive.

Mark Stinson, host: Very powerful. Thank you. That was Michelle Devella sharing an excerpt of her book, the Music We Make, Michelle, I'm struck by not only the sort of action, the who, what wins and wheres, but the emotion behind those actions and so a writer I could appreciate that you might have started with just. Here's a litany of the things that are happening, but what sort of craftsmanship, and you talked about your growth as an author, trying to write something meaningful, but what, in your approach to the writing process, you're drafting it, you're outlining it, but then you're really refining and crafting and editing.

What steps did you feel like you had to go to capture the emotion behind the scenes, not just the action of the scenes.

uthor: I think that the most [: 00:10:00

That for me was one of the most crucial elements is that after I would spend time writing and that part is so important to actually get your butt in the chair, that. Yes, but to then allow my imagination to roam. And so a very intricate part of my process was that after any writing session, I would take either a long walk in the park or on the hills or just anywhere that I could let go of my thoughts, stop thinking about what should happen or what happened or what I wrote, and just let my imagination roam.

them, but they were playing [: 00:11:00

And that letting go is, I think the muse that we all talk about, where you are getting to a place where your imagination and your creativity are working on their own or subconsciously. And suddenly the dialogue which I had written, which maybe was a little on the nose or was just a little, a little jilted would suddenly come to me as, oh, he wouldn't have said that.

He would've said this and maybe what he would've said was completely the opposite, and maybe then it took an entire another conversation before it came back around to the original idea that I thought I was trying to express. But all of that happened when I would allow myself to just surrender to something bigger than the story I was trying to write and allow that to come through, allow my imagination to bring it to me.

Mark Stinson, host: It's interesting, the idea of surrender, and letting the story play out. I think many of us writers say, no, sit down, get writing, force it out. Make it happen.

r: And there are times where [: 00:12:00

I can only write a scene with, I have a pin in my hand or a keyboard under my fingertips. And I think that's essential to, to get to that place where you have a good routine. Where you have your magic hour, where you seize that magic hour. What? What time are you most creative at Mark? What time?

Mark Stinson, host: Oh, I'm definitely a morning person, but I'm like you. I'm like maybe I need to walk first. No, maybe I need to write first.

Michelle DeBellis, author: Walk later. You do need to write first. I think you do need to write first, but most

Mark Stinson, host: importantly, I think about that line of writer rights.

Michelle DeBellis, author: And I have to, for me, I'm like you.

I'm a morning person. A morning is my, I'm morning glory. But, and that means, when I'm wake up and I'm conscious, I jump up and I get to my writing desk and I go through that process because that's when it's most enjoyable. And so in addressing the audience that is trying to become more creative, I say find your magic hour whenever that is.

in the morning, like me and [: 00:13:00

And when we can just get one step ahead of resistance by getting to that spot where we write by writing instead of staying in bed by writing, instead of watching that Netflix special. That's when we can start to make things happen. But once we've started that process and we've done the work, then we can trust that our connection to the project.

Our connection to our muse that governs the project has even more waiting for

Mark Stinson, host: us. Yes. I'd like to come back to the idea of the song as part of the story. After all, it is titled The Music We Make. And there's actually music being made as part of the story. Indeed. And

Michelle DeBellis, author: in fact That's right.

ing thing about that is that [: 00:14:00

And when I met him, which was many years ago, we've been together for 20 years. He was writing this gorgeous piece of music, but he didn't make any progress on it. He, it had a chorus and it had a couple of verses, but it, he never went anywhere with it, but he played it constantly. And as I was thinking about writing a novel And I had recovered was recovering from this accident I mentioned earlier.

I began to imagine the story of a young man who survives an accident that his mother dies in and receives this inspiration for this song, the same song that my husband was writing but couldn't finish, so that I could explore what kind of creative blocks we have as creative people and help him. My initial goal was to help him finish writing his song.

m most excited about is that [: 00:15:00

Mark Stinson, host: And how is that parallel process play out? As you see both the song and your story and your novel, it's a creative pinnacle that both

Michelle DeBellis, author: of, it's a fun story because, at that particular moment in time, and this is another part I wanna mention about the creative process.

It was right when Covid hit and we were home. My husband and I have always worked from home, but now it was different because there wasn't really any work for us to do. And I said to him, I was at the part of the book where I'd written the book many times, but I now was saying, this is it.

together, I wanted it to be [: 00:16:00

But I wake optimistic and cheer, today's the day in my morning glory. And I said, today's the day we write the song. And he says no. When he tells me what a lot of us tell ourselves, I'm a businessman. I have important things to do. I can't just put on my creative artist hat, I have too much to do and one day I'll write it.

And I think one day is a very dangerous phrase because what does it really mean? I. It really means never. But I said, no, today is the day. And so he was going along with it. I made him his favorite breakfast and tea and I got him into the piano room and he's playing and he starts and I start telling him what the lyrics should be based on this book that I've been writing all these years, which clearly need to line up with my characters' journey so that they can go together.

your song. This is my song. [: 00:17:00

The song was not written that day, as you can imagine. But a few weeks went by me, he doesn't understand I'm gonna write my own song. And I woke up another morning and said, honey, we're gonna write this song today. And And I said to him, what I say to myself, you need to give yourself permission to be an artist because you are an artist and you are a creative person and there's nothing else going on today.

rtal opened up to my mother, [: 00:18:00

I couldn't believe how beautiful it was, and as it was happening, I was saying to myself, How is this gonna work for my story? How is this gonna work for my story? And I found, and I just started writing down little notes, of in the story Santiago was with his sister Lucy, and the relationship between them is brother and sister is so beautiful.

It's one of my favorite in the book. And Lucy starts to explain to him why that lyric is perfect and here's this song, which a lot of people will interpret as a love song. But is really a ballad that my husband wrote for his mother. And he says, I. It's a love song for mom. Is that okay?

that was really praiseworthy.[: 00:19:00

He would mostly point out things that he would be critical about to, for me to grow and as he would, as he had read through this portion where the song was written, he kept saying, this is beautiful, this is excellent, this is perfect. And I thought, oh my God. It really was. It was just this incredible moment and it really started with me saying, you need to give yourself permission to be an artist.

Mark Stinson, host: And the contradiction between today's the day, meaning it's a do list item that you gotta get done versus today's the day to give yourself permission to give yourself that space to let the creativity happen. What a different point of view. Yes. When you really think about it. I wanted to underscore that for the creative listeners who say, it's not about procrastination.

ate it a little better, but, [: 00:20:00

Into the story cuz you said, I'm sitting there making notes, about how it's happening. I mean there is a kind of a life reflects life. Yes. Kinda piece of that isn't there?

Michelle DeBellis, author: Absolutely. Very much and one of the things that I've been so excited about to read in reviews, and I hope you and everyone that's listening will read some of the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.

I'm so proud of them. But they talk about how once they've heard the song, they feel like they can hear it throughout the entire book. And one of the things I imagined and always imagined as I was writing is that in the movie version of the music we make, that song will be broken down and. Will flow through it in the score.

movie in the. Score and you [: 00:21:00

And so it's a really wonderful thing that you can have the song to go along with it. And also, one of the things that's very special is on the audible version is just the piano portion that that Santiago plays that is, is a bonus in the audit in the Audible. And I think that's really wonderful because for.

For the decade that I spent writing the story and giving it the nuance and building all of the dimension that came from those long walks I was talking about. All I had was the piano version. Yes. And now we have this wonderful views that my husband heard the whole time. He said, the whole time I.

Was with the song. I heard the violins, I heard the guitar, I heard the drums. I never heard those things. And so it's wonderful to have just the piano music. Yeah.

the whole book and you were [: 00:22:00

Right.

Michelle DeBellis, author: I always saw it as this really big, beautiful thing. But you know when you go to draw something and you think, oh, I'm gonna draw this beautiful thing, and then it turns out like a stick figure Yes. Thing the kindergarten would draw. That was what the first few drafts of this book were like, and and I had to keep moving towards the growth that would allow it to be this beautiful picture like I originally intended.

Mark Stinson, host: Michelle. It's, it is a singular act that an author has to write the book, but it's never alone that you actually get the book up and out. And one of the themes across this podcast is often the connections and collaborations and all the support crew that it takes to launch the book.

Talk a little bit about those that helped you.

drafts. My sister, my mother[: 00:23:00

And then, Always I was wanting to put my work through the fire I and putting your work through the fire burns, it hurts. And so I would work with editors who would be very critical of my work. And I always gave myself, at least, I always said, 48 hours to, to process the pain and the desire to give up and the desire to say they're wrong and I'm right.

And this is a matter of artistic preference. And to take that criticism and use it for growth. And so I kept hiring editors and I kept hiring better and better editors. And as my work got better, I was able to attract better editors. And for me as an author that's committed to growth, I always said I must take instruction.

like that has been one of my [: 00:24:00

Mark Stinson, host: with.

Yes. And again, it's difficult because, and you do talk about the pain of course, often people say don't let your detractors stop. You don't let the criticism, beat you down. But you're saying, take it and integrate it. Use it for growth.

Michelle DeBellis, author: Absolutely.

Absolutely. I think, but that's why I always say to myself too, I give myself that time period where I can rage and say that they're wrong and say that my book will, I'll never, it'll never see the light of day if that's what it needs to do first. And even in the final moments when I was just weeks away from publishing the book, I was working with someone who said, Michelle, the first five pages have to be better than this.

n. It's a matter of artistic [: 00:25:00

Painful writing experiences that then turned into a flowing, beautiful writing session once I got over that resistance, and I'm so proud of the first five pages, and I am so grateful that Linda insisted that I rewrite them.

Mark Stinson, host: Yes. Thanks for sharing that. We're talking with Michelle Deis about her novel, the music we make.

Michelle, creative people often have lots of projects going, lots of plates spinning. So we've been talking specifically about the book, but what else is going on in your world? I. What else is on your desk? I

ith has taught me, which I'm [: 00:26:00

And it's very powerful. And the book I'm. Playing with a new title, but I'm thinking of calling it shadow of Ambition. I originally was calling it almost Perfect, and it's about a young woman's journey through her own ambition and understanding the importance of living out your passion, but not surrendering to its shadow side.

And in this case it's a ballerina. And so there are a lot of issues with body image and with with. Finding a harmonic and healthy balance with your body.

Mark Stinson, host: These are key subjects we need to be addressing these days, but I'm glad you're taking it on in a literature sort of way.

Michelle DeBellis, author: Indeed. I am too. I'm very excited about

about how to let the process [: 00:27:00

Michelle DeBellis, author: Thank you. I'm really, as I said, honored

Mark Stinson, host: and listeners find more about Michelle and the book and all these other creative things she's working on at m r d books.com. And Michelle, it's great to see the book in a lot of different formats. I noticed not only a print book, but ebook and you mentioned the audible this is all part of the creative process too, to get the story out in a lot of different

Michelle DeBellis, author: ways.

Absolutely. I had so much fun recording the audible. I performed the narration for it, and that was the best part of the project for me.

Mark Stinson, host: Fantastic. Great to hear. Listeners, I hope you've enjoyed this conversation and got a lot of practical but also inspirational tips from Michelle Renee Deis and join us again next time.

frica, Portugal, in the last [: 00:28:00

So until next time, I'm Mark Stenson, and we'll be unlocking your world of creativity. We'll see you next time..