See the sidebar there? Scroll down a bit. Right below the followers part, where there's a bass player from a really rad band.
That's a SocialVibe widget. I set it up to support the work of To Write Love on Her Arms. They are an amazing organization that helps spread awareness and provide hope and help to people struggling with addiction, self-harm, depression, and suicide.
If you've never read it, please check out the TWLOHA story. It's powerful stuff... actually one of the big inspirations for Music Lessons.
Then if you want, play with it a bit to help earn some points and support for them! It's a great way to procrastinate when you could be working on your novel. I mean, if you're gonna procrastinate, do it for a good cause, right? ;)
That is all. Thanks for listening to my PSA.
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
NaNoWriMo Q&A
In the weeks leading up to NaNoWriMo, lots of writing blogs are offering some motivation and thoughts. This post from Write Anything is a neat expression of why NaNo isn't a waste of time and why even the bad novels that come out of it are worth every minute. She also gives 7 questions at the end to get you thinking about what you're writing and how you're writing it.
Anyway, here are my answers that I left in a comment. Kind of gave me some perspective, especially on the value of this crazy writing adventure. What are yours?
1. Do you have an idea for your NaNoWriMo project? Yep! Taking a short story I wrote earlier this year for a class and completely re-writing it to novel length. The feedback class consensus was that it was a good story that needed to be a novel, and this is the motivation I need to work on it!
2. What instrument will you be writing your novel on? My kickin' new Macbook. It's our first NaNo together. Write or Die and an old fashioned spiral notebook when I get blocked.
3. Where will you likely be writing most of your story? Probably at home, in my room. I want to try to do some lunch break writing at work/Panera/coffee shops though, and my novel will start at a friend's house while I cat-sit for her this weekend. Kind of looking forward to the quiet place to get a jump start on my novel!
4. When will you likely write your story? At night. Laaaate at night. By the time I get home from work, that's the only writing window I have most of the week.
5. What is your daily word count goal? 2,000-ish is good, but I try not to be too rigid. Last year, I won NaNoWriMo even with spurts of non-productive writing weeks. Word count varies day to day.
6. Have you participated in past NaNoWriMo’s? How many years have you won? Yep... this is my third year. first year was a 15K fail, but last year I won! Totally intend to win this year too. :)
7. What do you think about NaNoWriMo in general? A waste of time? Or beneficial? Unless you're already an productive, disciplined writer with an excellent work ethic that can turn out beautiful work without an arbitrary deadline hanging over your head... it's super beneficial. And if you are all that, it probably is beneficial to help you stop taking yourself so seriously. ;)
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that is a creature of procrastinating and perfectionist habits when it comes to writing. If no one is expecting me to turn it in, I tend to put it off. I like that at least for one month of the year, writing a novel draft feels as important as any other work, since so many others are writing along with me. And with such a big goal in such a small time, I have permission to write badly, with the hope that something worth keeping will emerge.
So yeah. I love it! Winning last year got me excited about writing fiction again. Sure, it was a pretty bad novel, but it gave me some good characters to work with (one of them with a major role in this year's story), and it inspired me to take a Creative Writing class and start writing again. I recommend anyone who has ever entertained the idea of writing a novel give it a try -- whether you think you can write or not! The results may surprise you!
Anyway, here are my answers that I left in a comment. Kind of gave me some perspective, especially on the value of this crazy writing adventure. What are yours?
1. Do you have an idea for your NaNoWriMo project? Yep! Taking a short story I wrote earlier this year for a class and completely re-writing it to novel length. The feedback class consensus was that it was a good story that needed to be a novel, and this is the motivation I need to work on it!
2. What instrument will you be writing your novel on? My kickin' new Macbook. It's our first NaNo together. Write or Die and an old fashioned spiral notebook when I get blocked.
3. Where will you likely be writing most of your story? Probably at home, in my room. I want to try to do some lunch break writing at work/Panera/coffee shops though, and my novel will start at a friend's house while I cat-sit for her this weekend. Kind of looking forward to the quiet place to get a jump start on my novel!
4. When will you likely write your story? At night. Laaaate at night. By the time I get home from work, that's the only writing window I have most of the week.
5. What is your daily word count goal? 2,000-ish is good, but I try not to be too rigid. Last year, I won NaNoWriMo even with spurts of non-productive writing weeks. Word count varies day to day.
6. Have you participated in past NaNoWriMo’s? How many years have you won? Yep... this is my third year. first year was a 15K fail, but last year I won! Totally intend to win this year too. :)
7. What do you think about NaNoWriMo in general? A waste of time? Or beneficial? Unless you're already an productive, disciplined writer with an excellent work ethic that can turn out beautiful work without an arbitrary deadline hanging over your head... it's super beneficial. And if you are all that, it probably is beneficial to help you stop taking yourself so seriously. ;)
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that is a creature of procrastinating and perfectionist habits when it comes to writing. If no one is expecting me to turn it in, I tend to put it off. I like that at least for one month of the year, writing a novel draft feels as important as any other work, since so many others are writing along with me. And with such a big goal in such a small time, I have permission to write badly, with the hope that something worth keeping will emerge.
So yeah. I love it! Winning last year got me excited about writing fiction again. Sure, it was a pretty bad novel, but it gave me some good characters to work with (one of them with a major role in this year's story), and it inspired me to take a Creative Writing class and start writing again. I recommend anyone who has ever entertained the idea of writing a novel give it a try -- whether you think you can write or not! The results may surprise you!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The 2009 Soundtrack
Music is a huge part of my story. I mean, duh, look at the title. It's about a couple of musician kids. Shanna is a very skilled musician, and a good part of the relationship with her brother is built on her teaching him to play guitar.
It's also a quasi-scientific fact that art begets art, and most writers can't function without a good dose of appropriate music. So, every year for NaNoWriMo, I make what I call "The Soundtrack."
"The Soundtrack" tends to have a theme, with songs that fit the theme of the story and help spur the writing along and set the mood. It also tends to evolve with time, with songs adding and dropping as the story changes.
For now, I'm pretty happy with what I've got for Music Lessons and have been actually listening to it quite a bit on my work commute. Tonight, I changed some songs (yet again) so I actually haven't listened to this version... but I think the additions will work.
1) Anberlin - Paperthin Hymn // Never Take Friendship Personal
2) The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out // The Queen is Dead
3) The Fray - You Found Me // The Fray
4) Needtobreathe - Streets Of Gold // The Heat
5) Copeland - Chin Up // Dressed Up & In Line
6) Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees // The Bends
7) Linkin Park - Breaking the Habit // Meteora
8) Skillet - The Last Night // Comatose
9) Imogen Heap - Clear The Area // Speak For Yourself
10) U2 - Stay (Faraway, So Close!) // Zooropa
11) Jon Foreman - I Am Still Running // Winter EP
12) Alanis Morissette - You Learn // Jagged Little Pill
13) Switchfoot - Dare You To Move // The Beautiful Letdown
14) Linkin Park - Shadow of the Day // Minutes to Midnight
15) Imogen Heap - Wait It Out // Ellipse
16) U2 - Walk On // All That You Can't Leave Behind
17) Death Cab for Cutie - All Is Full Of Love // The Stability EP
18) Coldplay - Fix You // X&Y
19) Anberlin - The Unwinding Cable Car // Cities
20) Radiohead - Videotape // In Rainbows
(I forbid you to laugh at my double inclusion of Linkin Park. They are my guilty pleasure and the songs fit. So there. ;))
Other albums that I think will get a lot of spinning this month:
It's also a quasi-scientific fact that art begets art, and most writers can't function without a good dose of appropriate music. So, every year for NaNoWriMo, I make what I call "The Soundtrack."
"The Soundtrack" tends to have a theme, with songs that fit the theme of the story and help spur the writing along and set the mood. It also tends to evolve with time, with songs adding and dropping as the story changes.
For now, I'm pretty happy with what I've got for Music Lessons and have been actually listening to it quite a bit on my work commute. Tonight, I changed some songs (yet again) so I actually haven't listened to this version... but I think the additions will work.
1) Anberlin - Paperthin Hymn // Never Take Friendship Personal
2) The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out // The Queen is Dead
3) The Fray - You Found Me // The Fray
4) Needtobreathe - Streets Of Gold // The Heat
5) Copeland - Chin Up // Dressed Up & In Line
6) Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees // The Bends
7) Linkin Park - Breaking the Habit // Meteora
8) Skillet - The Last Night // Comatose
9) Imogen Heap - Clear The Area // Speak For Yourself
10) U2 - Stay (Faraway, So Close!) // Zooropa
11) Jon Foreman - I Am Still Running // Winter EP
12) Alanis Morissette - You Learn // Jagged Little Pill
13) Switchfoot - Dare You To Move // The Beautiful Letdown
14) Linkin Park - Shadow of the Day // Minutes to Midnight
15) Imogen Heap - Wait It Out // Ellipse
16) U2 - Walk On // All That You Can't Leave Behind
17) Death Cab for Cutie - All Is Full Of Love // The Stability EP
18) Coldplay - Fix You // X&Y
19) Anberlin - The Unwinding Cable Car // Cities
20) Radiohead - Videotape // In Rainbows
(I forbid you to laugh at my double inclusion of Linkin Park. They are my guilty pleasure and the songs fit. So there. ;))
Other albums that I think will get a lot of spinning this month:
- Anberlin - Cities (quite possibly my favorite album ever, most of the lyrics fit really well.
- The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (I picture this being Neil and Shanna's favorite to play loud with the windows down.)
- Radiohead - The Bends (I don't know why, but 90's alt-rock seems to put me in the mood. And Thom Yorke and co are such happy rays of sunshine, right? ;))
- Sigur Ros - Takk... (has absolutely nothing to do with the story, but always takes me to my artsy happy place. I don't know what the heck he's saying, and I don't care. It's so dang beautiful. :))
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
