My Writerly Self - Week 9: 2025 - Notebook LM: A Week of Music, Storytelling, and Creative Evolution

The week of February 24th to March 1st, 2025, was an exploration of music, storytelling, and creative expansion. I dedicated my time to refining song releases, producing podcasts, and structuring upcoming novel edits.

A major highlight was the completion of Breaking the Surface, the final song in my Lake of Tears trilogy, released under my AI band, Cassidy and The Castoffs. I also launched an entirely new heavy metal album, Valhalla, under my AI band Wrecked and Ready, which pays tribute to Norse mythology and the battle-worn journey of warriors.

In addition to music, I produced another episode for my From Then to Now podcast series, ensuring I had a backlog of content scheduled for future releases while I shift my focus to editing my novels and novelettes for 2026 publication.

This week was about embracing new creative challenges, weaving AI-assisted production into my workflow, and ensuring that while AI plays a role in enhancing technical execution, the heart of my work remains deeply personal.

Monday, 24th February – Laying the Groundwork for 2026

Today was dedicated to preparation—making space for the next stage of my creative journey. With multiple writing projects on the horizon, I needed to organize my workflow to focus on editing novels, novelettes, and episodic series.

The three major works in my editing queue include:
📌 Pentague – the precursor to my Sin-Eater series.
📌 Josephine and Jason – a novella that serves as a prequel to the Josephine Marlin series.
📌 The Adventures of Millie and Sandra – soon to be transformed into a four-book novella set, complete with a spell and ritual picture book.

Meanwhile, I celebrated the February 23rd release of Breaking the Surface, the final song in the Lake of Tears trilogy. This album, Revolution, embodies themes of self-discovery, growth, and reclaiming personal power.

🔗 Listen to Breaking the Surface: YouTube Link

Tuesday, 25th February – The Birth of Valhalla

My love for mythology has always been a deep well of inspiration, and today, it led to something unexpected. As I revisited an old poem and found myself researching Valhalla, I realized I had an opportunity to craft a heavy metal concept album.

📌 New AI Band: Wrecked and Ready
📌 New Album: Valhalla
📌 Number of Tracks: 8 (written this week)

This project marks a return to my heavy metal roots, adding a bold and raw energy to my diverse catalog of musical works. With this, I now have three active albums in development:
🎶 Songs for the Goddess – Ethereal, poetic pieces inspired by Cloud Walker.
🎶 Revolution – Urban fantasy storytelling through music with Cassidy and The Castoffs.
🎶 Valhalla – A mythology-driven metal album under Wrecked and Ready.

Wednesday, 26th February – Preparing for the Future with From Then to Now

Today, I produced another episode for my From Then to Now podcast, continuing my deep dive into my creative evolution. My strategy is to release one episode every two weeks, ensuring a backlog of scheduled content so I can shift focus toward editing my written works.

My long-term plan:
📌 Finalize first books in each of my series for 2026 publication.
📌 Structure a multi-year release schedule, ensuring future books in each series roll out smoothly.

With my upcoming music releases and novel edits underway, I’m carefully balancing multiple creative disciplines while ensuring that AI enhances, rather than replaces, my storytelling process.

Thursday, 27th February – Music Production in Full Swing

Today, I dedicated time to producing and refining the songs for my Valhalla album using Suno AI. Working with AI in music is always an experiment—while it can generate instrumental layers and refine audio quality, I am involved at every step, making sure the final composition aligns with my vision and style.

This stage of production allows me to shape the sound and mood of Valhalla, ensuring that it captures the power, mythology, and intensity that defines the album’s theme.

Friday, 28th February – First Official Valhalla Release: Call to the Valkyries

The first official song of Valhalla, Call to the Valkyries, was released today. Inspired by Norse legends, this track captures the moment fallen warriors are chosen by the Valkyries to enter Odin’s golden halls.

🎸 Lyrics (excerpt) from Call to the Valkyries
🔥 Ride with the Valkyries, take to the sky,
🔥 Glory is waiting, we’ll never die!
🔥 Odin is calling, the chosen must rise,
🔥 Into Valhalla, through burning skies!

The song’s aggressive instrumentation, warlike imagery, and Norse-inspired battle chants make it a powerful opener for the album.

🔗 Listen to Call to the Valkyries: YouTube Link

Saturday, 1st March – Valhalla Album Title Track Released

As a special treat, I released the title track, Valhalla today. The song, based on my old poem We Are All Alone, reflects on battle, glory, and the promise of eternity for fallen warriors.

🎶 Lyrics (excerpt) from Valhalla
⚡ We walked with heroes on our way to Valhalla,
⚡ Where the wicked, where the weak, couldn’t follow.
⚡ Drowning in the blood of the fallen, raising a glass to the death we wrought.

This track embodies the heart of Norse mythology and the spirit of heavy metal, setting the tone for what’s to come in the rest of the album.

🔗 Listen to Valhalla: YouTube Link

Reflections on Creativity and AI Integration

This week highlighted the balance between human creativity and AI-assisted production. While AI tools like Suno helped streamline elements of music production, the soul of the work remains undeniably personal.

Looking ahead, my focus will be on:
📌 Finalizing edits on multiple novels and novelettes.
📌 Continuing to release songs from Valhalla and Revolution.
📌 Producing and scheduling more episodes of From Then to Now.

Creativity is about pushing boundaries, and while AI offers new possibilities, it is human intuition that gives art its meaning.