Sunday, May 13, 2012

SAY WHAT??

ROW80 confession time, folks.  It turns out that my editing eyes were bigger than my editing stomach.  In other words, I'm not as far along as I want to be.  In actuality I'm 47 out of 216 pages finished with editing Aeris.  


Yeah, I know.  Ultimate writer FAIL, right?  But it takes sooooo long!  I can't help it.  At this rate, much to my dismay, I think it's going to take about a month to finish these edits.  *sigh* Which pushes back my May release of Aeris to end of June.  That is the bad news.  The good news is, I CARE about how this book ends up.  The good news is, rather than do a slap-dash, half-assed effort and speed through my edits, I'm looking at the overall picture, the chapter-by-chapter picture, and the sentence-by-sentence picture.  My personal vow, and my commitment to my readers is that I'm going to put out the best possible product that I can, starting with my edits.  Thankfully, my proofreader is a very patient woman! So, Onward!  Remember, my Word Of The Year is DETERMINATION.

And now, to take my mind off of my troubles, I'm going to talk about what I've heard most authors discuss at one time or another: Inspiration.  More specifically, musical inspiration.  :)

I've read several different authors' blogs, and everyone has their own thing.  Heck, Vicki Keire posts her ongoing playlist for readers to sample.  (Much appreciated, Vicki!)

I am a Pandora girl by nature.  I have about... 20 different playlists going right now. hahaha  But here is my issue.  I can NOT write if the music has words.  I love music so much that if I hear a song I know, I start singing it and forget about writing. hahaha  So I had to find something else to inspire my writing.

Right now, my writing is pretty much all fantasy, what most would call "high" or "epic" fantasy.  It requires lots of dramatic writing: romantic, lots of action, full of longing.  It takes a special composer to write music that fits my world vision.  But I found one!

Let me introduce you, dear readers, to Bear McCreary, the genius behind the best sci-fi series of all time: Battlestar Galactica (reimagined version). (Side note: never thought I'd say that about any series but Firefly, but BSG is fully awesome!)  This is seriously some of the best music I've ever listened to.  Violins, piano, DRUMS, DRUMS, DRUMS!  Just what the author ordered. I've posted two of my favorites here.  SOOO GOOOD!





My other recent discovery is a guy who is admittedly an amateur composer.  The coolest part of his story is that he reads books and composes inspirational songs to match.  He is passionate about The Hunger Games, and has 3 albums worth of music for each of the 3 books.  His name is Sam Cushion and he is FANTASTIC!  Seriously, I love his compositions.  Here are two of my favorites.



This is why writers write!  To inspire and uplift!  Can you imagine someone loving your books so much that they want to write music dedicated to them?  That is so cool!  Sam Cushion, I salute you and your passion for reading!  You are awesome.

What do you listen to for inspiration?  If nothing, then I suggest you try out my two favorites.  
BTW- Here is a link to Sam Cushion's Website.

PS- That is New Baby putting in a cameo.  Can you believe his expression?  We still have no idea why he made that face.  There was no flash involved in the picture. :)
PPS- Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers!
Happy Reading!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Self-editing actually needs to be a slow process if you want to do it right. I'm actually tackling this exact topic on my blog today: http://emcastellan.com/2012/05/13/row-check-in-5-the-art-of-self-editing-your-novel/ I still think you're doing well. Have a great week!

Deniz Bevan said...

I love musical inspiration - can't believe Pandora's not available in Canada anymore...

Kim Switzer said...

Congratulations on caring enough about your story to take the time you need and do things right. Way to go!

Thanks for the music tips. I've been needing some new stuff to write to. I can write to music with words most of the time, so I don't have any good recommendations for you. Sometimes when I don't feel like having words in my music, I put on a Pandora station I made from Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings soundtracks.

And finally--what a fantastic pic of the baby! What a face! so cute. :)

Nadja Notariani said...

Love new baby's expression! He's adorable, Kate!

I like background music when I write - but I'm with you. Lyrics and writing don't mix for me. It has to be instrumental.

As for the editing - I hear you. But it's better to take your time and be satisfied. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well. You'll get there - and it will be good!

Barbara McDowell said...

Hey, Kate, I don’t find only being at page 47 in edits an “ultimate writer fail.” The fact that you are editing to get the piece finished is a win. You will get it to where you want it to be and then publish. Caring about the work, ending and big picture will be appreciated by the readers.

I love listening to music playlists as well and the songs with words can be distracting if fighting against the ones you are drafting. Haven’t done Pandora, but I need to check it out. Have a great week!

Kate said...

@ em: You're right, of course. But when you've been working on something for over a year and you're sooooooo close to being done... taking as long as a month to work through your edits can feel like a lifetime.

I admit that one of my failings in life is patience. Thankfully, my kids help me work on that. :

Kate said...

@Deniz: WHAT? Why can't you get Pandora in Canada?? Travesty!

@Kim: You're so lucky! I wish I had the talent of working to music with songs. I'd listen to musicals all day long. Love them.

Isn't his expression too funny? :)

Kate said...

@Nadja: Thanks. I'm pretty biased when it comes to my kids (aren't we all?) But his being cute really helps right now when he's not sleeping! hahaha

I hope you find my music inspirational. The first Battlestar one, in particular, is PERFECT for a romance!!

Kate said...

@Barbara: You've never done Pandora? If you love music, it's so GREAT! I highly recommend it. And thanks for the kind words. :)

Deniz Bevan said...

Very frustrating! I'm going to check out some of the other sites, like Spotify...