A Sunday Composition: “Lake Monona”
Posted on October 22, 2023 Posted by John Scalzi 8 Comments
Today is the last day of my tour, and I spent it in Madison, Wisconsin, closing out the Wisconsin Book Festival. I had an excellent time. When it was done, felt the need to introvert heavily in my hotel room, and also play a bit with the iPad version of Logic Pro, which I have not deeply delved into yet. In the course of fiddling with the software, and figuring out how it’s different from its counterpart on the Mac, I ended up making a nice little ambient piece, which, in honor of the city in which it was composed, and one of the bodies of water it resides by, I am calling “Lake Monona.” It’s made up of gentle repeating motifs of differing lengths, which called up in my wind the small waves you get on a lake as the wind goes past. I hope you enjoy it.
Tomorrow I go home, and the tour will end. The tour has been lovely. I’m ready to be home for a while.
— JS
Oof, you must be peopled right out by this point! I can’t imagine being on the go and interacting with hundreds of people a day for over a month.
But we do so appreciate your willingness to come and visit, and I have to say that absolutely none of the physical and mental exhaustion you must have been feeling was visible this afternoon. You are a very engaging and funny speaker, and you were equally engaging and funny (and patient) with all of us who lined up to get your autograph afterward.
I wish you a safe journey home, plenty of sleep, laughter with those you love, and lots of cuddles from the family pets – thank you for visiting! And I hope you enjoyed the miniature pecan pie!
Congratulations on concluding the tour. Before knowing this, I celebrated it by reading “Starter Villain” from cover to cover today. Nice way for me to relax and enjoy a fairly wet California day. Enjoy your upcoming home time, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of your writing online and in print again soon.
I hope your wind liked the waves. ;P
John, that was beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.
should “in my wind” read “in my mind”?
John, it was great seeing you again. You did a wonderful job closing out the Madison Book Festival and I look forward to the final project with Wil.
When are you coming to Oz?
“Lake Monona” very nice.
Now I have to go find the rest of your music and listen and see if I like it as much as this :)