Hi, I'm Fiona Lily, a.k.a F.J.Lily, and welcome to my corner of the world...
Writing
I write the SongStarz series of books and songs under the name F.J.Lily (formerly F.T.Gibbet). F.T.Gibbet was originally a character of mine, first name Flibber, and so I thought that might be good for a pseudonym for a while, it did make me laugh - but, although I liked it, I was always sort of loathe to give her up as a character and so, back I've gone to being Fiona Lily and back she's gone to the pages of my stories. I like her, she's feisty. You'd have to be wouldn't you, being called Flibber. Anyway - SongStarz, yes... there's fifteen books in the offing. SongStarz Beginnings is out now, in ebook, paperback and audiobook (I got a bit carried away and it's worth listening to just for the dodgy accents and sound effects - apparently called 'foley' in the 'business' - I think you can listen free for 30 days but best check). SongStarz MYRIAD is due out November 2022. There are multiple companion books in development. The SongStarz musical, available worldwide since 2016. There's a new musical for 2022, SongStarz Beginnings, and a whole host of other stuff on the way including SongStarz TV. You can sign up for the SongStarz newsletter HERE! to keep up to date on what's coming and get all the backstage gossip.
Music
I started working on the songs for SongStarz in earnest in 2009 because, having studied songwriting, I was interested in what made genres of music different and wanted to have a go at as many as I could. More enthusiasm than skill most probably but I was keen to try. As well as the SongStarz musical there are around a hundred companion songs with the project. The first of which is 'Freak On', which is the song the 'Cutie Catz' a.k.a Issy, Lola and Cass sing in the first SongStarz audition in the book SongStarz Beginnings, and in the SongStarz Beginnings Musical. 'Freak On' has been released on the SongStarz label under the name F.J.Lily & The SongStarz House Band and yes, it's me singing etc. Very much enjoyed playing around with the vocal effects. In other music, as Fiona Lily, I released an album in 2007 which is currently being remixed, remastered and relaunched. It's more 'singer/songwriter' and contains some of my very first songs so they're all pretty slow (I couldn't change chords very quickly on guitar back then :-) ).
Wellbeing
When am not writing, doing music and working - I do tai chi and yoga as often as am able. I'm a qualified NLP therapist and hypnotherapist, aromatherapist and reiki practitioner - all the 'ists' and 'ers' - and grateful to be training as a Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (MBCT) teacher. A combination of this stuff, along with a creative practice is essential medicine for me, mind, body and soul. I guess this is where the 'Lily Diggins' character in SongStarz springs from. More from her later I expect.
Fiona Lily Brand
Fiona Lily as a brand grew from me scribbling lyrics and signing t-shirts after gigs, and products have been sold in small independant shops world wide since 2010, there's been a delay because of COVID but they'll be coming online in 2023 which is pretty exciting. Am grateful to the team making that happen - it might even coincide with the album coming out, who knows - let's not get ahead of ourselves :-)
Getting in touch
If you want me to do a talk or course on SongStarz, writing, songwriting or anything else, life, the universe... you can get in touch through [email protected] or for general chitter chatter and nonsense you can find SongStarz on social media @SongStarzHQ and me on social media @FionaLilyLife - links below. Am a bit sporadic, just so you know.
Your thoughts are beautiful...
Sir Ray Davies
Fiona Lily
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