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“Fire & Desire” Micki Murphy’s first novel!

Micki Murphy well known Las Vegas vocalist, has toured all over the world with her band and as a solo act for decades. When in 2005 she released her album “In my mind” it was no surprise, but when last year she came up as a fiction novelist she amazed more than one. “Fire & Desire” inspired from her own story, is available in book stores, online and is now in path to become a major motion picture. Let’s have a conversation with the author.

Lotus Road Journal: Everybody know you as an amazing performer and vocalist but how did you became a writer?

Micki Murphy: Well, I always wrote poetry. I was very shy when I was a child, didn’t have a lot of friends and writing was the easiest way I found to express myself, my feeling and emotions…When I was about 17, I met someone who had written for television and I told him I wanted to write. He gave me a lot of great advises and one of those was to keep writing whatever the mistakes I could do, just to write. I kept this advise in my mind and never stopped to write.

LRJ: Fire & Desire is your first published novel. How long did it took you to write it?

MM: Actually writing the book was the fastest, I finished all the writing in six months and a half. The writing process was emotionally intense for me, because of the diary where it came from. This diary were I kept all my deepest secrets, was a memory temple for me, especially because of what’s happened. So sometimes, I could find myself laughing and sometimes totally in tears. But I just couldn’t stop to write, I could spend the all day and night writing, it was just flowing.

LRJ: Did you received interest from editors straight away after that?

MM: Not exactly. To find an editor was the hardest part. There is different type of editors, and I had to do an incredible amount of research to find the right one. This is not an easy task and hard to get in touch with them at first, there is a protocol to follow in order to make sure they will receive and read your manuscript. Some publishing houses would not give you an appointment if you are not represented by a literary agent, they don’t talk directly to author, they may request to get your manuscript in a specific format also, with a certain amount of pages…etc…well all of that took me about a year and a half. And then, I had to have it edited at least four times and this is not cheap. The first editor changed it so drastically, that the story was not credible anymore. And this is important to choose the right person who will do the editing, especially for a romantic novel where there is a lot of dialogues between the characters, the authenticity must remain.

LRJ: The story is based on true events, are those events directly linked to your life?

MM: Yes, this is based on my own story. I had someone in my life who has been murdered and i had to go through that experience, to deal with the district attorney, answered questions…etc… but of course in the book there are embellishments, it has been fictionalized on all the characters. There are similarities with people who are in my life, but the names have been changed and it has been fictionalized, just to make it more exciting. At first i was a bit concerned, because in several parts of the book this is very graphic and i felt a bit uncomfortable about that. It was originally a diary, my privacy, so i used a fake name at the beginning and after a while  just thought that it was ridiculous, i was an adult and i had to be proud of it!

LRJ: I heard than Major movie companies are interested in your story. Could you tell us more about that?

MM: There is currently three major movie companies who have my book in hands now and are interested to turn my novel in a motion picture. So this is very exciting especially because they are major movie labels!!

LRJ: Could you tell us which companies?

MM: Well one of those is outside of New York  and the two other are in LA….but this is a long process because there is so many other manuscripts submitted and it has to have what they call “movie potential”. And it does, this is funny, romantic, mysterious, some people still e-mail me to ask if Ron is still alive! At this point i’am even considering to write a second part.

LRJ: If it happen is there some specific actors you would like to play the roles?

MM: Well, I’d like to have Denzel Washington to play the ex-boyfriend, because he was so tall and handsome.

LRJ: Would you like to play Laura?

MM: I  think i’d prefer to play “me” as i’am now, i haven’t think who i’d like to play the younger me (smile).

LRJ: Is there more books to come?

MM: I’am already working on the next one. It is almost half completed. Will be different of this one….(smile).

“Fire & Desire” is available in book stores and online.

© Interview done by TREBEKA.

How to keep a healthy voice?!

So many people through the years asked me how i can manage to work between 250 and 300 gigs a year without fail and without hurting my voice.

Well, what people generally don’t realise is how disciplined i have to be in order to keep my voice healthy, stronger and tonic all year long. I met a lot of singers working as much as i do and after a while starting to have problems with their voice and for some of them being obliged to go under the knife. If singers were using their voice properly, had knowledge of their organ and a great hygiene of life it would not happen so frequentely.

The voice is permanentely exposed, jet lag, AC, the various climates, the different seasons, smoke…..etc….

First of all if you are a vocalist who work a lot all year long, get a great vocal technique , know your “organe” the vocal technique you used for your week-end gig won’t be efficient enough if you are getting an every day gig, you will have to review for a vocal technique more appropriate to your needs. Don’t scream, SING. I hear all the time singers screaming more than they sing, it never sounds good and irritate your voice. Being energetic and a dynamic vocalist on stage, doesn’t mean we have to scream. Avoid smoking venues and cigar venues as much as you can, and request for a no smoking area in front of the stage and cigar smoker to be sit in the back room. If you smoke, i would recommand you to stop.

Drink with moderation , alcohol is very bad for your voice. Don’t work a set all way long, ask your band to play one or two instrumentals per set (its generally 45 min per set) it will give a break to your vocal cords, especially if you have a gig where you need to perform 3 or 4 sets per night. If the owner of the venue tells you he wants you to sing all the time, just explain to him that this is vocally not possible and just don’t give him the choice, that’s how it is, you are the professional you know what is good for you and what is not;)

Don’t forget to warm up before each performance, avoid any kind of stress and try to relax a maximum in your every day life. People can loose their voice just because of stress. Be confident with yourself, your are a professional and know what you are doing.

Singing is not like any other job, i could be a secretary and do my job even if i feel tired. When you are a vocalist and especially if you are a busy one you need to look after your physical form and health at all time, you need to be in top form. Singing is like working out, if i feel tired i will have a poor performance and if i’m not raisonnable and don’t get a rest i will start to loose my voice after a few days, that’s simple as that. The quality of our voice is directly linked to our general physical condition, both mental and physical. We can’t afford to neglect ourself. That’s why it is important to work out several times a week, to control our weight, sudden weight gain and weight loss are both very bad for our voice, running, swimming to keep fit and eating well, going out sometimes BUT not every night, otherwise it’s not possible, and the most important being able to listen to our BODY. Meditation and massages are fantastic in order to relax. When we feel tired, it is just great to take “3 days OFF”. If you have all year long almost every night, a SILENCE CURE of one week every 6 months is fantastic!and a resting cure are fantastic. During this resting week, don’t see anybody, don’t take any appointment , don’t speak a single word, drink a lots of water, work out, sleep a lot and open your mouth only in the evening for your performance. We should never use our throat for singing, that’s why singers hurt their voice because they use their throat all the time. When you sing a lot, funny phenomenoms happen, the voice is like a muscle if you sing the same repertoire all the time it will form a kind of “vocal Print” your voice become a bit like an “elastic” and your vocal range will increase, i mean that if you manage to hurt or damage your voice while singing your repertoire it’s really because you don’t use your voice properly, because more you sing, stronger your voice is supposed to become and not the opposite. When i started singing professionally , i had main of my songs in a low key because some was too high for me, and after a while i had all those songs brought back in a higher key. Strangely we break our voice more easily sometimes when we just talk that when we sing. So during the performance break, allow you some moments without talking to all your friends in the crowd or to the guests and talk peacefully and quietly without pushing your voice. Talking quietly should become an habit in your every day life is you work all year long, as well as working out on a regular basis and all those things.

During your gig always keep a bottle of water and drink a lot. Thats why doing a steam room one time a week is great. At night sleep with a humidifier to make sure your vocal cords will keep hydrated. If your voice goes hoarse, don’t start to clear your throat, just drink a bit of water it will goes as it came. If your voice start to hurt in the middle of your gig, well don’t panic but use the technique and stop to scream and pushing your voice, if your voice still hurts for a couple of days, just take it easy, and it will goes as it came as well, if you sing carefully, if not and if it’s getting worse and worse, well go to see the doctor. If you are in a long term contract and caught a cold. Can you sing with a sort throat? Getting sick is the nighmare of all singers. It was mine too! Because we all think that if we sing with a sort throat we are going to loose or damage our voice. Well, if you have the possibility not to sing for a couple of weeks that’s better of course, but if you can’t, well if you CAN sing (im not talking about the sort throat where your voice is completely gone) in this case, use the technique as much as possible, drink a lot of hot water with honey, avoid dairy product, cheese, milk, hot chocolate, nusts…. ask your band to play one more instrumantal per set. What will happen, if you sing with a sort throat? Well, nothing very serious will happen, except that you may have the feeling to loose your voice (LOL) but you won’t, in the morning you wont be able to do your “HIGHEST “TEST” NOTE”, this NOTE who is the validation of our good vocal health, and your voice may take double time to recover, but once the flu and your cold will be over , your voice will be back to normal. Getting sick with the flu and damaging the vocal cords are two different things and have nothing to do together. You will not break your voice because you will perform with a cold or a sort throat, you will damage your voice if you smoke, if you take drugs, if you drink a lot, if you scream, if you don’t warm up before your gig and don’t use your voice properly, there you will damage your voice.

Try to make if possible regular check up of your vocal cords to ensure everything is fine.

And if you follow those few steps, everything should be fine;)

© Trebeka

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