Happy February.

It's the pink month, guys. Valentine's Day and all of that jazz. It's one of my least favorite months of the year, but I console myself that at least this also happens to be Black History Month. Black History is a very good history to talk about, because there is so much tension and strife that it must be talked about.

(It's really only Valentine's Day that makes this my least favorite month. But in my defense, stores are bursting with hearts and pink and red and candy and those weird little paper valentines that only little kids get to buy with impunity. Walking into Wal-Mart makes me cringe, and this is not a good thing when I barely get out of the house anyways.)

So, instead of writing a very long post today -- it's already 9:30 pm, I've had a ridiculously exhausting school day and homework binge -- here's a nice, relaxing song for your pink-barraged brains. Well, as relaxing as my music gets.

Have a blessed day.

Escala -- Requiem for a Dream

Friday Music

Yes, it's almost the end of November! (I'd add an extra exclamation point there, except I hate exclamation points on principle. So perky and self-satisfied. Only when I am truly meeping about something would I add another, and while the expected relief of December would certainly constitute a perky, self-satisfied feeling, it is not quite as meepful as, say, Doctor Who. Or BBC's Sherlock.)

That was an awfully long parenthetically enclosed aside. But I don't care. Every inch is true. And it's Friday -- I deserve a few long asides. Of course, here in the U.S. it's Black Friday, but I don't go anywhere on this day of the year, so it feels like a normal Friday.

And to demonstrate my normal Friday feeling, there is this song. A perky, almost meepful piano rendition by Michele Mclaughlin called "the Clurichaun".

(See also by Michele Mclaughlin: Across the Burren, the Eternal City, and Carrowkeel.)

Have a blessed Friday.

Music Monday: Meav

Here's an interesting song for you to contemplate:

"One I Love" by Meav.  (Meav has an accent over the e, but I have no clue how to manage that in a blog post.)

This is a rather strange, strong song. I just randomly found it on youtube (I love Meav's version of "Maid in Bedlam" and "Wicked Sister"), and listening to it just gives me this sense of something deep and pure. I bet it's that high soprano voice and those echoey harmonies during the chorus. It's beautiful.

About Meav -- a quick Google search reveals she is both an Irish singer and a lawyer. At one point (2004), she was part of Celtic Woman (who sell millions, even today), but left in 2008 to resume a solo career.

I know I said I would post more personal stuffs on the blog, but technically, this is rather personal -- this song is the latest in my favorite music. (Not as in, it was composed recently; rather, this recently became my favorite song ever.)

So, have a blessed Monday (if there is such a thing)! Hope you enjoy this random sampling of Irish music.

  

Monday Music

Since I'm in the middle of reading my book, instead of having a book review ready for you -- I know, I'm awful at organization -- I decided to recommend a song that fits with the book I'm reading.

(And while I'm at it, hope you had a lovely September! It's the last day of a month, which is significant to me for some reason. Looking forward to October, though.)

I should have a review for you by Wednesday, which is why I'm not telling the title of the book. Suffice to say, it's a fairytale retelling. Not your typical Cinderella retelling, though. A fairytale I know because I'm a reader who loves these sorts of tales, but that I would assume the majority of America doesn't know, because America is obsessed with its own tales.

And so: Across the Burren, a piano piece by Michele McLaughlin. A very pretty piece.

A Song

A song that tells a story, albeit a rather tragic one: "The Wicked Sister" by Meav. It's Celtic, and sort of upbeat despite being about a wicked woman who drowns her younger sister in order to steal her bridegroom.

Have a blessed weekend!

Happy 1st of July!

I know, I know. When I read the title of this post, I thought I had written '4th of July', as well. I'm too American. But we can celebrate the beginning of July, too, right? July is a lovely month -- kind of purple-y, and really hot, and June's afternoon thunderstorms start to head off.

Of course, it signals the beginning of our annual drought here in VA, but it's not really so bad as droughts go -- it barely affects me, actually. And anyways, I generally consider July to be the bulk of summers, because half of June is spent in school and August is when you prepare for next school year. So, really, July is my summer vacation.

Anyways...

In case you couldn't tell, I am REALLY excited today, guys. I finished the second draft of my novel, Wretched Roads. (I almost feel comfortable with sharing my title. Almost.) I feel a lot more comfortable with the plot now, but I'm going to leave it be for the entirety of this month. In the meantime, I'll write the first draft of its sequel. (Because I really want this to be a quartet, even though I haven't done so much as edit it myself, let alone something like peer-reading or querying agents. Not yet at least.)

I'm almost too excited to write. But I'm going to calm myself down with some music. Well, "calm" is relative... I'm listening to Blackmore's Night, which is a medieval-y Renaissance music group. ("Under a Violet Moon" sounds perfect for Halloween, but it's pretty freakin' awesome in July, as well.) Celtic Woman and Blackmore's Night and Heather Dale help me get back into that fantasy mood.

I'm reading Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell -- a verse novel about Native American sisters. Definitely a good read so far. (It's amazing what you find in a library as compared to a bookstore -- this book is from 2005, and I've never really seen it elsewhere, but I picked it randomly off a library shelf and couldn't resist reading. Real lovely novel.)

Now I almost feel like doing my AP Lit summer assignment, but it feels like it's too early in the summer. But I know I should, because it's a lot of work, and a lot of reading, and it probably won't even be nearly so bad as I think. After all, I can choose my own book to answer questions about plot and theme and character and so forth. (I'm thinking Sherlock Holmes or Gulliver's Travels. Or maybe even the Picture of Dorian Gray.)

How about you? How's your summer going? Have a blessed Monday (if such a thing exists)!

It's Monday! Ugh.

So, I've been reading a series, and I don't really have a book review ready for you. :(

It's the 39 Clues, in case you were wondering. I read the first four a long time ago and now I'm picking it back up again, because putting down a series that I actually like is so frustrating. I couldn't find the fifth and sixth several years ago -- or maybe a couple years ago -- and had to put the books down. But now I found 11 of them at the library! Meep!

But the point is, I don't have a book review. Because Mondays are difficult like that. Well, actually the only thing I've done today is go to school for two hours to take an exam in Hon. Spanish 3, and then I came home and took a nap on my couch. But taking naps are hard work! Especially getting up again, and your head gets all woozy because you just took an hour's nap when really, you only meant to rest your eyes for a minute...

I'm not on track right now. I decided that instead, I'll give you a couple songs I've listened to this week:

Teir Abhaile Riu (Celtic Woman)
This, right here, is an epic song. Some of it's in Irish Gaelic, but it's really pretty and kind fast paced. It's about going to Galway (a city in Ireland) and dancing with sailors.
[Note: Irish sounds really cool even when you don't know what they're saying. Or maybe especially; depending on the setting and context.]

Mama's Broken Heart (Miranda Lambert)
This is a tough-girl song, a country song. It's defiant and snarky. It's about going through a break-up and when your Mama tells you to pull yourself together, even while you're falling apart. (Not that I would know anything about break-ups. But songs like these are good substitutes for missing experience.)

How about you? Got any music you listen to? I'd love to hear it! Have a blessed Monday (if there is any such thing!)

Follow Friday #42

[Guess what?! My birthday was earlier this week! I'm seventeen, now! AND, my blog's anniversary passed. My blog is a year old. *fake tears* So, I am mildly happy, despite the ton of review stuffs and the AP exams in two weeks.]

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee!

Q: Is there a song that reminds you of a book? Or vice versa? What is the song and the book?

YES. Absolutely. In case you didn't notice the title of my blog. (I am a musical-linguistic sort of person. I can't help it.)

Here is a list of songs (their artists in parenthesis) and a book to pair with them. Feel free to look these songs up on youtube. Cuz, you know, these songs are cool to me, and I hope you find them cool, too.


New Tail/Short Hair (How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack/Mulan soundtrack) -- Eon by Alison Goodman.*

Any song by Owl City -- The Complete works of Narnia, by (of course) C. S. Lewis.

Kingdom Come (the Civil Wars) -- Foundling by D.M. Cornish.

Any song by Heather Dale -- The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale.

Beauty from Pain (Superchick), Beautiful Tonight (Krystal Meyers) --  Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas,

There She Goes (Sixpence None the Richer) -- Scars by Cheryl Rainfield.

According to Plan (The Corpse Bride soundtrack), Demons (Imagine Dragons), Carol of the Bells (Trans-Siberian Orchestra), Awake and Alive/Rebirthing (Skillet) -- Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.**


That is not nearly all of it. The title of my blog is the Inky Melody, after all. This is a small sample, because the full list would stretch around the world a couple times. (Not really; it's digital fluff, you understand -- hard to stretch a youtube video and all that.) And this isn't even including the playlist for my own novel, which I still cling to the hope of publishing some day.

Anyways, look up songs and love music and try new stuffs. And whatnot. How about you? Any special music-book connection? Have a blessed Friday and weekend!

*Yea, How to Train Your Dragon is Viking-medieval-y, not really Chinese-ish like Eon. But I still think it fits. Oh, and I purposely didn't include Eona, the second book, because I didn't like it so much as the first.

**Shush up about my Artemis Fowl obsession. Parts of those songs remind me of the book, and to different characters (though mainly, of course, Artemis Fowl himself). Not like, the whole song. Because that is a pretty hefty list of songs, and not even all of them. And in case you were wondering, it's the confident, suave, epic (and sometimes classical-music) parts of the songs that remind me of that series.

A Quick Update and Apology

Hello! I apologize for my brief, unintended hiatus. It's been schoolwork, headaches, and 2 or 3 Law and Order: SVU marathons.

So, it's Wednesday...

Update on my life: meh. We have spring break the first week of April, so the teachers are ramming information down our throats, especially in the AP classes. Exams are in May, so they all plan on spending the month of April reviewing for it. Which means, they have to get through teaching everything they have to teach before spring break.

Anyways. Enough of schoolwork! Here's a list of songs I love and decided to share with you. Listen, love or hate.

Upbeat:
Owl City -- Shooting Star
Krystal Meyers -- Make Some Noise

Sad:
The Corpse Bride (yes, the movie!) -- Tears to Shed
Britt Nicole -- When She Cries

Heavy:
Linkin Park -- New Divide
Skillet -- Monster

Have a blessed Wednesday and Thursday! Keep Calm and listen to music!

Music and Myself

Happy last day of the month! The ending of a February, the beginning of a March. It's been a rough February, I'm not gonna lie: and March will probably be worse. But Spring Break is the first week of April! Yay!

Anyways, I don't have much to post about. I'm rewriting my rough draft again. I really need to work on my pacing and detailing; my last draft's topped at 50k words. I feel like my character hates me for this, but I'm also reworking the plot. Again.

I hate that I have an entire world and an entire person, and I cannot seem to write her story because I have no actual plot. Every plot I contrive feels, unsurprisingly, contrived.

But I didn't write this to rant about writing. (Ooh, I love alliteration. =D) I can't really remember why I sat down to write this post, either, so I thought I'd post you some music suggestions, songs I listen to for a certain mood. Like a lot of writers, I like music on while I'm working. Look them up on youtube, if you have a chance. They are generally free of swear words and have deeper meanings than parties! (And I'm not so good with music genres, and I focus more on songs, so it really would do best to actually listen to the songs.)

Heavy
Welcome to the Masquerade -- Thousand Foot Krutch
Frontline -- Pillar

Sad
The Good Left Undone -- Rise Against
Iris -- Goo Goo Dolls

Chill
I Dare You To Move -- Switchfoot
It Ends Tonight -- All American Rejects

Upbeat
Boomin' -- Toby Mac
Live It Up -- Group 1 Crew

Odd/Creepy/Crazy/I don't really know what to call this one....
Mordred's Lullaby -- Heather Dale
Better Dig Two -- The Band Perry

Inspirational
Even If It Breaks Your Heart -- Eli Young Band
The Lost Get Found -- Britt Nicole

Wow, I did not realize how much music I listen to. This is the briefest sample of my favorite music; I had to delete two from each section so you wouldn't get freaked out by the length of this blog post. It was kind of cool to go back through my notebook of songs and write some down for you -- I should do this more often. My blog is the Inky Melody, after all.

Anyways, I hope you listen to some of these songs, if you don't know them already. And if you do know them, congratulations! You can listen to them more. If you don't end up liking these songs, that's alright, too.

Have a blessed Thursday! =D

Weekend Melodies #4: Snowflake

Weekend Melodies is a weekly feature here at Inky Melody, in which I choose a random word and a song that relates to it. You are welcome to join in with your own song in the comment section!

This week's word is: Snowflake. Yes, I know it's Spetember, but it's never too early for Christmas.

[And by the way, I have 100 followers! *Meep!* Thank y'all so much. :D]

[How It Connects]

The Carol of the Bells is a Christmas song, and is one of my favorites. This version isn't the original - it has other Christmas songs mixed into it - but it is still fast-paced and awesome. And, of course Christmas = winter = snow. Snowflake. Yea.

[My Favorite Line]

This version doesn't have any lyrics. Hah. Of the original song, though:
Cristmas is here
Bringing good cheer
To young and old
Meek and the bold...

Have a blessed weekend! What song do you think of?

Weekend Melodies #3: Restless

Weekend Melodies is a weekly feature here at Inky Melody, in which I choose a random word and a song that relates to it. You are welcome to join in with your own song in the comment section!

This week's word is: Restless

[How This Connects]

This one is pretty obvious. Belle wants adventure, more than her normal life. She's restless in this tiny French village. In case you didn't know, I love Disney movies: Mulan, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King... Beauty and the Beast is my fourth or fifth favorite.

[My Favorite Line]

With a dreamy, far-off look
And her nose stuck in a book...

(Doesn't that describe me so well? Haha.)

Have a lovely, blessed weekend!

Weekend Melodies #2: Accusation

Happy first day of September! Don't you just love the uncertain feeling in the air, as if nature is wavering between the end of summer and the beginning of fall?

Weekend Melodies is a weekly feature here at my blog, started because of a love of words and music. Over the weekend (depending on how busy I am on Saturday), I share a random word and a song that connects to this word in some way. Anyone can comment on this post with a link to the song they thought of.

This week's word is: Accusation.

(I created a list of words a few weeks ago as a writing prompt, and I'm pretty much following that. It's not that I actually feel like making accusations. :D)

[How does this connect?] This song is sort of an accusation against a king. It asks this king, "what will people think of you when you're gone? I know they'll think of me as a hero." Heather Dale has such a beautiful voice and sings these rather fabulous songs about medieval times. This one stands out to me as speaking up against someone in power and accusing them of what they're doing wrong. [My favorite Line] I know what they'll remember in the words of every song What will they say about you... when I'm gone? What song do you think of? I love feedback!

Weekend Melodies #1: First

I've decided to do a weekend feature here called Weekend Melodies. As the name implies, I'll post my favorite song or a song relative to a book I'm reading on a Saturday or Sunday, and include a line or two of my favorite song. The song has to include or relate to the one (random) word I choose. I may or may not explain my connection between the chosen word and the song if the connection is obscure enough.

Since this is the first post, the word is: first.

(Have you ever noticed just how wierd that word looks? First. It even sounds funny. I love funny sounding words. *Happy sigh*)

(In other news, Rose's Competition has officially ended! I rearranged some of the thingies around my blog. Also, I go back to school in a little over a week, on the 4th. Wish me luck on that. My computer's acting up, so the spacing on this post is a little off... I think this is enough "other news". On to the song!)

[How Does This Connect?]    -------    I love this song so much. To me, it describes a moment of perfect happiness, of sincerity, for the first time in a long time.    ------- [My Favorite Line] -------
        This innocence is brilliant, I hope that it will stay.  
-------
I do not mind if y'all join me in this feature. Post a song in the comments or on your own blog (with a link to it in the comments, so we can see) with or related to the word of the weekend! I love to hear new songs.   

Have a blessed weekend! :)

FF#3 and Friday Favorites

Wow, it's been a whole week since I posted. I got caught up in doing nothing. :)

FF is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee and, well, you know the rules. Answer the question, follow people, link them back to this post so they can follow you, etc.

Today's Question:

Q: If you could "unread" a book, which one would it be? Is it because you want to start over and experience it again for the first time? Or because it was THAT bad?

My answer... This is a tough one. I might say the Warriors saga by Erin Hunter. I loved that series, but I haven't read it in a long time, and I want to know whether or not I'd love it the first time around if the first aound was now. I mean, I first read it back in the 4th grade, and then again (and again) throughout middle school. But now, after I just finished my sophomore year, and I've read a great number of "higher-level" reading material? Would I still feel the magic, now that I look for the grammatical errors, the plot holes, etc.?
As for one I'd "unread" due to its horrible-ness, I would say... erh.... well, probably Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Not because of anything the author did intentionally, mind you, I just found the end devastating. I won't spoil it for those who've never read (or heard) of it, but it was just mindblowing in a not-so-great way for me. For those who have read it, you might understand what I mean with the whole Game thing. I don't know, I guess sci-fi isn't my favorite genre of all time.

What about you? Leave a comment with your link! Don't forget to follow! <3

As for my favorites? Here are some music videos and quotes:

Quotes:

"That might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most."
~Up (the Disney movie)

"If everyone is yelling, no one can be heard."
~Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

"Remember the small things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."
~Robert Brault

"What a sad era when it is easier to smash an atom than a prejudice."
~Albert Einstein

It's been a busy week full of reading and daydreaming and sleeping. Sorry I haven't posted all week - I've been too lazy to do much, because I've been reveling in my first week of summer vacation. :)

Have a blessed Friday and keep writing!

Monday Musings: Soundtracks

 

I know I'm not the only one who sang this song in their head. ^.^

I missed the 100th FF meme... :'( It's been a hectic weekend, and I just plain forgot. But now, it's the last week of school (I only have to go one more day, on Wednesday, for two exams). I can relax a little. (By the way, the two pictures - well, picture and gif - come from tumblr. Just to let you know.)

Today is a short post. It's about soundtracks, if you couldn't tell.

Some people listen to music while they write. Or they're inspired by a song, and madly scrawl the idea down before tackling the first draft. Some pick songs as that whole "THAT-FITS-PERFECTLY-WITH-THE-STORY-I'M-WRITING". My brain's a little scattered right now, so my wording needs refinement, but you get the basic drift.

As for me, I don't always listen to music while I write. I find it distracting, especially when my favorite song is on and I'm listening to pandora. Pandora also raises the problem of flipping through your stations to try and find a distracting good song. So instead, I settle listening and writing seperately. But I find a lot of inspiration through the songs when I do listen. The emotion and the sound in the songs, and the lyrical poetry... sometimes, it helps me find motivation to write. When I want to tear the proverbial paper to shreds (as my work is on my computer), then I listen to music, and I can feel the words in my heart again.

As for a song that fits my novel, I don't know. It's more of a segment of this song, some lyrics from that song... it's a crazy patchwork quilt, except my quilt is covered in patches that are so different in size, shape, and color that I don't know how I keep it all together. That's the bare truth.

What about you? Do you listen while you write? Have you a perfect song that fits your novel?

 

I think that was "Fifteen" but I can't remember...