It takes over your life...

I am a horrible blogger. It’s been three weeks since I was last on here. I realize that in all likelihood, none of you have noticed. After all, it’s not like I was that steady before.  But, this break has been a result of a few things. Well, one thing in particular, really.

School.

Yeah, everyone uses that excuse, but honestly, it’s a good one.

So, two weeks ago, I spent nearly seventeen hours travelling out here to Idaho. Two planes and a bus with plenty of layover time in between, and absolutely no writing was done. I had intended to blog about the difficulties of writing while travelling, but I think the fact that I ended up not doing it says more than I could have in a blog.

Since then, I’ve been doing school. I have seventeen credits this semester and tons of homework already. Why does it feel like finals have decided to come at the beginning of the semester? My theory is that I just haven’t organized enough to get it done in a reasonable amount of time, but we’ll see.

One of my classes is a YA lit class. It’s mostly a reading class; I have to read 25 YA books by the end of the semester. Cool, isn’t it? It’d be awesome if I had time to read them. I have other work too. Like Biology.

Don’t get me wrong; I love biology. That’s why it’s my minor. It’s just labor intensive.

So, tonight, I’m taking a break from homework (yay for Friday) and doing some fun writing. Writing while in school, especially with all the reading I’m going to be doing, is going to be hard. Last semester, I was thinking I’d be done with my book sometime early this semester.

Now I’m not sure I’ll even get to do it this semester.

I’ll try, of course. But realistically, my personal writing comes after my homework responsibilities. Sometimes I hate being responsible. But, I hate the consequences of not being responsible even more.

However, there may be some opportunities to really work on my writing; there is a Creative Writer’s retreat that I’m going to apply for—if I get an entry in time. I have until May 13, and I’m going to try. It’s only 5-10 double spaced pages, but I want it to be good work. There is also a contest for a publication called Irreantum, which is a Mormon publication. That one has to be about 8500 words, by May 31. Even if I don’t get in to either of these things, it’s good to be getting into the world of having others look at my writing. If I can’t let someone look at short stories, why would I ever let them look at a novel? It’s good practice, at the very least.

Well, here’s hoping school allows me some time to write. After all, I may be a Student now, but always, I am a Writer.

Plotting Music

I suppose I should apologize for not posting last week, but I was busy, so I’m not really apologizing. The semester is over now (with a new one right around the corner), so hopefully I can get back on track.

“Plotting Music, he thought. I need plotting music.” ~Artemis Fowl II, Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox.

Have you ever been listening to a song and had an amazing story idea—or idea for a scene—pop into your head? It’s not an uncommon occurrence; I see characters in music all the time. Music affects our creativity. Certain songs can just get us really in to our writing, other songs can distract us from it.

For me personally, I can’t write to music that is too slow, nor can it be too fast or involved. Whatever forces itself to the front of my brain gets my attention, and if the music takes too much thought to listen to, I can’t use it while I’m writing. For this reason, I have a playlist entitled “Plotting Music” in my iTunes. What does in there is music that I know for sure I can write while listening to it, but it’s dynamic enough to stimulate my writing. Certain songs, I may play over and over again while writing a scene because it seems to fit so well. The playlist is a nice thing to have because I don’t have to constantly skip the songs that don’t fit my mood.

Sometimes the songs that inspire me most aren’t in my Plotting Music. I hear a song and think of a character because the song exemplifies that character or the way they’re feeling. I see music videos in my head with the character doing different things, and I come to know that character better. I can’t necessarily write with that music but the thought follows me to my writing.

One example of this is (of all things) a Taylor Swift song. I like listening to her music occasionally, but it gets rather repetitive (I mean; we all know how she writes her songs). This song, however, was one of her different ones. “Change” reminds me of two of my main characters in the novel I’m working on now. I imagine the two of them singing it to each other, each trying to bolster the spirits of the other. The song comes to mind whenever one has to support the other—which happens pretty frequently—but I don’t usually write to it. It’s distracting to have Taylor Swift singing at you when you’re trying to be creative.

(Okay…that was probably a little mean. But honestly, most of her songs are pretty much the same. I might like her better if she branched out a little.)

I like writing to music, but often as not, I write in silence. I just don’t think about turning on the music, especially if there is someone else in the room. I can’t say I find much of a difference between the writing with music and the writing without it, so it doesn’t affect the way I write (which is a good thing). But it does help when the words are slow about coming. Find the right song, and the writing can just flow. Writers need inspiration, and the right music can provide that. I am a Writer.