Music I Write To


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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Death By Drowning (in words)

It feels like things have been conspiring against me lately when it comes to writing. After having some issues with the computer, which I've fixed (I hope), and then being way too tired after a very tough week with the kids, I just haven't felt it.

I sit down at the computer, and the thought of sinking myself into my fictional world seems like too much work. And that kind of makes me sad, but it also kind of makes me understand further what it is that drives me to write.

I have to really let myself sink into the world I'm creating; I'm standing next to my characters, riding in cars with them, singing in the shower with them, whatever. If I don't submerge myself that way, then what I end up writing just feels like crap to me, like I didn't give it 100%. And I can't have that.

Now that doesn't mean I have to be in a silent house with no distractions. Geez, if I had to have that, I'd never have started writing again! No, I actually listen to music while I write, and I have certain songs for certain things, certain feelings and plots and whatnot. And I have to be able to dedicate at least 30 minutes at a time to it. Getting up every 5 minutes irritates the crap out of me, I lose my train of thought, and spend the next 5 minutes getting back into the groove. And just as I start to write again, I have to get up. Usually to rescue one of the kids from the other.

But this past week, by the time I get the time to drown in my words, I just don't want to. I just want to fall in bed and turn my brain to mush with DVD's.

But after this weekend, and my much needed reprieve, I'm diving back in, head first.

Into the deep end. ;)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Passions

Passion is a word that goes both ways. Loving someone passionately, hating someone passionately; opposite ends of the spectrum brought together by the same word. A word that incites all sorts of madness, whether in love or hate, or anything in between.

Passion is really fun to write about. ;)

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Hundred Secret Senses

I recently finished reading a book that was somehow incredibly simple, and at the same time breathtakingly beautiful. I know the image in your head is something akin to a closeup photo of a flower or something; something very plain yet still able to convey infinite beauty. But that's not quite what I mean. Think more like...concrete sidewalks. There is nothing really beautiful about them. They're basic, boring, and functional, always there and mostly unnoticed.

The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan. Sounds familiar right? She also wrote that other tiny little book that you may have heard of...The Joy Luck Club. I wasn't completely absorbed by it in the first ten pages...it took all of twenty.

And she is one of those writer's whose prose is just pure and stunning and every single word has meaning. The book is an art gallery, and every sentence is a Van Gogh, Klimt, Picasso, and Michelangelo. In that sense I compare her to Patricia McKillip, but only in that sense. There were sentences I read over and over, just in and of themselves; they needed no context, no plot to follow, and lost nothing of their impact. Some of them had more, if that's possible.

They were the kinds of words you can just meditate on. Let them marinate, growing more flavorful with each bite, each re-reading.

"With each passing day, I didn't lose hope. I fought to have more."

Amy Tan manages to somehow paint a portrait of a world I have absolutely no familiarity with, and make it feel like my own history. Each character was somehow immanently relatable, while still maintaining their own complete identities.

Best of all, I felt satisfied when I finished it. Bliss.

Read this book, if you want to lose yourself in another world...or two.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Attack of the "life"

So I realize I've been slacking off on posting here, and I'm sorry. I've just been trying to keep up with my life, in general, much less my computer life as well. But things are going well, and it seems like every time I start to write down an idea, another one pops up. In fact, I sat down to start writing a story inspired in part by my blog buddies, but after I went back and re-read, I realized it was going in an entirely different direction. So just like that, there's a new story. I'm actually getting worn out right now just thinking about it. I need a nap, and solid week to just write, write, write.

Maybe in my next life, right?

Until next time :)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

911 Writer's Block

So I got on Twitter this morning, to find this link from, of all people, Demi Moore, just begging me to click it.

So I did.

And it is AWESOME! And it made me laugh, which I needed. So thanks Mrs. Kutcher, for sharing this in the Twitterverse.

And just a head's up for all you April Foolers out there...beware the Rickroll. 9 out of 10 links today lead directly to, yep, you guessed it...Rick Astley. What happened to original pranks?