Inspiration for Your Day!

I love upbeat songs, don't you? Especially after a long weekend. There is really no other way to start up your work week on a good note ...no pun intended. :p

Inspiration for your Day

So I found this song for the first time yesterday and I just knew I had to post it. Its country but I love it anyway. And as for the video...more to come on that after you watch it.



I know I don't typically mention poety, but today I knew I just had to. I'll give bonue points to the person who can tell me the name of the poem simply from the painting above!
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Any Guesses?

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That's right!
It'sThe Lady of Shalott by Lord Alfred Tennyson (Okay I know they told you in the video but still) This is by far one of my all time favorite poems. Its just so damn sad and beautiful and everything great poetry should be. :)

Hope you all enjoy it!

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On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Through the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four grey walls, and four grey towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.

By the margin, willow veil'd,
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers, reaping early,
In among the bearded barley
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly;
Down to tower'd Camelot;
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers, " 'Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott."

There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.

And moving through a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot;
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls
Pass onward from Shalott.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad
Goes by to tower'd Camelot;
And sometimes through the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two.
She hath no loyal Knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.

But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often through the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, went to Camelot;
Or when the Moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed.
"I am half sick of shadows," said
The Lady of Shalott.

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armor rung
Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot.
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, burning bright,
Moves over still Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flashed into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra," by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.

In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining.
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And around about the prow she wrote
The Lady of Shalott.

And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance --
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right --
The leaves upon her falling light --
Thro' the noises of the night,
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darkened wholly,
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and Burgher, Lord and Dame,
And around the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.

Who is this? And what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the Knights at Camelot;
But Lancelot mused a little space
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."

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Side note: I hope all of you from The United States have a great Memorial Day Weekend! I know I will. :) Peace out!

Blogger Issues

Grrr....
Sorry Peeps, Blogger is STILL being a pain. For some reason it isn't letting me log-on to respond to your comments. :( Same thing happened yesterday; I was just hoping they would have fixed it by now.

Anyway, THANK YOU!!! in advance for all of you who post comments. As soon as I can I will respond.

Summer Reading

So I'm looking for books to add to my summer reading list. What are you all really excited about getting your hands on in the coming months?

Inspiration

Lately, my kiddos have been heavy into the Harry Potter movies (well the first three - too young for the later ones) and today, we were watching the bonus footage for Chamber of Secrets. There was an interview with JK Rowling and Steve Kloves, the screen writer.

And it hit me just how much she inspires me as a writer. No not because of the whole rags to riches story (that sort of success is a one and a million shot), but because the fact that she was a normal person, a mom, and she became one of the most successful authors in history. It took her 10 years to finally land an agent, and that whole time she never gave up on the story. She kept crafting it, kept perfecting her skills and the story. And that's what inspired me. Her devotion.

What about you guys? Which author inspires you?

Your ExLover is Dead by Stars


Sing by My Chemical Romance (For Japan)

Head, meet Wall

Have you ever head a song that you absolutely love, and then the radio stations get a hold of it and plays it so many times you would rather rip your own eardrums out before you listen to it again? There is nothing, I hate more than that. (well not literally there are plenty of things I hate more than that but you get the drift - big Petpeeve )

Anyway, this morning I made a decision to take a step back from my current work in progress. I've been stuck for a couple months, and I just keep pushing and pushing, trying to break through it but I'm getting nowhere. Hence the title of the post Head, meet Wall (over and over again). Its just time to take a step back and give myself a breather.

That being said, I'm not taking time off from writing I'm merely changing my focus. My plan is to work on outlining a different story I'm been fumbling around with in my head. It is completely different than my current wip. And when I say completely I mean COMPLETELY. I'm hoping the drastic change will help get the juices flowing again.

So my writerly peeps, has this ever happened to you? Have you ever had to make the decision to keep pushing or to take a step back? I only ask because this was a hard decision for me to make. I kind of feel like I'm surrendering and I don't like it. :/

Hello my name is....

When I was a kid I was one of those people who thought it would be cool to name my future children unique and exotic names, something beautifully elegant that no one else had.

Well as luck would have it, I married a man who was rather down to earth so my children were spared the therapy sessions that would have accompanied such names.

That being said, when naming my characters everything was fair game and I love being as ostentatious as possible. Its one of the good things about writing, you don't have to worry about emtionally scaring your characters. Well I suppose you could but they can't blame it on you. :D

So how do you go about naming your characters? Are there any particular things that you look for?

Missy Higgins - Music - More Music Videos

100th Post!

Just because today really feels like one of those days, here is the Inspiration for your day.

Colbie Caillat - Magic

A Balancing Act

Piggybacking on my post from yesterday, I started to think about different writing styles and how writers seem to have their preferences.

More specifically, I find that there are two styles that most writer's align themselves with - visual or emotional. But I also realize that the best authors can blend the two seamlessly.

Personally, the first story that I wrote was all emotion. All. While writing it, somehow I didn't notice that I was severely lacking in the opposite side of the spectrum...but then again it was my first story. This time around I'm trying very hard to keep a good balance between the two.

So my question for you is ...Do you find it hard to keep an even balance in your writing? Or do you find yourself leaning more one way than the other?

Finding Beauty in the Small Things

Have you ever looked out on a rainy spring day to see the beauty hiding in the underlying green landscape, instead of thinking about miserable commute it was going to pose or how it was going to completely ruin your hairdo that you spent an hour on that morning? (just to be clear -no,
i've never spent that long on my hair in my life. )

Have you ever sat in the car, staring at the windshield while the rain drops landed, and saw the lights of the house infront of you reflecting like a million pools of light?

(Can you tell its raining here?)

Anyway, I bring this up because I think that this is one of the most admirable traits we author's have. The ability to find beauty in the small things of life. The things that a lot of people don't bother to give two seconds to rethink or see in a different light. We find the little nueances of this world and bring them into a beautiful exsistence on the page.

Okay I'm done waxing elloquently now. I just wanted to say "we be cool" :)

Show Me Your Mug

Today, I thought it would be fun to have everyone share.

Every coffee/tea drinker I know has a favorite mug - the "go-to cup that even if its in the middle of being washed in the dish washer, you'll dive in and get it out just so you can use it " mug.

This is mine...

Yup that's right...its Winnie The Pooh, Purple, and large enough to hold enough coffee to wake my butt up in the morning.

What more could a girl want?!

So let's see yours, my friends! Show me your Favorite Mugs.

Working with Blinders On

Now I know not all writers think alike or even work alike but I was wondering if anyone else has an itching to wonder while they're working on a story. See I get these ideas for other stories or scenes that I'm dying to write down, sometimes I go ahead and do it, sometimes I stick with what I'm "supposed" to be working on - but I can't help but think that I shouldn't allow myself to be distracted. (as you can tell I'm not all that good at keeping myself focused on one project.)

So am I the only one that has ADD (not literally) when it comes to their stories? or is this a common thing?

p.s. they should sell "Writer Blinders" so we can keep our focus where its supposed to be. :)

Going International

Now I'm not sure about WordPress or other blogging sites, but on Blogger there is an "Audience" tracker under the Stats which shows the different countries that people are looking at your blog from. This is an incredibly humbling concept for me.

Seeing people from across the world - China, India, Russia even! checking out my blog is just mind blowing. And so then I was thinking about what the diversity would be like when (if) a publishing deal comes along.

So now I must ask you, what do you guys think about the sweeping scape of this modern world of publishing and marketing? The fact that your book may not only be sold in multiple countries around the world but also that people might be following your news feeds, updates, Facebook page and tweets?

Personally I think its both amazingly cool and holy intimidating. Either way, bring it on!

No I Did Not Fall off the Face of the Planet...

Good morning Bloggie-verse!!! Well incase anyone noticed my long suffering absence last week, I was on vacation with the fam. We went to the fabulously sunny state of Florida and I'm as tan as a pale person with Irish heratage can be (which is to say not much but enough for me):D From the white sand beaches on the Gulf of Mexico to a REALLY long day at the House of Mouse we had a Grand time.

Oh and I got a brand new favorite coffee mug - Purple and white with Pooh Bear on it!! Photo will follow. :D But now I'm back and ready to Blog.

So I thought I would start off your Monday morning with this ...


Catchy isn't it? :D