Tag Archives: Inspiration

Country Music

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It’s not funny how much I love country music.  Seriously, it’s totally awesome!  And it’s one of the very few genres I can listen to without changing the station every  seconds.  There’s a lot of story-telling in country music, which is part of the appeal.  Some of the songs are epicly funny (read: quite a few songs by Brad Paisley- Celebrity, Ticks, Alcohol), and some are OMG that song is my jam (Sideways by Dierks Bentley, Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy by Big and Rich, She’s Country by Jason Aldean).  And others are song that make me feel better (pretty much anything by Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney).

And of course, no blog post about country music is complete with mentioning Garth Brooks, Reba, and…Taylor Swift.  Mind you, I’m not putting Taylor Swift on the same level as Garth Brooks and Reba, because I’m not.  But country music is not country music without those three.  At least for me.

I definitely need to start listening to some of the older stuff…like Johnny Cash.  I’m partial to Willie Nelson.  But I’m definitely not up on most of the stuff before the 90’s…cuz the 90’s are my decade.    

Back to country music though, I love country music.  And it always makes me feel better.  Country music is completely amazing! 

I’ve mentioned a few of my favorites in country, but that is a very incomplete list.  Dixie Chicks, Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, SheDaisy, Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, Tim McGraw, and Brooks and Dunn are also big favorites of mine.  Country music isn’t the same without them, at least in my book.   

The Gin Blossoms

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Seriously, I need to pimp out the Gin Blossoms.  They are seriously one of my favorite bands ever. 

I tend to jump around a lot when I listen to music, but the Gin Blossoms are one of the few bands I can listen to without feeling the need to skip to something else after a minute.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something about their music that makes me feel calm and yet nostalgic.  Their new album (No Chocolate Cake) definitely reminded of New Miserable Experience (which is also completely amazing, and if you have to get any of their albums, New Miserable Experience is the one to get).

Congratulations I’m Sorry and Major Lodge Victory are also pretty good.  I will say that while I like Major Lodge Victory, it’s probably my least favorite of the 4.  Major Lodge Victory definitely has a different feel to it than the other 3.  Congratulations I’m Sorry would probably be my 3rd favorite, if I were to rank them in order of how much I liked them.

It is good to see bands grow and change- each album is definitely them, but there definitely is something different about each one.  When I’m writing, they are definitely one of the first bands I go to, and at least one of their songs ends up on my playlists.  They definitely get me into the writing mood.

Pacts

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So yesterday, I did a little planning for one of my untitled plot bunnies- the one about the pact that has far-reaching consequences.

  • so the two friends are Poppy River Addison and Jordan Connor Scott, and they’ve been best friends since they were little
  • Jordan gets left behind in the wake of what happens
  • I have no idea what happens yet, or what the pact entails
  • of course, it changes everything for her friends and family
  • Jordan feels guilty because he couldn’t protect her
  • she left behind journals and letters so he would understand what happened
  • It’s going to go back and forth between present time and her letters and journal entries

While I don’t know for sure what exactly this pact is, the notes I’ve come up with point to Jordan protecting Poppy from something and not being able to.  I also have the distinct feeling she didn’t tell him everything, because she feels like leaving her journals and letters to him will help him understand and deal with what happened to her.

I definitely need to come up with friends and family.  Alternating between letters and the present time will be an interesting challenge for me because I’ve (usually) stuck to present time, and going back and forth between past and present will be a lot different.  I’ve done the occassional flashback, so it’ll be interesting to see how it actually turns out.  And NaNo is the perfect time to try something new.  I’m pretty excited about this one now because it’ll test the relationships of everyone that she left behind and how one event/pact can change everything.

The Colors of Happiness

Posted in Writing Prompts by

Writing Prompt: What colour makes you think of happiness?

It’s a toss-up between yellow and blue.

I know yellow is such a cliche, but it’s such a happy color.  It makes me think of summer and rollerblading up and down the street, and hanging upside on the bar that we had in the backyard. 

As for blue…let’s see.  It’s definitely a very calming color, and when I’m calm, I’m pretty happy.  Plus, blue makes me think of the sky, and the beach.  Not that I really go to the beach, because I’m way too self-conscious to actually wear a bathing suit, and wearing a t-shirt and shorts at the beach is just silly.  Plus, I’m too lazy to drive to the beach. 

Anyway, blue.  And yellow.  Together, they make me think of sunny days, and sunny days make me happy.  Seriously.  I feel a lot more depressed when it’s raining and cloudy.

There isn’t anything else to report as far as writing or reading goes.

Birthdays

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Writing Prompt: How do you feel when it’s your birthday? Why?

I’m pretty ambivalent about my birthday.  It was cool when I was a kid (which really wasn’t that long ago) because of birthday parties and cake and everything.  Now I’m like, meh.  Like my 21st birthday was…pretty abnormal, from the way I’ve heard some friends talk about it.  My reaction was, “I can drink?  Big deal.”  But then again, my grandpa didn’t drink anything, and my mom and my grandma did very rarely, like only at birthdays or other special occasions. 

But back to celebrating my birthday.  I’m not sure why I’m not big on celebrating my birthday, but it’s seriously not a big deal to me.  My idea of a fun birthday is watching a movie and going to the bookstore.  Or something like that.  I really have an odd idea of fun.

In Other News:

I added about 200 words or so to Turning Point yesterday, and it was pretty exciting.  I think it may have been the spark I needed to get back on the novel-writing train, because I’m more excited about getting back to work on everything than I have been in a while. 

And I’ve already done my once-a-month baked good resolution: yet another chocolate chip cookie.  It’s a lot different than any other chocolate chip cookie I’ve made- I really love chocolate chip cookies.  They tend to be my default thing I bring to parties.  And I make everything from scratch.  Or I try to anyway.  Stuff made from scratch just seems to taste better than the boxed stuff from the store.    

Music, Part Two!

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I’ve been using Pandora a lot over the last few days, and it got me thinking about music that I can listen to while writing without changing the station every 5 seconds or skipping through songs until  I find something I can listen the whole way through.

What I listen to largely depends on my mood, and what I’m writing, but I do have a (fairly short) list of artists I can listen to all day.  Here’s the people I can listen to and never get tired of: 

  • The Gin Blossoms
  • Black Stone Cherry
  • One Less Reason
  • Rascal Flatts
  • Taylor Swift
  • Starkid Potter
  • Draco and the Malfoys
  • Harry and the Potters

  As far as Pandora goes, I’ve been listening to the showtunes and swing stations a lot.  Swing seems to be mostly instrumental, so I’m not distracted by singing along.  As for the showtunes, they’re fun enough that I’m not too distracted.  I’ve been adding a ton of new stations, so I’ll have plenty of new music to listen to. 

I get a lot of inspiration from music- one of my novels from 2008 was inspired by a song.  Other times, I’ll be writing, and a song will come on that’ll go perfectly with what I’m writing.  Music is a really nice distraction, and sometimes, it’s the only thing that keeps me writing. 

And this year, I found that if I included each characters favorite music and artists, then it would be slightly easier to get into their head.  Like if I listened to what Kiora likes or what Chloe likes, it would be easier to write them.  Not that I ended up doing that, because I didn’t, but that was the reasoning behind it.  And it’s always interesting to know what kind of music they like.  Of course, it ended being stuff that I like, so I didn’t do it for everyone, but maybe next year.

Food!

Posted in Food by

Don’t worry, I haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth.  

Food is really important to writing, at least for me.  Last month, I averaged 5033 words a day, which only took about 4 hours or so.  Food’s pretty important, since I don’t write well when I’m hungry.  Every year, I tell myself that I’m going to cook ahead, and make enough food for the month.  I never do, but I imagine it would be helpful because then I’d just need to heat everything up, and wouldn’t actually have to cook anything.  And since I’m the only one who’ll actually eat what I make (it’s the byproduct of being vegetarian/fairly healthy eater- no one will go near it with a 10-foot pole), food tends to last me for a while, especially since I tend to make everything exactly as is stated in the recipe. 

November, though, is when I want to bake and cook, interestingly enough.  Cookies and any other baked goods make excellent snacks for several hours of writing. 

Snacks of any kind are essential.  I tend to go for stuff like crackers (Cheez-its and wheat thins are especially yummy!), fruit snacks and other finger foods, since I can type with one hand while eating with my other hand.  It’s pretty hard to write when both hands aren’t free, in which case, it would be a most excellent time to take a break.  Nothing too greasy of course, because it’ll get all over my keyboard, and grease all over my keyboard bugs the heck out of me. 

As for as actual meals, though, it depends on my mood.  Cereal is the best, because it takes no effort, and I could eat cereal all day.  TV dinners/hot pockets/microwave burritos/veggie burgers are also something I rely a lot on, since they don’t require a lot of effort, and if I can put it on a napkin or in something I can throw away, it means more time for writing, because I don’t have to clean anything up. 

Maybe next year will be the year that I make enough food for the month.  I’ve been on stumble upon a lot the last few days, and I’ve definitely found a bunch that look good, so I’ll have to try them out.  Maybe I’ll end up putting a list together, and leave a couple of things to make during November as a nice break from writing.

Plot Bunnies!

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Sometimes plot bunnies are great, especially when they come out of nowhere.  However, sometimes they show up at the worst time.  They usually right before NaNo or sometime during November, and never when I’m trying to come up with ideas, so I try to remember different people I see or ideas that pop into my head. 

I have a few ideas in my binder, and I think I have a document or two saved on my USB drive, so I’ll have to compile everything into one document. 

I’ll be working on my plot bunnies.  I’m still not sure if I’m going to be saving them for November, or if I’ll work on them before that, so I’ll start planning them and see how it works out.  I want to save them for November, though, because that’s my best bet for getting anything done.  And for now, I have enough to work on, so I’ll wait and see.

My first idea came from watching this one special on the History Channel, about whether there’s a presidents book of secrets and what would be in it.  In the special, they were talking about how there was one agency that was kept from the public for a long time, and also about whether there’s stuff the president doesn’t know.  An agency that was so secret that even the president doesn’t know about it would make an interesting premise for a novel. 

My other idea came from a book called The Pact by Jodi Picoult.  I’m not going to go into details about the plot of the novel, as it’s in my top 10 books.  I don’t want to be redundant or anything.  What if there were two friends who made some kind of pact that had serious consquences?

I’m definitely looking foward to working on these ideas, and it’ll be nice to have something new to work on.  I’m not sure how often I’ll work on them, just here and there.  I haven’t done any writing today, but I’m not going to worry about not writing every once in a while.

2006 Sequel

Posted in Post-NaNo Wrap Up, Wildflower by

This one started off well, and then halfway through I had no idea what to do with it. 

I was glad I got to continue Chloe’s story, and look closely at the past that changed her.  From not knowing anything about her dad, and the overprotectiveness of her grandparents, I really put her through a lot. 

About halfway through, I had no idea where to take it.  There were a few directions I could go in, and unfortunately none of the them spoke to me.  I could have furthered the finding her dad thing, I could have furthered her personal struggles to get over her past, I could have focused more on her writing struggles and work problems (which was what I had partly wanted to do at the beginning of the month).  Since none of them appealed to me mid-November, and as she complained/talked about her past, I decided I’d have her complain/think/reflect about different things that happened in her past.  It worked out okay, but it got tiresome after a while. 

It did give me insight into her past, which will prove useful in any editing I do for this one.  I know I can rework her complaints/reflections into something more constructive and interesting, and even if  I end up cutting out that half of the book, it’s still really good background info on Chloe.

Considering I lost my steam halfway in, I’m really impressed that I managed to write 50k without using any dares or wordpadding techniques.

It’s highly likely I won’t be working on this one anytime soon, but I’ll still post character spotlights, and any updates should I start working on this one again.

Victory Song: Wildflower by The JaneDear Girls.  Yes, it’s country music, but I love country music.  Besides, it seemed appropriate because the story really is about Chloe changing and growing as a person, and figuring out how to cope and accept with what’s happened in her life. 

Title: Nothing really jumped outside out to me, but Wildflower seems pretty appropriate, so I’ll stick with that one for now.

Harry Potter and The Giant Prehistoric Chicken

Posted in HP & The Giant Prehistoric Chicken, Post-NaNo Wrap Up by

The thing that amazes me the most about this one is the fact that I got off to such a rough start, and still managed to finish this one first!  November 1, I had 414 words, and didn’t write anything for a couple days.  I managed to get up to a few thousand words on the 4th, and got completely caught up about a week in.  But even then I struggled with it, and it was because I was trying to mimic the 5th book too much.  The characters were too in character, and I was trying way too hard.   Once I realized that it didn’t have to be exactly like Order of the Phoenix, it got a lot easier to write.  After all, if I wanted something like the 5th book, I’d be reading it, instead of writing my own version.  And with the struggles that I had the first week or so, I’m amazed that I managed to write 50,707 words without wordpadding!

The focus gradually shifted from Harry over to Hermione (who is undoubtedly one of my favorite characters), which may have been one of the reasons why it became easier to write.  I definitely see a lot of similarities between myself and Hermione, so writing from her point of view is a lot easier than Harry’s.  Also surprising me was that characters who didn’t have huge roles in the series had much bigger roles than I expected.

I won’t be doing any character spotlights on these characters or anything relating to the Harry Potter world, but definitely check out the Harry Potter Lexicon, which has been my saving grace over the last month.  On the rare occasion I needed to look something up, I apparated right on over to the Lexicon, where I could find everything I needed, as opposed to becoming wrapped up in reading Harry Potter whenever I needed to look something up. 

So instead of doing an in-depth character profile, I’ll be talking about each character and why I like or dislike them.  There’s definitely going to be a mythological aspect as well, since they’re going to the underworld, so I’ll probably highlight the places, creatures and gods/goddesses they encounter, plus any spells or potions I personally make up. 

I don’t really have a clear plan on how much I’ll be working on it, but anywhere from 500 to 1000 words, depending on my mood.  I haven’t actually written anything for it the last day or two, but I just need to sit down and write it!

The title should be well obvious by now (or so I hope anyway). 

Victory Song: I was listening to No Way from A Very Starkid Album when I reached 50k.  I knew that it definitely had to be something relating to Harry Potter, and No Way seemed to fit the best, because I was absolutely surprised that this was the novel that I “finished” first, and not only that, but a day early!  And as a side note, Potter Puppet Pals, A Very Potter Musical, and A Very Potter Sequel are absolutely genius.