Alphabet Blog

I've taken this from writer buddy Stephanie, who took it from another friend, etc but I changed a few alphabet words to mix it up a bit.

A. Age: I’m a bicentennial baby. You do the math.

B. Birth Order: 3^rd out of 4. Third is the nerd.

C. Chore that you hate: Cleaning tubs/showers. And bathing kids is my least favorite “mommy chore.” So glad they are getting older…

D. Dogs: They’re nice, but I don’t want to personally own one at this point in my life.

E. Essential start to your day: Alarm clock or kidlets.

F. Favorite color: Purple, with turquoise a close second.

G. Gold or Silver: Silver—or white gold.

H. Height: 5’12” baby!

I. Inspirations: Crisp, autumn-like weather with a nice breeze and music.

J. Job title: Which one? Wife, Mother, Writer,  Daughter, Sister, Aunt…

K. Kids: Three kidlets.

L. Live: Mobile, Alabama… or is that live—I love live music! Concerts are the best!

M. Marriage Status: Married, with children.

N. Nicknames: Care Bear is the most common, from multiple sources.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Five times, three from childbirth.

P. Pet peeves: Dishonesty: lie, cheat, or hold back the truth and I will not trust you.

Q. Quote from a movie: “As you wish.” I swoon for Westley.

R. Right or left handed: Right, though I always wished I was a lefty.

S. Secrets: I’ll never tell.

T. Time you wake up: Whenever I’m needed.

U. UFOs: Possibly, but not necessarily with little green men…

V. Vegetable you hate: Canned red beets. GAG.

W. What makes you run late: Kidlets—1, 2, 3, or all.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Neck, back, and that lousy right ankle—I’ve sprained it three times.

Y. Yummy food that you make: Cookies! Nothing fancy, just the basics: chocolate chip, snickerdoodles, peanut butter, etc.

Z. Zoos or Aquariums: I love a good aquarium. It feels like I’m in a time warp, in another world,  and then the sun is SOOO bright when I step back outside—WHAM! Welcome back to Earth.

In Which I revert to Rambling

I put a call out for blog ideas on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AuthorCarrieCox) the other day. The two options listed are difficult, to say the least. One humorous, one serious. I might tackle them at a future date, but I need something fluffy to get me through this week.

Music, as always, pulls me into the writing zone. I was productive last week, which was good since I needed to produce several pages to submit for my critique group to read. I went on a musical binge and piled 196 songs into a “Fortitude Groove” playlist in my iTunes account. Those were just songs that jumped out at me while scrolling through my music library. I’ve narrowed it down to 150 songs so far. I’m listening to each one while working on Fortitude related tasks: note taking, editing, writing, and playing Free Cell to zone out before/after writing. It will be awhile before I create an actual “soundtrack” (see http://wonderwegian.blogspot.com/2011/08/corroded-soundtrack.html) because I’m never quite sure if the story will keep to my outline. I’m already rethinking the ending and I’ve only written two chapters. But, for now, the music is doing its job.

Down to 149…

This time, the selections are heavy on the Irish/Celtic, country, blue grass, and my hard rock favorites.

… 147…

I don’t think I could write something without being inspired by at least three songs from the likes of Europe/Joey Tempest/John Norum, Mitch Malloy, Nelson, Tyketto, or Firehouse. Just to name a few. Those are the songs that filled my boom box when I began writing in earnest at 14. And several of those guys have fabulous new albums.

… 145…

Some terrific songs are being deleted because of modern references, like phone calls or cars. Just like Bid Time Return (aka “Somewhere in Time”) I don’t want anything that might jar me out of the moment. Timeless is perfection. That’s why I LOVE the classic Disney cartoons—the ones when Walt was alive—there aren’t any “modern” jokes thrown in. They are truly timeless masterpieces: Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan. I enjoy Robin Williams as the genie in Aladdin, but most of the humor is current references. Pulls me out of the story.

… 143…

Fluffy just turned into rambling so it's time to stop. I shall search the perfect photo to accompany this post and I’ll see you in the comments.

Any other bright ideas out there for future posts? Remarks on this one?

Corroded Soundtrack

The thing for authors—especially young adult ones—to do these days is to create PLAYLISTS for their novels. I've written song lists for SOUNDTRACKS (because I see my stories as movies in my head) for all my writing, beginning twenty years ago.

Yes, with the first novel-length story I began at the age of fourteen, I had an inspiring soundtrack of hair bands. Ever visit me in my teens? My walls were filled with photos from Metal Edge magazine and posters bought at the local Sam Goody's or Spencer Gifts.
I was the renegade rocker—the walking oxymoron. I had a “Youth Gone Wild” Skid Row t-shirt but never skipped school or done anything worthy of arrest. I spent my money on cassettes/CDs, magazines, posters, concert tickets, t-shirts... my teen idols were long haired crooners, beat thumping bass players, and those glorious keyboarders.

But I'd always had a wide range of musical taste. I bought J.S. Bach albums while wearing my denim-and-leather jacket (I was told by the sales associate “you don't look like the powdered wig type.)
It isn't Christmas until The Beach Boys album is on the stereo.
And I still love a little “Motownphilly”, “The One and Only”, “Forever Your Girl”, and “Electric Youth.” Can you name the artists who sing those songs?

To bring my old school soundtrack to the new century, I'm including YouTube links to the BEST videos I found for my odd assortment of songs that express the themes and emotions of Corroded, in chronological order. Yes, there is a heavy dose of Rick Nelson. I adore him—the original teen idol.

Take a few minutes and watch—but more importantly LISTEN—to the songs you aren't familiar with. Enjoy!

Hello Mary Lou (Main character's name, with a groovy 70s vibe.)

Young Emotions (Ricky was so smooth and dreamy...)

Weird (Now this is a WEIRD video! First time seeing it.)

The Very Thought of You (He's so much better than Elvis.)

String Along (Never enough Rick!)

Burning Down Inside (Peppy live version with a bonus song on the end, because Tyketto rocks.)

You Are a Tourist (Song I heard on the local independent radio station last month. It struck me.)

Anybody Listening? (A profound sound with amazing vocals--Geoff Tate of Queensryche is the bomb.)

Tears of the Dragon (I could listen to this song over and over again—and have.)

Dying to Be Alive (Yes, two Hanson songs. They both fit.)

Somewhere I Belong (About as heavy as I get...)

Start from the Dark (By my FAVORITE band. Long live Europe!)

Spirit of the Underdog (They rock and had two songs to fit the mood, back-to-back.)


Right Before Your Eyes (Rick Nelson's sons.)

Life (Amazing what you can find on YouTube!)

And as a tribute, because I just found this and the hair is awesomely 80s.

Are you ready to read Corroded now? Let me know your comments—either here or on Twitter or FaceBook. Thanks for stopping by!

They Speak--I Listen

On my July 6th blog I coined the term “fantabutitus” and spoke of my always pleasant encounters with those I admire. Amid the telling I said:

I'm a dedicated fan, loyal to those who speak to me
even when the spotlight has moved on to newer faces.
(Speak to me? Yes, speak to me. I shall blog about that next time.)

And the next blog happened weeks later, recapping my month spent hiding among literature while the house was over-run with nephews and nieces. Of which I need to add:

and

And then I posted a blog tag question game. Fluffy fun.

If you haven't before, take a look at my profile and see the listing of my favorite authors/books, musicians, actors/movies, etc. Not the standard answers!

So, without further ado, I shall describe the Wonderlonian philosophy of what creates the fantabulous connection to the brilliant artists I esteem.

It's my belief that each individual was born as a spirit child of a Heavenly Father and Mother before being born on earth. As such, we had a pre-mortal life, which is how I believe memories of “past lives” occur. If we were angels, for lack of a better term, watching over those already on Earth, then we might recall glimpses of events that occurred before we were born. Maybe we were even assigned people to watch over—only time will tell.

But as spirits waiting around in heaven to be born to Earthly parents, wouldn't we have had friendships? We had to pass the time somehow. Maybe there were cloud bands and theater guilds and painting-by-star clubs or something. Suppose some of us were sent down to whisper muse-like into the ears of philosophers and writers. The possibilities are endless.

When I see a piece of art, hear a song, read something, or see a performance it either speaks to me or it doesn't. Some voices and melodies are so familiar, I know I've heard them before. Some paintings I feel like I've lived in the landscapes of, in some other-worldly time.

There isn't much in this world that I will say I “hate” or even “dislike”. My favorite response is “it's okay, but it doesn't speak to me.” I can't say “it's not my style” because my style (some will swear I have none) is all over the place musically, literary, artistically.

What better way to describe a connection to another soul than by feeling that you were friends before? The ultimate kindred spirits.

What's your philosophy?

Of Books, Movies and Music

Haven't done much writing lately, but my WIP, Corroded, is over 38000 words now—131 double spaced pages. It only took a couple years to get to where I am, but I'm here! To think I used to push out complete drafts of novels (200-300 pages) in less than a year—but that was B.C.
Before Children.
That's still slow to some people's standards, but I will say that I was a full time student at the time. Now I'm a mommy working over-time, every day.

The books I've been reading the past few weeks:

The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart

Very funny, with a few vavoom moments. I received an ARC of it last year, and have loaned it out, but finally got to reading it myself. Enjoyed it. Makes me want to venture into more “adult books”, but oh, I'm missing my kid/YA lit.
Especially since my next read was another adult book. (I'm almost finished!)

All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg


Rick Bragg spoke at one of the local library branches the beginning of the month. I usually don't seek out writer events when I'm not familiar with their works, but everyone in my critique group raved about him. So glad I went! And, obviously, his wit and charm made me want to read one of his books.


Two books in as many weeks: you can tell I'm reading out of my comfort zone!
To compensate, I've been watching more movies than usual—thanks to my parents' Netflix account and a stash of movies I'm borrowing from my oldest sister.

Juno
Enjoyed it more than I expected to. Very witty dialog.

The Last Song
I've never seen more than a minute or so of Miss Cyrus in action before this movie. I was slightly impressed. The thing that bothered me the most was her speaking voice. Sounds like an older DJ's voice--bit on the smoker's side. Odd.

Alex and Emma

I enjoy plots with a story within a story, and when writers are involved it's an added bonus. My favorite example of this is the book/movie Holes--brilliant.


And while I was on the classic name kick, I tried out the newest BBC version of


Emma

I do love the Paltrow version—much more glorious to the eyes than the old BBC version—but this one stole my heart. Or was it Mr. Knightly? No, it was Emma! The actress looked so familiar, and her mannerisms reminded me of Drew Barrymore in Ever After (LOVE IT!) I waited until after seeing the whole mini-series to check what other movies she's been in, and by golly, she's been in several movies I adore.


Viewing Emma in all her glory led me to want to watch this modernized version.

Clueless

I forgot how funny this movie is. And "my bad" is used. I wonder if that is the earliest use of it in the media... The dialog is hilarious and the clothing snazzy.



And as if my brain wasn't fed—all though most might be considered junk food—enough, I've been listening to my iPod as much as possible, which isn't a whole lot. Mainly it's in the car since I can't plug my ears while watching the kids, though it does sound like a lovely idea. I'm borrowing one of those cassette tape adapters, with the tape that goes into the car stereo that has a wire hanging out of it to plug into the iPod.
Yes, my car as a cassette player! It's a 1996, a year older than our original car which we had to replace last summer. But it only has 60K miles on it and has leather seats and power windows, a big step up from the ol' Neon.

Back to the iPod... I love listening to it on shuffle. From the time I was a teenager, I used to want a jukebox so I could put all my CDs into it and let them play randomly. So, I'm loving the portable jukebox. The 8GB doesn't hold all my music, but a decent percentage of it. My musical taste is eclectic. I know what I like and it's spans to genres.

Example of what pops up if you are fortunate enough to ride in my vehicle: Chesney Hawkes, Midlake, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Tyketto, Tchaikovsky, Ottmar Liebert, Firehouse, Patsy Cline, Joey Tempest, Diamond Rio, Mitch Malloy, Martina McBride, Rainbow, Dee-Lite, Alice in Wonderland (animated soundtrack), Sibelius, and REO Speedwagon.

Can you beat that?
Do you even know who half those singers/groups/composers are?

Music, the pulse of life.

This is what my self-imposed homework consists of: listening to music.

Music energizes and inspires me... and I've been avoiding it the past few years. Probably because if I listened to more music I'd feel like writing and since I wasn't writing it would produce feelings of guilt. So rather than feeling guilty (or better yet actually writing) I've limited myself to non-music days, weeks, and years. I think in the past three years I've only listened to a couple dozen of my CDs. I don't own an iPod or MP3 player or anything similar. My car is old (but paid for) and only has a cassette player. I will listen to the radio in the car- if there isn't a screaming baby on board. But with a houseful of little ones, the actual moments of QUIET are music to my ears these days.

I used to be such a music junkie. During the first eight years of life I listened to whatever my older sisters and parents did. Highlights (or low lights) of those days were Roger Whittaker, Barry Manilow, Alabama, The Beach Boys, Culture Club, and Billy Idol.

When I started developing my own tastes I bought WHAM!, The Jets, Debbie Gibson, and New Kids on the Block. I won't deny I liked these people- I just won't spend much time revisiting them.

Then I graduated to rock music: Boston, Europe, Nelson, and others. But I also developed an appreciation of classical music at that time in my life. I would go to the local Sam Goody's in my denim and leather jacket (yes, it was denim and leather, complete with Skid Row and Firehouse buttons adorning it) and buy J.S. Bach, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. Once I was told that I “didn't look like the powdered wig type.”

I later expanded my search for musical excellence and embraced country. This was the year that Diamond Rio, Martina McBride, and Little Texas emerged. But I also embraced the always in-style Patsy Cline with her deep, haunting vocals.

After that I dabbled in the new age and world music scene digging the likes of Enya and Ottmar Liebert.

In the past dozen years there hasn't been much growth in my musical life. Besides getting new albums from my favorites I think the only “must have” musicians/singers I've added are Hanson, Emmy Rossum, and Linkin Park. How's that for a mix? Of course once or twice a year there will be a song I hear on the radio that's totally grooving and whenever I do get an MP3 or iPod, I'm sure I'll purchase those single songs.

But that's me: a big fan of a couple dozen singers/groups across the musical board. (Those listed by name total about seventy-five percent of my CD collection.) Having that broad range of interest helps when choosing music to help me set the mood for my writing.

It's all the rage now for authors to have a “play list” on their website for their different novels but I was doing that fifteen years ago. Does that make me old or what? Each of the novel-length stories I wrote in my teens has a soundtrack listed in my notebook for the story. I'd put in music, get the vibe going and then zone out writing. The next thing I'd notice was silence because the CD has finished. Those were some good times.

So, my homework... This past week I've made an effort to listen to more music. I haven't gotten past Mitch Malloy yet (pictured above). He's in a class all his own, singing several types of musical genres and is the best out there, in my opinion. But I did watch Phantom of the Opera (Emmy Rossum) the other night- does that count?

This week I pledge to listen to at least five CDs by five different artists as well as continue to WFMAD (Write Fifteen Minutes a Day- see previous blog.)