Searchin' for the Groove

by
Scott D. Parker

Last night, the Energy City New Horizons Big Band—in which I am a member, playing alto sax—performed our annual spring dance/concert at my church. It’s a fun gig and this is, I believe, the third year in a row we’ve been the music for a dance. The chairs in our contemporary worship space, The Well, were pushed to one side to allow half of the area to be open for dancing. It’s no surprise that we do attract some older folks for whom this music was their music. It’s wonderful to hear their audible response when our director announces a tune from, say, Glenn Miller. It’s a thrill.

The band was about as tight as we’ve ever been. We don’t just play the old oldies. We mix it up, throwing in some 60s Latin tunes (The *Boy* from Ipanema on account of our lady singer), 70s rock (Chicago), 70s funk (Earth, Wind and Fire) to go along with timeless standards (My Funny Valentine). It was a 27-song setlist so there was something for everyone.

We’ve been playing together…well, I think it’s been six years or so. Maybe longer. I can’t remember. The jazz band only rehearses when we have a planned gig. That leaves those of us in orchestra or other various ensembles freedom to attend those rehearsals. Whenever the jazz bands assembles, however, it doesn’t take long to get back in the groove.

How does this pertain to writing? I’m glad you asked. Now that WADING INTO WAR is available as an ebook, I wanted to make sure those folks who prefer a paper copy the opportunity to read the book. I am going through CreateSpace and, while the steps necessary to create an ebook is rather straightforward, the process for creating print ready PDFs is something quite different.

You see, like my jazz band getting back together to play a gig and not taking long to find the groove, the ebook formatting is not difficult. I can get into that groove pretty easily. Once I’ve done everything there is to do in publishing and distributing WADING INTO WAR, I’ll have done everything a first time.

And boy am I looking forward to that second time. I’m in Year Zero with this publishing adventure. I’ve learned a ton of things and have a list of Lessons Learned that’ll make the second, and third, and fourth, and all subsequent times easier. I am looking forward to the publishing process to be like playing with my jazz band: get in the groove and play everything tight.