Songs are such an important part of Greek culture, and of my life. I have been submersed into music since the day I was born. My multi-talented father wrote songs and performed them; he could play the piano brilliantly, as well as the guitar and the accordion. My mom hasn't had any musical education, but she (like most Greek moms) used to sing us to sleep, or to comfort us when we were sick or sad.

Growing up, my sister and I had piano lessons and spent hours and blood and tears learning our scales and Bach and Czerny. But when we wanted some music for fun, we used to sing along to Greek, English, French and Italian songs of the 70s with passion. It was one of our favorite things to do while we did jobs around the house. I still can't listen to Abba without smelling furniture polish. When my little brother was born, music exploded in my house. After the "dreadful" toddler years passed and the Disney songs got (somewhat) unstuck from our tortured brains, my brother and I would jam to the most unlikely music genres you can imagine. From Simon and Garfunkel to Alice Cooper, from contemporary Greek rappers to Queen. (And it gets worse, but I will spare you.) We almost broke my bed dancing on it, and we completely broke our parents' last threads of patience while shrieking to Cocaine Blues. My brother was a little bit too young to be singing "The Wall" (he was seven) and I was a little bit too young to be screaming to "Bye Bye Love" (I was twenty). But we made it work. And it was beautiful (although not the kind of beauty that's seen with the naked eye. But we knew, and that's all that mattered.)

Now, years later (we won't say how many, but it's many), I don't have as many opportunities to embarrass myself while listening to my favorite songs with my siblings, although I do have a few, of course. (Also, I can embarrass myself while listening to the Script in the car with the dude, and believe me I do.) But I have to write. I love writing, but it's not always easy. Especially not when I'm writing about a girl who's being bullied to within an inch of her life, or about a boy who is a very very long way from home. And that's where the music comes in.

This playlist I'm going to share with you isn't the soundtrack to a mermaid story with Greek mythology heroes and monsters thrown in. It is that, of course, as it's literally the soundtrack to Salt for Air. But it' so much more. These are the songs that inspired me, that kept me company and that put my feelings into words and melody while I was writing Ellie and Ky's story. I will explain a little bit more about a few of them, but I know that music is a very personal thing, and every song speaks differently to each of us. Anyway, here is the playlist for Salt for Air:

1. Addict with A Pen (twenty-one pilots)

This song perfectly describes Ellie and her love for writing, as well as her fragile emotional state at the start of the book. It also has a lot of references to water, and it was like the "theme" of the story throughout. Every word fits perfectly.

2. Yellow Flicker Beat (lorde)

Song for a girl warrior who has been hurt (a LOT) but she is now fiercest than her enemies? Yes, please! That is what this entire book is all about, to be honest (no major spoiler there, just a wink).

3. Wonderwall (oasis)

There are a ton of references to this particular song in the book, as it's one of Ellie's favorites. I love it too, as it's a song about the comfort that love brings and the pain of being alone. It expresses me perfectly.

4. Arms (christina perri)

All the feels.

5. Fake Love (bts)

Where to start with this one? Nowehere, that's where, because the reason why this song is a perfect fit for SFA is a huge spoiler. What I can say is that Ellie is a huge K-drama fan (as am I) and she is not such a great K-pop fan (although I am) and a few readers have said that they instinctively wanted to listen to this song while reading, because it's vibe goes so well with the book. I completely agree. Not only are the lyrics of the song spot-on for a particular part of SFA, it captures the feeling of heartbreak and unrequited/betrayed love perfectly.

6. The Last Day On Earth (kate miller)

I'll keep this short, because it's sad (and kind of not). This is the song that I cry to whenever I think of my dad and miss him so much I can't breathe. So that's why this is here. It's all about reuniting with someone who love and have lost, someone you never thought you'd see again.

"In my head I repeat our conversations over and over till they feel like hallucinations you know me, I love to lose my mind."

Yep.

7. Head Above Water (avril lavigne)

This song is so beautiful it makes my heart ache. Avril's voice could always do that to me, from the start, but now there's the depth that only suffering can give to a person and to art, and it's like I hear Ky sing those words about the ocean and falling asleep too young... My heart.

8. Breathing Underwater (metric)

The perfect song to put me in the mood to write about mer creatures.

9. More Than Life (whitley)

There aren't many love songs in this playlist, but this one fits perfectly. You'll know why once you read the book. (My lips are sealed.)

10. Changes (slim & the law)

If SFA is about one thing other than sadness, it's about changes. Whether it's mermen growing tails in bathrooms, sirens taking flight or [SPOILERS] turning to monsters.... It's about changes. And I just love this song, I loved it even before I wrote the huge transformation scene in SFA that I used it as inspiration for.

11. Fierce (Jesus culture)

As I said, there aren't many love songs here, but this book is mainly about love, so that's where this song fits. It compares love to a tidal wave, and I can't stop picturing little Ellie being swallowed alive by a love-wave. She has been alone for so long... No one should have to survive without love. I just hope she gets what she needs soon (I'm lying, I totally know if she finally gets it or not).

12. Unconditionally (katy perry)

This is so hard to talk about, because it's about a relationship in the book that is a major spoiler. But if you listen to the song, you'll know you want to learn everything about this relationship asap.

13. Faded (alan walker)

We're wading in sad waters again, but this book is full of twists and turns and surprises. The truth is, grief feels like you're fading away, like you're lost and no one can help you, and that's exactly what this song captures beautifully. And it keeps saying "under the sea" which was perfect, because I wrote the last fourth of the book with this song in mind.

14. Keep you Safe (sleeping at last)

I discovered this song while looking for something that would describe Ky's feelings for Ellie when he begins to fall for her. I stupidly showed it to the dude, and he proceeded not only to "dedicate" it to me, but to sing it to me multiple times a week, and keep playing it in the car whenever I'm in it. So now it makes me cry. Also, he's totally stolen it away from Ky, who had it first, but then he reread SFA (the dude, not Ky, sadly) and left little notes in the margins about how he loved random things so he's totally forgiven. (He always does this to me.)

16. No Longer Slaves (jonathan david & melissa hesler)

This is the war song of SFA. I won't get into details, but there's a war going on in the book and sure, it's fine when Ky first tells Ellie he's exiled and about to die, but she doesn't feel too connected with the "war", wherever it is. That's until the war gets kind of real and appears bloodily in her school's bathroom. This song is also about being a "slave to fear" which (fear) is another issue that SFA tries to tackle. I don't know if you know this (I hope you don't) but grief and loss have a tendency to take the shape of fear over time. And that's something that you have to fight against, or it will swallow you alive. I love this song's rythm and fierceness, as well as its message. I listen to it at least once a week, to remind myself to fight the good fight with the right weapons. It also talks about adoption and true fathership, which describes Ky so well, it's as if it was made for him.

17. Nyxtwse Nyxta (katsimixaioi)

Finally, a little Greek song. Most Greek love songs talk of lost love or opportunity, and this is no different. However, it's one of the most beautiful and emotive my language has to show, and the two brothers who sing it are exceptionally talented. Its title asks the night to descend, so that it can cover everything that's wrong in the world with its darkness. I think it describes my land and my people perfectly in its lyrics as well as its melody. It's also featured in a particular scene in the book, where Ellie and Ky are driving around after midnight, and a radio is playing in a balcony over their heads. (Athens is a town that never sleeps, there's always a car driving around and a radio playing, no matter how dark the night gets).

So I'm leaving you with this and all of the other songs, under a gentle starry sky, with the sounds of a broken but busy Athens settling down to sleep and the waves of the Aegean sea lapping gently in the background. And maybe, just maybe, that's the most perfect music of all for Salt for Air.

If you want to listen to these songs as you read SFA, here they are.

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Read the MERMAID DIARIES

Doing this tag for Ellie, the nerdy heroine of my Greek mythology mermaid fantasy, Salt for Air. 

I was tagged by the lovely @rosecorcoranwrites to do the Character Flaws Tag

 Rules: Bold the flaws that apply to your character.

absent-minded | abusive | addict | aggressive | aimless | alcoholic | anxious | arrogant | audacious | bad liar | bigmouth | bigot | blindly obedient | blunt | callous | childish | chronic heroism | clingy | clumsy | cocky | competitive | corrupt | cowardly | cruel | cynical | delinquent | delusional | dependent | depressed | deranged | disloyal | ditzy | egotistical | envious | erratic | fickle | finicky | flaky | frail | fraudulent | guilt complex | gloomy | gluttonous | gossiper | gruff | gullible | hedonistic | humorless | hypochondriac | hypocritical | idealist | idiotic | ignorant | immature | impatient | incompetent | indecisive | insecure | insensitive | lazy | lewd | liar | lustful | manipulative | masochistic | meddlesome | melodramatic | money-loving | moody | naive | nervous | nosy | ornery |  overprotective | overly sensitive | paranoid | passive-aggressive | perfectionist | pessimist | petty | power-hungry | proud | pushover | reckless | reclusive | remorseless | rigorous | sadistic | sarcastic | senile | selfish | self-martyr | shallow | sociopathic | sore loser | spineless | spiteful | spoiled | stubborn | tactless | temperamental | timid | tone-deaf | traitorous | unathletic | ungracious | unlucky | unsophisticated | untrustworthy | vain | withdrawn | workaholic

Tagging: @charvaughn-writes​ @authorjoeypaul @ekinsellaauthor @readcommendations @glorious74​ @justanotherwriteress​ @velutluna​ @sophialikestowrite​ @maxgraybooks​ @friesian-girl​ and anyone else who wants to do it! I can’t wait to read your posts.

Ellie aesthetic, created by @mcfrank_author . Please do not use without credit.

The following isn’t part of the tag, but since the release of Salt for Air is right around the corner, let’s celebrate it by explaining its main character’s faults in detail, shall we?

We shall.

Here is what I bolded on the list above, along with a little explanation of how this applies to Ellie, a seventeen-year-old fanfic writer, who has been bullied most of her life.

Addict --> Have you heard of the song “Addict with a Pen”? Ellie is “addicted” to good books and writing. She is borderline clinically addicted to one or two fandoms as well, but aren’t we all?

Anxious --> Ellie is a very good student, or she used to be before her life fell apart, but she’s suffered from anxiety attacks since the bullies started to attack her viciously in Elementary School. She’s been struggling with anxiety at school a lot, and it’s seeped into the rest of her life.

Bad Liar --> I’m sure Ellie would see that as something to be proud of rather than a flaw. She was raised by the best dad in the world, and he taught her by example how to be a decent human being.

Blunt --> Ah, another “flaw” that Ellie is proud of. She tells it like it is, even if she is incredibly shy. Her inner voice never sugar-coats things, and when she’s given the chance to give her opinion, you’ll get nothing but the truth from her. It won’t be put in the nicest way, but the truth it will be.

Cynical --> She is extremely cynical, but who wouldn’t be, after the life she’s been through? However, she tries to be optimistic and brave.

Delusional --> Ellie believes she is delusional for a good part of the beginning of Salt for Air. I mean, who wouldn’t, when a hot dude claiming to be an exiled mer prince shows up in your bathroom and demands that you help him save his kingdom? Is she though? Well, I can’t tell ya. The book is coming out sooooon though.

Dependent --> She grew up with a single parent, and having few friends, because of the all the bullying she went through, so she was somewhat dependent on him. With her dad being gone now, however, that’s a moot point.

Depressed --> Ellie is not clinically depressed. (I have reserved that questionable honor for the MC of one of my future novels. How exciting.) BUT, she is grieving the loss of her dad and is sad a lot of the time. Well, as sad as you can be when you open your bathroom door and see a guy who looks, smells and feels like the sea. Majestic, gorgeous, and terrifying.

Deranged --> Wouldn’t you feel deranged if you saw a merman in front of you? Ellie does.

Envious --> Ellie is envious of everyone who still has their parents alive and with them. That simple. 

Guilt Complex --> Ever heard of survivor’s guilt? It’s what tortures the relatives of terminally ill patients. She used to wonder why it was her dad who got sick and not her. And even now that she’s accepted that he’s gone (kind of) she still wonders what she did wrong, or what she could have done to keep him here. She knows it’s irrational; it’s the grief talking. But still, it’s there.

Gloomy --> Some nights get really long and lonely. But she’s usually writing furiously on her laptop (about, you guessed it, MERMEN! Fanfiction, no less) to chase the blues away. She’s never one to dwell too much on the morose.

Gluttonous --> She was never gluttonous per se, but she was overweight as a younger kid. It’s one of the main reasons that the bullying started. *sad face*

Gullible --> She has lived a protected life (as every teen should) and hasn’t been exposed to the kind of evil and danger she is going to be in Salt for Air. So yeah, in a sense she is gullible and unaware of the darker corners of this world. However, she is very smart and, for a person who has no one to talk to (at least right now) she... well, I can’t tell you, because SPOILERS.

Idealistic --> I always thought that writers, or most of them, are somewhat idealistic, in the sense that they want to create a world and then put it to rights according to their ideals. Does that make sense? Anyway, I put that into the motivation behind Ellie’s writing. She is powerless to change all the horrible things that have happened in her life, but when she sits at her laptop... the weak win and good triumphs. And isn’t that what we all seek?

Insecure --> She is extremely insecure about herself, due to years and years of being told that she’s “fat” and “gross” and “should just die”. She’ll never let it show, though. Never.

Melodramatic --> Ah, the drama. She is, very melodramatic, even though she keeps accusing Ky of it. But gosh does she enjoy it.

Moody --> She isn’t moody now, but she used to be for a long period of time, due to all the tough times and ups and downs she went through with her dad’s illness. She’s stronger now, and much more stable in her moods, even though she doesn’t realize it.

Naive --> She’s as naive as a normal seventeen-year-old girl. She isn’t clueless. But she is still a teen. She knows things. But other things... not so much.

Perfectionist --> It’s a struggle for a perfectionist to deal with things going horribly wrong in real life, and that’s why she tries to be a straight-A student. Or at least she did, back when it mattered. 

Sarcastic --> THAT IS NOT A FLAW. THAT IS HER GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Timid --> She is painfully shy. And guess what? There are few things more conspicuous than walking to school with a merman in two. Just saying. Poor girl, what am I putting you through? *strokes her hair*

Unathletic --> She’s horrible at sports. That, along with being a complete (and proud) nerd, not to mention a whovian, has resulted in major bullying. She doesn’t get picked last. She doesn’t get picked at all. (Which makes the basketball court scene my personal top favorite scene that I’ve ever written in my life.)

Unlucky --> Ummm yeah? And it gets worse.

Unsophisticated --> That’s one of the things I love most about her. She gives zero thought to what she’ll say or how she’ll appear to others. She has about her the sophistication that reading diversely and a lot gives a person (something you can acquire no other way), but she hasn’t reached that point where she will take particular care of the words she picks to use, or how she’ll dress to impress. And when a certain someone tells her she’s effing gorgeous, it’s all her. Until the mirror scene. Someone, please stop me from posting spoilers all over the place. 

Workaholic -->  Most nights, she writes until 6 am and sleeps one or two hours before getting up to go to school. Does that make her a workaholic or an addict? Back to the top of the list again.

S A L T  FOR  A I R  NEWS:  I have been bursting with excitement to share the little mermaid-wannabe girl you see in the photo above, and it's finally time! . This is Ellie from Salt for Air as a bookmark. Like it? She is wearing a coral dress in grecian style and has golden laurels woven around her hair. (Which isn't red, but somehow the light makes it look reddish.) . She might or might not be getting ready to promote a new Salt for Air giveaway, once the current one is over on Aug 31st. Would you like to win her? Let me know if you're interested in winning bookmarks in a future mermaid giveaway!

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Enter the GIVEAWAY

“I want to see you. The real you,” I tell him as soon as we’re alone.

He looks me up and down, and his eyes are serious and deep. Unblinking. “In the water?” His lip twitches.

“Well, yeah.” A thought strikes me. “Can you get into the water?”

“Can I…” He looks confused, like he doesn’t understand what the words mean.

But of course he does.

Has he ever been in the sea? He can’t have. Maia says he’s the prince of the ocean, and yet he hasn’t… My brain stops functioning. A fierce need to help him washes over me. Stop it, Ellie. Just stop it. “I mean is it safe?”

“Haven’t you been paying attention? Nothing is safe.”

-Salt for Air, © 2018 M.C. Frank

New book, new diary.

You poor people lucky lot get to follow my misadventures as I prepare my new baby to face the world! 

My new book is Salt for Air and I will be announcing the publication date and final book cover soon. 

You should have that on a T-shirt

Time to answer some questions no one asked!

1. Why is this book only now getting to see the light of day, even though I have had the manuscript all done and ready to be beta-read for more than a year? Something bad happened. Read what.

2. What is it about?

It’s about this:

Ellie dreams of mermen.

She writes fanfiction about them, spends time in underwater kingdoms in her imagination, and reads tons of books and blogs about them, trying fiercely to escape reality: she is an orphan.

And not only that, but she’s bullied every day at school -she’s a nerd, she hates sports, she loves books and TV shows and she used to be overweight. Also, her dad who died a few months ago was a math professor at her school. What’s not to bully, right?

One day, the bullies go too far.

They didn’t mean to actually kill her (isn’t that what they always say afterwards?) but they did push her head in the toilet until she started drowning. But before she actually gave up, someone showed up in front of her. In the water. (You know, the toilet water.) He told her to live.

He also told her that she wouldn’t be able to save anyone if she couldn’t even save herself.

Which was weird. (Toilet-talking merman aside). Because she sees Emerald Eyes (that’s what she calls him in her head) again after that, so he wasn’t a figment of her imagination. Also, he told her she was going to save someone. Who? And also lol (she’s about to get evicted from her home, she can’t save even that, let alone saving an ancient civilization and the life of its exiled Prince). 

3. What inspired it?

Greek mythology in general, and more specifically three myths/creatures:

The Odyssey. Two line synopsis: Wealthy warrior has to face a long journey filled with magic, romance, danger and battle before he can reach his beloved home.

Alcestis: A much-beloved King learns that he will die in a few days, unless one of his subjects takes his place; when none comes forward, his wife, the Queen, takes his place.

The water creatures of Greek mythology: nereids, sirens, Poseidon, Triton, Medusa, Scylla, the amazons (spoiler alert - there is an army of those) and many more...

4. Who will like it?

Salt for Air is perfect for fans of:

Greek mythology

Kdrama - esp. The Legend of The Blue Sea

Mermen/mermaids

Hate to love romance

Action-adventure mature YA 

My Mad Fat Diary

Books about readers or writers of fanfiction (see Fangirl, Eliza and her Monsters)

Impossible romance

Cool siblings relationships

A hint of drama

Epic battles with a tiny bit of bloodsplatter sprinkled

Sea monsters

Fairytale endings

The girl rescuing the boy for once

Not super-slim girls dealing with their bullies and their self-image

Girl friendship

Modern Greece - beaches - ruins - sunsets

I think I should stop

5. Where is it now?

Why are you asking, do you think you’d maybe like to rea-?

Oh, ok. 

Right now I’m editing it once more, since I haven’t read it in months and months, to get it ready for my lovely beta readers. (I will be picking them from here.)

Next up I will be announcing the official release date, as soon as I find my reliable betas, and then it will be shipped off to the editor and right to your hands. 

When I’m ready to share it with the world, you are all invited to join my team and get your own free ARC! I am beyong excited for this book because in it I share a very special part of myself: my cultural inheritance.

5. How can I start reading it RIGHT NOW?

You can start reading it here for free today!

If you’ve read this far, thank you! 

If you’re as excited for my little mermaid story, leave me a comment, it would make my day.

If you’ve had enough and would like me to shut up now I agree I’ll leave you with this teaser version of the cover (not final).