Well, we all know Monday's generally suck, but mine has started awesomely, by my discovering that I've been awarded my first ever blog award!
It's an award for blogs that you think are cool, but have less than 100 followers!
The wonderful Sara over at Cutest Landing was generous enough to award me with it!
There are a few rules surrounding the Liebster Blog though... and here they are!
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.
2. Nominate up to 5 others for the Liebster Award.
3. Let said bloggers know via comment on their blog.
4. Post the award on your blog.
5. Consider signing up for the A - Z Challenge.
I don't know about number 5. I'm going to have an awfully busy Easter...
But here are who I'm awarding my Liebster Blogs to!
Time for our third instalment of Music to write to!
This week I'm listening to Ludovico Einaudi, specifically his compilation album entitled 'Islands'.
Don't make me try to pronounce that name, because I sure as hell won't be able to!
Genre's suitable for: Contemporary, historical, fantasy, romance, general background writing music
Personal highlights: I giorni, Primavera, Divenire, Ancora
This album is just great for writing either the romantic parts, or for anything really, you can just put this album on and totally forget what's going on around you and just write!
The main instrument on most of the album is a piano, and only a piano. Sometimes there are collaborations with other instruments, mostly string, but most of the time it's just him and his piano! You may have already heard some of the music, as it's very popular with film & tv soundtracks, along with a few TV adverts! It's a very calming sound compared some of the music that I will be recommending in later "MTWT" instalments!
If I can't sleep, I stick this album on quietly and it doesn't take long for me to drift off on the beautiful melodies!
So this video has been doing the rounds on Facebook and Twitter and I just think the blogosphere should pick up on it too!
If you haven't already watched this video, now's the time. Don't be put off by how long it is, no matter how busy you are.
I do agree that this is only one problem in a million that we currently have going on in the world, but surely it's better to start with one, than to not start at all?
The starfish story is one of my favourite little tales and it's not going to be more appropriate than with this:
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, What are you doing?
The youth replied, Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them back, they'll die.
Son, the man said, don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You cant make a difference!
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said I made a difference for that one.
I've ordered myself a Kony2012 action kit to help raise awareness in my Uni with the posters and everything. Hopefully we will make a difference and get this man arrested for the thousands of lives that he's ruined.
Yes, I know we're already a week into March but give me a break, I've been busy!
(On a side note, I've begun sketching out chapter outlines for my WIP. Haven't done that in a long while, so hopefully it's a step in the right direction! Probably isn't a good thing that the notes were made in the margin of where I was supposed to be making class notes... oops!)
So yes, what I read...
1. Seizure - Kathy Reichs
From the writer of the Temperance Brennan series that inspired the TV series Bones comes the second book in her series 'Virals' for young adults!
I really enjoy Kathy Reichs writing, and just like the first, I couldn't put this one down!
My only complaint is that Kathy seems to be a little out of touch with the younger generation in parts. For a start, her characters are meant to be around 14-15, where as they talk and act much, much older. She also doesn't seem to have a clue what kids study in school these days. They seem to know about scientific procedures that I'm only learning about myself at University!
2. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The first book that I finished on my Kindle!
But it was a struggle. This book, while beautifully written, was painfully dull at times. I do understand that it's how books were written back then, with lots of description. I think in today's world of drama and everything being very over the top and fast paced we don't really know how to digest a slow classic like Wuthering Heights.
I didn't keep English on long enough in school to be able to sink my teeth into the classics. Perhaps if I was more tuned into how to read them, I would enjoy this more.
3. Across The Universe - Beth Revis
The cover.
I kept seeing the amazing cover of this book around the blogosphere and just had to get it onto my bookshelf. It wasn't a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, I actually quite enjoyed it and got through it quite quickly. I know this is supposed to be science-fiction, but as a science student the improbabilities of some of the stuff that went on in this book just bugged me. The book wasn't fantastical enough for me to be able to remove myself from why the things just wouldn't work. I know I'm a stickler, but there we go! Was a nice read though, and I'll be checking out the sequel!
4. The Alchemist's Secret - Scott Mariani
My friend told me I had to read this book. She said it was Dan Brown only better, and I have to agree with her. It's fast paced, the characters are interesting and the story compelling. I just sat and read, and read, and read until it was done. There's a whole series of books about the same main character and I'm really looking forward to getting into the rest!
So, that's it for February! What books did your read? If you've read any of the books that I have, what did you think of them!
So this week's segment on music that inspires me to write focuses on the contemporary country band - Lady Antebellum
Now in the last post I focussed on a particular album, because for that group, their latest album was very different from anything they'd ever done before, and that was why I liked it. However, for Lady Antebellum, so far their music has been pretty consistent in that modern American country music style that has been made popular by the likes of Taylor Swift, Martina McBride, and of course Lady Antebellum.
They're all subtly different, and I find that Lady Antebellum hits the perfect chord for me, where as Martina and Taylor sometimes just fall short!
Genres suitable for: Contemporary, Romance
Personal highlights: Need You Now, Something 'Bout A Woman, We Owned The Night, Just A Kiss
One of my house mates introduced me to Lady Antebellum just before Christmas and I fell in love because at that point I was working on a contemporary YA romance and it suited perfectly!
Their songs just remind me of summer, and the sound of your typical 'contemporary teen romance' movie. Quite a few of their songs have this bright, happy, hopeful sound that just fits perfectly with everything you feel when you're starting out on a relationship with someone.
This song captures what I've just said perfectly.
What do you think of Lady Antebellum?
So that's it for another segment. I'll be doing a review of what I read in February in my next blog post, so be ready for some book reviews!
Having basically all but run out of blog ideas, I've joined the Knights of MicroFiction to give me something to write and maybe a kick back onto the path of productivity because my WIP has basically been floundering too.
You should really check it out. It's only once a month, and I think it's such a good idea, and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone makes of the prompts!
The prompt for this week was: After all this time, there it was...
My entry's not from a WIP or anything, I just went with where my head was going when I read the prompt. Here's what I came up with!
After all this time, there it was – there he was – lying right at the bottom of the box.
Officially, we had moved in a little over three years ago, but we still hadn’t managed to completely unpack. I’m sure a very philosophical individual would say at this point about how we don’t need all of our junk but I’m not one of those people. I like having stuff. Every piece of so-called junk has it’s own story.
I reached in and picked my old friend up. He hadn’t changed a bit. With all the articulation that a two year old could muster, the day Dad had brought him home, I had appropriately named him ‘Beary’. To this day I still have a problem with stating the obvious.
The lenses of his glass eyes were scratched, from his many adventures, and parts of his grey fur were almost bare in places. Maybe I had given him one too many cuddles. Little specks of pink nail varnish still clung to his paws from the time I had decided to give him a manicure. Mum had spent hours trying to get it off, and the house had smelt of remover solution for days afterward.
With a smile, I carried him down the stairs and into the sitting room. In pride of place I set him into the big antique armchair. Jake looked up at me over his glasses, then, glanced towards the new arrival.
“Should I be jealous?”
“Of Beary?” I replied. “Always.”
Word count: 250 exactly!
Hope you enjoyed it. Why don't you pop off to read some more of the Knight's posts?
So as you may (or may not) have noticed by my relative inactivity for the last week, I've kind of run out of things to blog about!
Already? But you just started!
Apparently so. It might have something to do with real life drama's becoming, for once, more overwhelming than the drama's being played out in my head! Having some serious house mate issues, spliced with a dash of stomach bug to contend with. So, understandably I'm feeling a little uninspired. So I thought I'd write about something that helps me write, and that's music!
I'm going to do a segment, hopefully every week for a little while until I get my 'mojo' back!
Listening to music whilst writing is a very touchy subject for some people. Some can't write with it, some can't write without it. I'm in the later group. Music is a big part of building an atmosphere for me and as a result I have different play lists set up in my iTunes for different moods.
So, this week's Album of choice: Progressed by Take That
Personal highlights: Love Love, SOS, Underground Machine, Man
The marketing of this album bugged me. Take That released their album 'Progress' in November 2010 and it was their first album as a fully reunited group, i.e. with Robbie Williams back. (If this is all going over the heads of my American readers, I do apologise!) However, in June 2011 they RE-RELEASED the album with 8 new tracks and retitled it 'Progressed'. It was a very similar thing to what Lady Gaga did with The Fame, and then The Fame Monster. It's a kick in the teeth for fans that buy the first album, and then have to essentially buy the first album again to get the extra tracks.
But enough about bad record label choices. On to the writing side of things!
To me, the album has a very industrial (I use that term VERY lightly because I do know there is a very large genre of music that is ACTUALLY called industrial and I do not wish to offend) theme running through it, without departing from what can be considered 'pop' music. My absolute favourite song from this album is Love Love because it was the song in the closing credits of 'X-men: First class' (which I adore) and it always reminds me of the film.
From the angle of using this as a background to writing, the sound of the music is very important, especially for science fiction because most things in science fiction tend to rely heavily on machines, and the sound of this album can be very mechanical at times. But in a good way. The second thing is the lyrics. In one song especially, SOS, the lyrics are very poignant of our future and remind me somewhat of Beth Revis' book Across the Universe (which I haven't finished so don't spoil me!). There aren't parallels in the lyrics to the book, so I'm not spoiling anyone who hasn't read it, but there are sort of, themes that are similar. If you've read the book you might know what I'm talking about.
Here are some of the lyrics which make me think:
"When the levee breaks And Manhattan sinks There won't be water fit to drink When the winter's warm And the summer's cold The poison stops you looking old"
"No antibiotic can save us now No, no, no, no, no We are the virus that we talk about"
I'm going to leave you with the Love Love video. There are some clips of X Men in it, including my gorgeous Michael Fassbender as Magneto. I sure do 'Love Love' that man. Sorry. It had to be done.
I'm going to be possibly doing this segment every week, for a few weeks at least, breaking down the favourite music that I write to, and what genre's they inspire me to write for. I hope you find this segment interesting! Perhaps you'll find a new group or artist that appeals to your music tastes, or fits nicely in with what you're writing!
Sarah x
EDIT: Also, if you're not following me through blogger, and are still interested in what I have to say (which I hope you are!) then you're going to have to switch to the Linky Follower, because at the beginning of March Google Friend Connect will cease to be working/exist! (I don't understand why, but there we go.)
