Kate’s 25th party, guest blogger #7 - Brigid Coady

n Today I’m delighted to welcome Brigid Coady, radio star and fellow RNA member. I think we first got chatting on either Julie Cohen’s or Kate Walker’s blog, about music. The words ‘Keith Urban’ and ‘he’s mine’ spring to mind… Ahem. Anyway, I’d bought Keith’s latest CD and adored it, and then Biddy and I met in person at the RNA conference in Guildford. (I’ll let her tell you about that. But what I will say here is that if anyone sees those pics from the conference where we’re yakking and there are a lot of empty bottles in front of us, blame Julie Cohen for sneaking those bottles into the picture while we were too busy talking to notice. I had ONE GLASS.) When we were in Lincoln recently to celebrate Kate Walker’s 50th book, my husband, children and I bumped into her in Lincoln Castle. As soon as I introduced them, my husband turned white. ‘You’re the one who introduced her to Keith Urban…’

So here’s Brigid Coady:

Ahhh, foolish Kate Hardy has let me roam free on her blog!! MWahahahahahaha!! So I am just going to kick back, play her Keith Urban CDs at full volume and eat lots of chocolate. You see that is how Kate and I bonded… a love of music (I am to blame for the Keith Urban collection or so she says) and also a love of chocolate. [Edit from Kate: yup. I supplied the CD player and chocolate, she supplied the music, and… it was a late night.] And I blame her for always making me cry when I read her books (curse her talent!)

Now I have yet to have anything published (I am still one of Kate Walker’s “virgins”) but what I do have is a great way to inspire all you creative types out there. Music. And not just any music, country music. Now before you pooh-pooh me let me explain. I am a radio presenter for http://www.cmrnashville.net/ CMR Nashville and have the pleasure of presenting the Tennessee Tourist Board Chart Show every week, as well as a show called Big Country. Due to this immersing in country music I find that some songs can inspire me, get those juices running, making stories spin in my head. And country music is all about stories because this is an industry where the songwriter is as celebrated as the artists who sing their songs. They tell stories of heartbreak, seduction, losing, leaving, loving and also drinking, fishing and friends all in about three and a half minutes. Now that is some tight writing!

But the stories the music have inspired have been a little longer, not quite novels yet but I’m working on it. “Raining On Sunday” by Keith Urban helped fire a short story about flatmates in a storm; “Every Time I Hear Your Name” by Keith Anderson became a short story of two ex-lovers trying to forget each other.

There is a downside though… having to have that one song on repeat. Can make boyfriends, husbands, family members and neighbours a little testy. OK make that a lot testy. So you might instead want to tune into http://www.cmrnashville.net/ instead. I promise that the same songs don’t get played over and over again. You might have to put up with some Kenny Chesney and Willie Nelson if you tune into me but what are a few good tunes between friends?

Bio: Brigid Coady (http://www.brigidcoady.com/ and http://biddycoady.blogspot.com/)

I live in central London in a compact and bijou flat that has been many a Mills & Boon author’s B&B. I work as a radio presenter for CMR Nashville and Oneword Radio (http://www.oneword.co.uk/).


GIVEAWAY: Brigid Coady is a radio star, so naturally she’s giving away music: Keith Urban's "Love, Pain and The Whole Crazy Thing" (NB I have this and there are some really excellent tracks – um, this means I have to post a pic of Keith, does it not?)

GIVEAWAY QUESTION: What music inspires you?