The Right Words, At The Right Time

Firstly, this is where my mind went after I typed this week’s post title:

This song brings such a strong emotional response to me, that it’s actually a really good representation of my task for the next few weeks.

I am now in preparation for not one but two open mic nights.  I decided not to focus on new work for the next one, but to get some neglected work up to the necessary quality.

It’s all about getting the mood and the language in harmony, really – finding the right word at the right time in the poem.

I’ll give you an example I am trying to fix: I wrote a poem about walking in the countryside; it’s a painting-inspired and natural poem in which I used the word crepuscular. Not a good choice: too technical, a little unwieldy and unattractive, and put in to shorten a line rather than because it’s the right word.

In a long poem a single word might not stand out, but this one is so wrong it needs a precision removal and an artistic, fluid word to go in its place. Not sure what but I have a few weeks to find something!

Editing is the hardest part of writing but when I do find the right word it is immeasurably satisfying!

So here’s to being inspired by Tracy Chapman and to making my poems as good as they can be.

Happy writing, and listening!

EJ

🙂

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Free Post Thursday – Input

The last week has been full of creative input. Since last Thursday I have been to a writing convention, scoped out a possible performance spot with a friend who is a great singer – getting to enjoy some live music at the same time, some of which was perfect writing music – and been to my writing group (which focussed on books with unreliable narrators today!).

None of these things were impossible before my career break, of course, but I value them more now than I could before, because they have a different impact on me.  Prior to my break I would have enjoyed them and moved on. Now, creativity stimulates my mind and inspires me to write. Even just the memory of a piece of music I heard yesterday brings a specific scene to mind.

When we are in the normal routine of going to work, looking after families, doing the housework and so on, we don’t care about the creative input. Sure, we might have the radio on when we wash the dishes but it’s just background noise.  But I learnt that the more aware I am of the world around me, the better I can express that world in words.

The more the input, the better the output.

So the next few days I will be reflecting on what I have seen and heard this week.  Not just the creative input either, but the sights and sounds of daily life which grab my attention and keep it there.

I hope some of it will feed into my series of poems but if not, it might appear in another guise, at another time.

That’s the thing about input – if you value it, it can last for years!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

 

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Season’s Greetings!

To those who celebrate it – Merry Christmas!
For those who don’t – have a happy few days, whatever you are doing.

Here’s a little Mariah to keep you company for a few minutes!

See you in a few days,

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

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Where’s the Week Gone?

This week has been a bit of a blogging fail – I was a day late for Tuesday, missed Thursdays altogether and I have about five minutes to pull something into a vaguely post-like form now before heading on to the next thing on my to do list.

So I’m taking the easy option and sharing a song with you.

I try not to think too much about the fact that in another part of the world it’s about to be spring, because here and now it’s started to become very autumnal and it makes my head hurt!

The last of the British summer is slowly fading in the falling of leaves and the harvesting of the crops, and we are settling into a new pattern of longer nights, earlier twilights and later sunrises.

But those warm days are not entirely over yet!  This song has the perfect end-of-summer feel for me – it fits my mood very nicely and I can see it becoming a bit of a favourite to get me towards Halloween 🙂

Hopefully I’ll be a bit better with my time management next week and get some actual writing-related blogs out but until then, enjoy the changing of the seasons whichever you are heading into – it’s a wonderful time to think about where you want the next few months to take you.

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Work v Words v World!

This week, I pretty much failed to do any writing, although I experienced a few funny stories which need to go into the notebook!

It’s been a really busy week, paid-work-wise: if you have ever worked on projects you will know that some periods the pace shoots up for one reason or another, and as we go live in a few weeks it’s likely to be fairly frenetic for the foreseeable.

I am wary of the impact on my return to writing, and I’m keen to write more regularly again, even if it’s just three blog posts a week.

I still want to do my reading for Tuesdays too, as it’s a bit of a wind-down at the end of the workday, but if I don’t get a lot else done maybe I’ll go right back to my blogging roots and share a few resources with you…

Back to this week… One of my notebook experiences was yesterday.  We had tickets to a concert I completely forgot about until Friday; it was a fundraiser for a local charity I have been involved with since its inception. I was expecting a nice lazy evening of being entertained, wined and dined.

But life being what it is, I didn’t quite have that. Instead I had raffle tickets to sell, plates to collect, drinks to pour… In fact, I was basically a waitress for the night 🙂

There was a catalogue of strange and comedic things going on which I have been laughing about today – I won’t share them all here but they ranged from the audience all turning up before the helpers so we couldn’t get in to actually set up, to the performers being nobbled to tidy up the venue at the end of the night!

Still, the charity raised a decent amount so it was all worthwhile. And I have a new skill set to add to my CV…

It was a surprisingly enjoyable evening, despite having to work through it – it was in an old church and the acoustics there are lovely, so the singing sounded great. I got to catch up with some people I haven’t seen in a while, and I got to lose myself in something other than work for a while.

So I didn’t get to do any writing but I got to do a bit of living – and no doubt there will be more than one scene in my work involving a very persuasive charity rep, so it was all research anyway 🙂

Happy writing,
EJ
🙂

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Every Day in May – 23.05.16

And now for a change, here is a musical interlude…

Rachel Platten – Fight Song

I love this song, because it is the story of a million people, all pushing to make their dreams come true and battling to be noticed.  It is my anthem when I think it’s all going badly!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Every Day in May – 16.05.16

Writing has been a long way off today, I am currently mid-packing and getting a little worried it may not all be done in time – oh, for an extra day off work!

So for today’s post I’m going to share something that inspires me to get up and going.  It’s not the kind of thing I can use for writing but it is something which clears my mind and let’s me start again on a positive note:

Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now

I am now off to the 25 May so I will catch up with you then – hopefully brimming with inspiration and positive news about the new story!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Free Post Thursday – Too Busy to Blog :-(

Sorry – writing work on a deadline, out with family this evening, working later than intended, a bout of illness… it’s been a little frenetic this week!

Instead, here is a little ditty for you to enjoy.  It features in lists of happy songs although I don’t know if it’s happy, so much as has a very chirpy tune.  You can decide!

Rusted Root – Send Me On My Way

Whack up the volume and have a little dance 🙂

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Free Post Thursday – Ode to Joy

I felt the need for some rousing music today, to give me a bit of a pep-up because, frankly, my energy is waning this week.  As it has gone midnight as I write this, you may understand why my days feel super-long!

I also realised that yesterday was the anniversary of Beethoven’s birth (thank you Google doodle for that one…)

The two together gave me Ode to Joy, part of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9, with words originally written by Friedrich Schiller – when this music kicks in, it makes me feel completely alive, totally absorbed and energised.  It also seems to reverberate in my chest making me feel both emotionally and physically.  It’s really quite wonderful.

I tried to find a high quality YouTube version and this, although short, is one of the best ones I found – have a dig around the internet because I’m sure there are some great versions which cover the whole symphony.  I love to have the words though; even though I don’t speak German well enough to understand the singing I feel that it’s a loss not to hear them.

I hope you enjoy it!

Happy listening,

EJ

🙂

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Week 226 – Later…!

After a hectic weekend, I have not had time to write a blog post – sorry!

As I am not in any evening this week coming, and working all week, I may well not have a lot of time to catch up either.

So, in lieu of anything else, here’s a Christmas tune by Kylie Minogue.  When  I was small I was a massive Kylie fan – I have the badges to prove it! – so it may have influenced my choice here…:

See you as soon as I get a chance to write a proper post!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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