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KOBO AMAZON NOOK IBOOKS MAILING LIST
While I wrote this week — and it was a busy week of writing, my Music to Write By YouTube playlist, which includes the song below, got a good work out. Besides music to keep me company while writing, I also had a couple of author friends who joined me via the internet during writing time.
Every evening this week, I met up with my friends, Rose Fairbanks and Zoe Burton, for an hour of uninterrupted/undistracted writing time. Well, it was supposed to be uninterrupted and undistracted, but there are kids that wander through my corner of the living room and there is also the occasional “Oh, I need to know that” quick search that easily pulls one off onto some interesting tangents. However, despite these little diversions, I did accomplish what I wished to and a bit extra. Part of the reason for that is the fact that I didn’t stop writing at that hour limit unless I had completed a scene or had met my thousand-word minimum for that day.
But as you know, writing is not all that is on my schedule. I also have a scheduled editing slot in the evenings with specific daily minimums of work that have to be accomplished there, too. 🙂
(A little side note: I am finding that I am rather driven by goals — I don’t like to miss those minimums at all. My husband would likely make some comment about my stubbornness here. 🙂 Also knowing I am going to write a post about what I did or didn’t do in a week is motivational. So keep reading these Monday posts, and you should get books/stories on a regular basis since I don’t want to have nothing to share. 😉 )
So, here are the particulars of what I accomplished:
So, since my new work schedule seems to be work quite well, I have a new problem for which to find a solution. Completing Caroline’s story will cross off all the stories on my “Write Me” list. One of the things that I am considering putting on that list is an Austenesque story. Back in January, I mentioned that I wanted to try one, so I think I am going to give one, based in part on Mansfield Park, a shot…maybe…. 🙂 There are also those fairytales I had wished to attempt as well as a set of three stories (find them here if you wish, beginning with A Change of Heart) that I would like to develop into a Dash of Darcy story, and I have an idea floating around for a companion story to that one. I just need to decide where to begin and write out that list, it seems.
Now, for a short clip of something I wrote this week. This is from With the Colonel’s Help and comes from the section of the story that is starting to wrap up the issues (the denouement), so, although I have tried to excerpt it without too many spoilers, it is, in of itself, a spoiler — read at your own risk. 🙂
EXCERPT FROM With the Colonel’s Help: Continue reading Music Monday: Fields of Gold, 2Cellos
Today, along with writing news and a writing excerpt, I thought I would share this fan video that YouTube was so kind as to suggest that I needed to view. 🙂 I think it is very well done —
— and I enjoyed the song, so I added this video to my Music Meets Movies playlist. I’m up to 72 videos on that list now. It’s a great place to take a short break between writing projects. And this was a week full of projects. Let me list a few of them for you.
So, as you can see, this was a busy week of varied activities, which meant lots of opportunities to watch Music Meets Movies videos as I transitioned from one activity to another. 🙂
Now, to chose a bit of the writing that I did this last week. While I managed to add around four thousand words to With the Colonel’s Help, I think I will give you a peek at those first 700+ words from the rough draft of the story about Caroline, which has no title as of yet. Be prepared for a surprising Mr. Hurst in this scene.
EXCERPT FROM Caroline’s Tale: Continue reading Music Monday: Enchanted ~ Period Drama Montage
Today, along with some writing news and a short story excerpt, I have the same song two times for you. The first video is an instrumental cover of Passenger’s “Let Her Go” by Break of Reality. This video is on my writing playlist (no lyrics means it can play while I write).
The second video (below) is a lyrics video that someone created. I thought I would share that one for those who might be curious as to what the words to the song are. It’s not a happy song, but I have not been writing happy stuff this week (see excerpt), so it fits.
So what have I been doing this week in my writing life?
And now for…
A SHORT EXCERPT FROM With The Colonel’s Help: Continue reading Music Monday: Let Her Go, Passenger/Break of Reality
Research and writing go hand in hand. You read something that sparks an idea, and a story is born. Or, you begin to write something and find you need to go in search of some details. In the process, you can get lost for hours on interesting tangents, or you can stumble across exactly what you need in a relatively short amount of time. Below is a song I stumbled across when I found I needed some details for my story on Friday evening.
I was working on With the Colonel’s Help. In it, Darcy has loaned Elizabeth a book of poems written by William Wordsworth. As my characters were settling in to ride to London, I decided it might be nice to have Darcy read to Elizabeth. But what was he going to read?
Thankfully, there are search engines to help with such issues. I typed in my search phrase, pressed enter and ta-da! lots and lots of poems by Wordsworth. So, I picked “The Solitary Reaper”, read it, and liked it well enough to allow it to be what Darcy would read to Elizabeth.
But then Darcy had to ask what song the young lady in the poem might have been singing.
Oy! These characters! 🙂
So, it was off to do another search.
A random click of a mouse on a song title, “My Heart’s in the Highlands”, in a list of traditional Scottish songs brought me this bit of information:
Written by Burns in 1789 to a traditional Gaelic tune. Burns was a Lowland Scot from Ayrshire, but he toured in the Highlands for a month in 1787.
Ah, Robert Burns! Perfect.
Colonel Fitzwilliam, however, wished to sing the song. Which brought me to another question: what does the song sound like when sung?
That required a trip to YouTube.
In the list of results, I noticed this one by The Barra McNeils. I knew that name and was familiar with their Celtic style of music. (They’re from Cape Breton.) So, I clicked play.
As you will see in the excerpt I have included below, the song goes well with the Wordsworth poem, and I have Colonel Fitzwilliam beginning to sing before asking Elizabeth to continue — so while you listen to the recording above, imagine the colonel starting the song with the chorus, and then Elizabeth picking it up on the verse and being joined by the others on the choruses.
I am including the words to the Robert Burns poem below so you can see the words that are being sung, and below that you will find the excerpt from this week’s writing session.
Chorus:
My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe –
My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go!
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of worth!
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
Chorus
Farewell to the mountains, high-cover’d with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green vallies below.
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods!
Chorus
EXCERPT FROM With The Colonel’s Help: Continue reading Music Monday: My Heart’s in the Highlands, The Barra McNeils