Who Says?

Exhibit A

Okay, so I'm a huge fan of Selena Gomez. I've been watching Wizards of Waverly Place for a couple of years now, and she's so great on that show. (Although I will admit that my obsession with Wizards may or may not but definitely does have to do with David Henrie, and how he's basically Jag in real life... See Exhibit A.)

But Selena has a new song out called Who Says? I loved it the first time I heard it, and immediately downloaded it for the iPod. Then I listened on repeat.

There's some great lyrics in the verses, but it's the chorus that really gets me --right--here--

Who says?
Who says you're not perfect?
Who says you're not worth it?
Who says you're the only one that's hurting?
Trust me,
That's the price of beauty.
Who says you're not pretty?
Who says you're not beautiful?
Who says?

I always think of the chorus as speaking to my manuscript and the time it takes to get it ready for anyone to read. Who says it's not worth it? Who says I'm the only one bleeding through my eyeballs to get the words on the page in the right place?

That's the price of beauty (in writing). And who says my books aren't pretty (in the end)?

So yeah. I think drafting and revising is really hard work. Sometimes it feels like too much work. That it's not worth it. But it is. Keep at it.

And then the bridge (I really have no idea if this is, in actuality, the bridge, but you know):

Who says you're not star potential?
Who says you're not presidential?
Who says you can't be in movies?
Listen to me, listen to me.
Who says you don't pass the test?
Who says you can't be the best?
Who said?
Who said?
Would you tell me who said that?

During this part, the song moves from talking about my MS to talking about ME. I think sometimes we tell ourselves that we're not star potential. That we don't pass the test. That we can't be in movies.

I think it's easy to read a rejection as "You're not good enough. You can't be in movies." It's easy to see someone else's success as "I'm not star potential." We take a critique as "You don't pass the test."

But who says all that?

We do. (Usually.)

We've got to stop that, and keep working hard. And that's why Who Says? by Selena Gomez has been played about 476 times in my iTunes.

What song really hits you hard? Motivates you? Makes you cry and then determine to work that much harder?

Music for POSSESSION

Dude, I spend way too much money on iTunes, downloading the songs that really speak to me about my story and character.

The writing of POSSESSION was no exception, and Nichole Giles is here to tell you all about it.

Or rather, she's here to tell you all about it--on her blog. Go check it out, and don't judge me too harshly... No, seriously, please. And don't be drinking anything. You've been warned...

Waiting For The End

Dude, there is nothing I like better than writing and editing to music. If I hear the perfect song, I can listen to that sucker on repeat for hours. Just ask my kids.

For editing my last project, my song was "The Herald Song" by Ke$ha. It's not one of her more-known, you know, techno thingies, but it's full of angst. And so was my project, so it was perfect.

For this new project I'm starting, my new fave is "Waiting for the End" by Linkin Park. The angst?

Through the roof.

Here's the proof:

We say Yeah!
With fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something
That's invisible there, (I love this image of holding on to something invisible, unable to let go)
'Cause we're living at the mercy of
The pain and the fear (oh, the angst)

I know what it takes to move on, (do you??)
I know how it feels to lie, (powerful feeling)
All I wanna do
Is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what I haven't got (chillz. I haz them.)

What was left when that fire was gone?
I thought it felt right but that right was wrong (who hasn't felt this? Every runner-up on The Bachelor, that's for sure.)
All caught up in the eye of the storm
And trying to figure out what it's like moving on (and here's the real angst)
And I don't even know what kind of things I've said
My mouth kept moving and my mind went dead
So, picking up the pieces, now where to begin?
The hardest part of ending is starting again.

And dude, that's it. That's life. Relationships. Writing. Starting a new job. Everything.

The hardest part of ending is starting again.

Every time I hear this song, I can't help but think of my MC and the terrible things I'm about to do to them. The lyrics, the music, everything, just fits. It's "the one." Chill-worthy.

Have you ever just heard a song and gotten chills? Like, "This. THIS is it!"What song is it? What is it about that song makes it so perfect for your project?

Muse, Music, Inspiration, Whatever

Okay, for this fantastic Memorial Day (it's raining here, insert sarcasm), I thought I'd throw out the topic of inspiration. Muse, ideas, dreams, whatever you want to call it.

Where do your story ideas come from?

This is not how you inspire yourselves to write. No, no, no, my friends. Pretend I'm like, Barbara Walters or better yet--Oprah, and you're on my show (this blog) and you're a multi-million dollar author with a series of books on the NYT's bestselling list. Okay...are you there? Got that image in your head? It's nice, isn't it? They're passing around goblets of Ginger ale and bowls of bubble gum sit on glass-topped tables...

Ahem. Stay with me. So the question is, How did you come up with the idea for your story?

I have a couple:

1. Music. More specifically, the lyrics in said music. I have a post coming up on this so I won't elaborate. Stay tuned for Wednesday though! It's gonna be a wild ride! *snarf*

2. Playing the "What If...?" game. This game basically goes like this.

Me: sitting at stoplight on the way to work. Creative Self, what would happen if time stopped right here, right now?

Creative Self: You wouldn't get paid. You don't go to work, you don't get paid.

Me: Forget about money. What if... Jon couldn't get to Annie in time? What if she became a ghost? What if Jesse kissed Rosemary? What if Gabby fell off that wall? How would she survive? What if Adam really is a traitor? What if DL died? What would that do to Bristol? Could she even survive that? Could Landon? What if... What if... What if... ???

I love this game. You should totally try it. Maybe not at the stoplight, but sometime. It can be played alone or in groups of up to five.

3. Take a shower, fold the laundry, push your kid on the swing. I get random ideas and spurts of insight into current stories doing mundane things. In fact, when I'm feeling particularly "blocked" I love turning the shower on as hot as possible and just standing there for a while. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but I have received flashes of so-called brilliance whilst showering. Try to get that image out of your head. *ROTFL* Or better yet, use the word "whilst" in a blog post in the near future.

Which leads me to 4. Words. That's right, all you writers of words. I use words to inspire me. I keep notebooks of words I like. Things like "whilst" and "pontificate" and "gem" and "inked" and "prowled" and a whole host of others. Sometimes just being able to see those fun and unique words will help me write a sentence that uses words in exactly the way I want. And that makes writing fun. And if it's not fun, it's hard to do.

So that's it for me. I don't dream. I don't have a magical wand (which would be totally kewl). I don't have a sweet formula.

So inspiration...

Where do you get yours?

Things I Can't Live Without

My blog holiday post last week got me thinking about real things I can't live without. It didn't help that that very morning, I was aroused from a deep sleep when I heard my garage door open. See, I thought my husband had been in the shower, the water was running. I love that white noise while I sleep. But I digress.

The shower was off. The garage door had opened. My heart felt like lead. I didn't even have to get up to know what was going on.

The hot water heater had gone out. Again. That's right, peeps. AGAIN. Just fourteen months ago, I gave up a right kidney to keep my tiny townhome supplied with hot water. Seriously. With what a plumber costs, that's about what it took.

So here I was again. I didn't shower. Went to work. Was on the phone when my first class (of 6th graders) came in. When I hung up, I told them I was having a life moment and that this was my "unshowered" look.

They all stared. They had that look in their eyes like they weren't sure if I was kidding or not. Then one of them said, "Mrs. Johnson, it looks the same as your showered look."

*major snarfage*

So anyway, now I've been thinking about things I can't live without. And you guessed it. Hot water is way up there. Here's my top five, in no particular order.

1. Reality TV
2. Music
3. Hot water
4. Dove dark
5. My kiddos

Hmm...writing didn't make the list, but it would probably be in the top ten. What's your top five? Lay it on me baby. I showered today. In super-hot, scalding water. And no, I still have a functioning kidney. Barely.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger...Oh Yeah

Okay, so I listen to music a lot. My newest song is sweeter than anything. I first saw this video on Jessica Verday’s blog. It was made of awesome. I liked it. Moved on with my life. Then I watching TV (what else?) and heard a little snippet of it.

Enter my dumb self.

I gushed to my DH about this cool video I’d seen on a friend’s blog, and oh, my heck, you have to see it. So I find the post on Jess’s blog and show him. He’s, um, not impressed. Can’t even make it through the song.

Dumb self exits, hanging head.

I should have known. My husband does not get the things I do. It’s a sheer miracle we got married and have remained hitched for so long. My sense of humor is totally different. Oh well. Maybe that what makes it work.

Anyway, so I figured out the name of the song and downloaded it. Some of you may recall my new love for techno. Yeah, this is it.

Not only that, since the FAIL of my first novel, this song has become my motivation. Just listen to the words.

Work it
Make it
Do it
Makes us

Harder
Better
Faster
Stronger

More than
Hour Our Never
Ever, After
Work is Over

Work it
Make it
Do it
Makes us

Harder
Better
Faster
Stronger

Work it Harder
Make it Better
Do it Faster
Makes us Stronger

More than Ever
Hour after our
Work is never over

That part in yellow is what's been inspiring me lately. In all areas of my life. So, see? Good things can come from listening to techno music. Pshaw. Can someone please tell my DH that? Thx.

And because you've got to see the Daft Hands...

Contest - What's the Next Line?

Okay, peeps. I've enjoyed doing little contests here on the blog. This month's is all about the tunes you listen to.

Rules:
1. For the five songs below, you must provide the line immediately following the snippet I have posted. Title and artist is not necessary, but may get you bonus points. (No, it really doesn't.)

2. Submit your answers in a comment on THIS POST.

3. I will hide all comments until the contest ends. Gotta be fair. Once comments become live, qualifying comments will be randomly assigned a number. The winning number will be announced sometime Friday night.

4. The contest runs from now until Friday, February 20 at 12 Noon. Winner gets...


So here are the songs. These are some of my faves, not that that matters, just yanno, random fact. Oooh! Maybe I'll have a random fact contest next month! *How well do you know ElanaJ?* Hmm...

Song 1:
"I'm more than a bird, more than a plane,
More than some pretty face beside a train."
...

Song 2:
So why does your pride make you run and hide
Are you that afraid of me?
....

Song 3:
He took me to the future in the flux thing
And I saw everything
...

Song 4:
You can change your life (If you wanna)
You can change your clothes (If you wanna)
...

Song 5:
I know that they say
That some things are better left unsaid
...


Now, I'm going to take a leaf from my friend Leah's book and combine them all into a music montage/meme thing. You can check out the inspiration here. Mine's not the first line, but still.

I'm more than a bird, more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside the train
So why does your pride make you run and hide
Are you that afraid of me?

He took me to the future in the flux thing
And I saw everything

You can change your life (If you wanna)
You can change your clothes (If you wanna)
I know that they say
That some things are better left unsaid


Well, that didn't really work out. Anyway, you need to type up the next line of each of the five songs above (hey! you can make your own poem!) and post it in a comment.

Good luck!

General Randomness

Let's get the serious stuff out there first. The most spectabulous post of the week: Michelle McLean blogs on research. Check it out.

Slightly less serious: I wrote a series on Writing the Query Letter on the QT blog. Check it out if you're getting ready to query. It's starts with a hook...

Way down on the serious scale: It occurred to me that I cycle through things on a fairly regular basis. The most noticeable of this trend is the music I listen to. Often, there is one song I want to set on repeat, all others disregarded. This month's song? I know I have you on the edge of your seats. I'm gonna go all Bob Barker on you and make you wait. I first heard this song on Pandora, which I swore to my principal would change her life. I'm not sure if she actually went to the music site and listened, but if she did, trust me, her life was changed. Yours could be, too. Anyway, I was writing or surfing or editing or something and had the headies on. This song came on. You guessed it. iTunes earned 99 cents in less than five seconds. I loved it. It's my "happy song" now. I listen to it--really loud--because it makes me happy. Love it.

So what song is it? Here (In Your Arms) by Hellogoodbye. It's my song of the month. I have others I could name from past months, but I won't. Whenever Here gets recycled to the bottom of the playlist, I'll let you know what replaces it. I'm sure you'll be anxiously awaiting that day. *snarfalicious, baby*

Excited about ELITE

Status of my Life: I love my day off. After the house is cleaned, and my daughter is in bed, I get to write! It's a beautiful thing.


I've been getting a lot of feedback on my novel, ELITE. I must admit that I haven't changed a single thing--yet. I've been so busy editing and querying on SHADOWS that I haven't had time. But today, I'm going to devote a couple of hours to combing through the critiques and editing ELITE. Then I'm going to read a dear friend's manuscript and then I'm going to write some more of PLACEHOLDERS. I think I can do all that and still get dinner on the table.

What time is it? Only noon. No problem! Did I mention I loved my day off? Yes? Well, okay. Oh, and I'm getting my muse on by listening to David Archuleta's new song "Crush." Total YA romance song...thanks DA!

Reading: Just went to the library and got STORM FRONT by Jim Butcher, so I'm going to start that today or tomorrow.

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27996 / 60000 words. 41% done!