The Summer of Inspiration

Mangled Manuscript Monday

It is hot. And worse, it is dry. Bugs, dust, and lots of sweating.

It is also reunions, cookouts, camping. Long evenings, early mornings.

In the sweet days of watermelon and the sound of locust buzzing, writing can’t stop. The season draws my attention as well as our house renovations. Regarding the remodeling, we are in a down period; ie the contractor wandered off to do another house while waiting for shipment of my cabinets.

 *he could be tiling my kitchen floor but nooooo, he’s gotta go side another house, grrrrrrrrr*

Okay, I’m back.

Inspiration strikes at the oddest times. During casual conversation with a friend, watching a documentary about wild horses, reading Publishers Marketplace.

Sometimes my fellow writers at Unicorn Bell give me that moment: 

“Light bulb,” - Gru, Despicable Me

Thanks Marcy. Last February, your blog jiggled something loose in my brain.

Does your writing routine change in the summer? What inspired your wip?

Treadmill Worthy

Songs Sunday

This week, I am into the exercise tunes. The kind that get and keep me moving.

Adam Lambert is my flavor of the week with his newest album Trespassing.

The title song has a rich beat with his typical harmonics. And clapping. I don’t what there is about music with rhythmic clapping but it pulls me in like a drug.

Even folks like me who didn’t follow Mr. Lambert’s American Idol saga have heard of him. His rendition of Mad World is absolutely chilling. I could listen to it every day.

And eye candy. *swoon* He is cute as a bug. Too bad he bats for the other team. I can still look though. *BG*

Ain't that the truth.

Coup de Grâce

Mangled Manuscript Monday

When I was in high school, a friend of mine liked to dress up like Dracula. He’d stand on his front lawn, wait until a car passed, then strike a pose, raising his fist to the sky.

One time, just as a car slowed to witness the spectacle a lightning bolt struck a nearby tree. The driver raced away. Probably because of the psycho on the lawn rather than the supernatural fireworks.

One of the Dracula-wannabe’s favorite word combinations was ‘coup de grâce’. He pronounced it ‘coop de gracee’ but that only added to the favor of the moment.

Coup de grâce means to end suffering by administering a final blow. Or an execution. To kill a wounded enemy or animal.

When I start out writing a new story, I don’t think about killing off a character. It just seems to happen. Like it is either an accident or a conclusion that I didn’t foresee. Oddly, even though these are only voices in my head, still I can get a little misty eyed when they die.

Very odd. Not as odd as a seventeen-year-old man dressing up like a vampire but strange nonetheless.

How do you kill off your characters? Is it premeditated or do they ask for it? And are you saddened by their death?

Death of a Genre

Mangled Manuscript Monday

I got the sad news today. My favorite genre, urban fantasy is dead.

How can this be? I read and write nothing else. I didn’t even know it was ailing.

But there it is for all to see. Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary says editors and agents have reached the saturation point of UF submissions. She recommends epic fantasy as next big-time seller.

Well yeah. If only I had one tucked away in my Word docs I’d submit it…hm, there is the 5000 word Epic that I started three years ago. It was background noise for the URBAN FANTASY I WROTE.

*shakes self* Pardon. I got lost in the rejection heap of ‘what ifs’.

By the time I finish the Epic, maybe Urban will come back to life.

Or then again, maybe I’ll change the genre to ‘Speculative Fiction’ and call it new.

Hm.

The Music of My Youth

Songs Sunday

Whether it’s stepping on the treadmill or re-finishing a wood table, the right kind of music gets me going.

Nickelback is good for those times. Adam Lambert, Finger Eleven, and Shinedown are fine choices also.

For writing, ES Posthumus or the soundtrack from Harry Potter.

But today I am talking retro, the music from my youth.

Beach Boys.

This fabulous band has a new (Yes. I. Said. NEW) album out called That’s Why God Made the Radio.

The soft sounds and interwoven melodies that Brian Wilson and Mike Love put together in this album remind me of why they owned the sixties.

Now, fifty years later, they rule the radio waves again. Or, in this case, my mp3.

Maybe you didn’t listen to Surfer Girl on the loudspeakers at the swimming pool. Or hear Good Vibrations for the first time on a transistor radio.

But if intricate melodies and smooth voices that flow like warm honey are what you love, check out the Beach Boys.