Write Anyway

Hello everyone, and welcome to another Musical Monday!

Can you believe it is September already? Time has certainly been flying by this year, hasn’t it? I, for one, am grateful for it, though. Spring has sprung in Australia and the sunshine has been absolutely gorgeous. It makes staying inside and getting work done quite difficult!

Anywho, this week I am featuring yet another musician who has inspired me in my writing adventures.

Josh Groban is twenty-seven years old and has gained fame and fortune as a fabulous singer. He has sung with the likes of Sarah Brightman, Lara Fabian and others. He has albums out, has sang for movie soundtracks, and he is thinking about pursuing musical theatre in the future.

Josh Groban and Charlotte Church - The Prayer

I have to admit that I’m a sucker for a good male/female duet. There is something about a man and a woman singing together…

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

While it’s not a song I use for specific writing, I like listening to the many versions of this song. From Beyonce to Jason Mraz, I never get sick of listening to different artists performing this song.

When You Say You Love Me

I have found this song to be wonderful for getting me in a positive romantic mood space. Very handy if you have anything even remotely romantic to write about.

And there you have it. You can, of course, find oodles more videos of Josh Groban on YouTube, Videosift and other video sites.

I hope these songs inspire you as much as they inspire me and that you get a lot of writing done today.

Wishing you heaps of creativity.

Hello everyone and welcome to the last week of August’s Musical Monday. (Once again, I am stunned at how fast time is passing. I’m coming to the conclusion that I really need to just stop once in a while and look around…)

I’m starting to rather like focusing on individual musicians and bands for Musical Mondays instead of themes, so I’m going to keep on doing that. I have a lot of artists I enjoy listening to, so I shouldn’t run out of subjects anytime soon!

This week we are focusing on the group Panic at the Disco who have recently taken my interests with their interesting lyrics and music that I can easily dance to.

According to Wikipedia, Panic at the Disco “is a rock band that originated in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Their sound incorporates elements of pop punk, big beat, electronica, techno, and rock, along with many other genres like psychedelic, baroque pop, folk and jazz. Their 2005 debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, reached #13 on the US Billboard 200, and has sold over 2.2 million copies since its September 2005 release. The band’s second album, Pretty. Odd., was released on March 25, 2008 and debuted at #2 in the US.”

Nine in the Afternoon

That Green Gentlemen

I Write Sins, Not Tragedies

And, of course, you can find more videos by searching YouTube or just go out and buy their CD.

Their music (and definitely their videos) can be a bit odd, so I hope you like them and hope they can inspire you in your writing today, this week, and in the future.

Have a great week and I’ll be back tomorrow with more prompts.

Today’s musical inspiration is going to take a bit of a different turn this week. Instead of focusing on a theme, I am going to focus on an individual musician whose music has been inspiring me since I first started listening to him nearly two years ago. (In fact, I’m listening to him as I type this.)

It’s not very often that I find a musician who consistently creates music I like. Usually the case is that I like only one song, a few songs, etc. Rarely do I like every single song - especially after finding dozens of them.

Australian musician Tommy Emmanuel is one of the best guitarists in the world. “Two-time Grammy nominee Tommy Emmanuel has a professional career that spans over four decades and continues to intersect with some of the finest musicians throughout the world.” - Tommy’s website

My husband introduced me to Tommy and I have loved his music ever since. In fact, one of his songs (which I will put below) is what I walked down the ‘aisle’ to when I married my husband.

Now if that isn’t a love of music, I don’t know what is. So without further ado, here is the Musical Monday Tribute to Tommy Emmanuel. I hope you enjoy and that he inspires you as much as he does me.

Enjoy!

*Note: It seems YouTube has been taking down a lot of Tommy’s videos, so I’ve only been able to find a few of them that work.

Golliwogg’s Cakewalk

Blue Moon (short introduction)

Saltwater - Not the best quality, but this is the song from my wedding.

Hello everyone and happy Monday. Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday either in comments on my sites, facebook, email, etc. I really appreciate it, and it made a great day even better.

A couple weeks ago I, like many people around the globe, got hooked on Joss Whedon’s for internet only show Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. (If you haven’t heard of it/seen it, check it out. Joss Whedon does it again for funny, slightly crazy musicals.) That got me thinking about the good ol’ days in my youth that I spent watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, etc.

So I decided to look up the Buffy musical ‘Once More With Feeling’ to put here for your Musical Monday pleasure.

Unfortunately, all I could find was the music, a few of the scenes, and some behind the scenes stuff. All of that is very interesting, but I wanted to put up the whole episode. Turns out that the only way I can do that is with the music without the

So you may not be able to watch the episode, but you can sure listen to it! I hope you enjoy, for your listening pleasure.

Without further ado, Once More With Feeling.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed it, despite the lack of being able to watch it. I also hope it helped, in one way or another, to inspire your writing today. Have an excellent rest of the day and rest of the week.

Today on Musical Monday I would like to pay tribute to the man who has inspired me along through much of my writing since I was a teen. His music has always helped me to inspire writing in myself and get to where I needed to be to get things down on paper.

Billy Joel

William Joseph Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. He released his first hit song, “Piano Man”, in 1973. According to the RIAA, he is the sixth best-selling recording artist in the United States.

Joel had Top 10 hits in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s; is a six-time Grammy Award winner, and has sold in excess of 150 million albums worldwide.

He was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame (Class of 1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Class of 1999), and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (Class of 2006). Joel “retired” from recording pop music in 1993 but continued to tour (sometimes with Elton John). In 2001 he subsequently released Fantasies & Delusions, a CD of classical compositions for piano. In 2007 he returned to recording with a single entitled “All My Life,” followed by an extensive “World Tour” from 2006-2008, covering many of the major world cities.

Here are two of my favourites. Enjoy and have a great day.

And So It Goes

This is the extremely talented Tommy Emmanuel playing And So It Goes. This is like the perfect combination for me – two of my all time favourite musicians combining their talents. (We just need Billy singing along.)

Piano Man

Today I have a cold.

Today I’m not feeling very musical.

Today is one of those days I would like to just crawl back into bed and sleep the day away until I’m feeling back to normal. I have to admit that I can get a bit whiny when I don’t feel well. My husband tolerates it pretty well, but I reckon that’s because he gets to work. Plus, he’s just getting over this particular cold and knows exactly how crummy I feel.

But as much as I would like to skip work and just sleep (or watch crappy television until I fall asleep), I have a lot to do and a huge project that I need to get done ASAP. So, given that and given the fact I’m not at all keen on straight black coffee, I need to find things that will pick up my mood and help me wake up.

So, today, I bring you some perky songs that will hopefully help you to wake up as much as they are helping me get through the day. That’s right. Here at Write Anyway, we do stimulants the natural way. Or… wait… I said that wrong…

The first is Sara Bareilles’ Love Song which has really taken off here in Australia. It’s one of the few songs I haven’t minded hearing over and over on the radio. I hope you like it.

The next is Colbie Caillat’s Bubbly which isn’t quite as perky but still keeps me going.

What songs help you perk up and get going? Let me know in the comments!

A couple weeks ago, my husband had to do some travelling for work. He flew down to Tasmania early Friday morning and few back on Monday night. While that’s not exactly a spectacular event for many couples, it was the first time since I moved to Australia that we were separated.

I was quite nervous about him being away, but once I knew he was safe and sound in Tasmania, I began to adjust to being alone. Even before I moved to Australia, I had been living with other people for nearly half a year. So for someone who hadn’t spent the night alone in a home for over two years, I think I did pretty well.

Reflecting back on that time, I think it was good for both me and my husband. However, being alone certainly isn’t always fun and we can all remember a time when being alone inspired strong feelings, be them positive or negative.

That’s why I would like you to reflect on being alone today and write about it. To help you with your inspiration, here are a couple songs about being alone.

Enjoy, and happy Musical Monday.

On My Own – Reba McEntire

This is actually the song that inspired this prompt. It’s one of Reba’s older songs, but I’ve enjoyed listening to her music growing up.

All By Myself – Celine Dion

Of course I had to include this classic with a theme like ‘alone’. I’m not actually particularly fond of the song, but I figured I would include it anyway.

Writing prompts come in many shapes, types and sizes. I try to provide a good assortment here on site, but I’m not always sure I’m doing the right thing. However, I have decided to spread out and try a few different things.

There are a couple weekly memes that I participate in on other sites that I will be including here from now on. I’ll also be continuing on with random work banks, Thursday thirteen writing prompts and Friday Feasts as well, but I’ll try to spice it up in coming weeks. If you read my other sites, I apologize for the doubles, but it’s the only way I can get more variety here on WA.

I have not lost my passion for music, however, so you don’t need to worry there. Today is still Musical Monday and, while I don’t really have a theme for this week, I would like you present you with a few of the music videos that have been inspiring my writing lately.

I hope they inspire you as much as they do me, and I hope you have a great Monday and rest of the week.

Maroon 5 - I Won’t Go Home Without You

Maroon 5 has long been one of my big inspiration bands. While I can’t claim to like all of their songs, there is a soft spot in me for many of them.

How Can I Not Love You (From Anna and the King)

This is a very sweet and romantic song that I have loved since I first saw Anna and the King. Very appropriate if you have any characters going through romantic strife.

Hello and happy Musical Monday everyone!

First off, I would just like to apologize once more for my rather sporadic posting of late. Thankfully, things in my life have been calming down and I’m getting caught up with everything. Once again, I am back at it here presenting you with another week of prompts!

As always, you are welcome to suggest new and different prompts for me to put up here. I’m always on the lookout for better inspiration for you.

Today we are starting off with a fresh new theme: Family!

Family means many things to many people. For some, it’s something negative that they would rather forget. For others, they are part of a true clan they are more than proud to take part in. Others yet feel like they haven’t ever had a true family.

Today I’m presenting you with a few music videos that talk about family in all their forms. I hope you enjoy them and have a wonderful Monday!

We Are Family – Sister Sledge

You had to know I was going to put up this video, right? I mean, you say song about family and you think about…

Family Portrait – Pink

This is one of those not so great pictures of what a family can be. This is the second song I thought of when I was thinking about family. It’s not my pick for this week, but it certainly has a good beat and a haunting message.

Ode to My Family – The Cranberries

This is my new find for this week. It’s a very interesting song…

And a little bit of a story for me to share with you.

Today I’d like you to write about a wish you’ve made that came true. I know I don’t often share my responses to these prompts, so here you go…

Inspired by “One Day I’ll Fly Away” from Moulin Rouge (below)

All my life, I wanted to fly away. Leave everything and become my own woman in a place I had never been. I’d set out to run away several times, but I’d always get a short distance away and realize a child could in no way be safe in this world without any protection.

Not to mention I had no money.

I didn’t find anything particularly bad about my family then because I didn’t know anything better, but I knew I had this urge in me to leave. The strongest urge I had ever known then.

I finally got my chance to fly away - as much as I could - in my second year of college. I moved four hours away from the life I knew, and it was glorious. I met many new friends, including three people I grew very close to. One person was troubled, though, by the past. His accounts of his past helped him as a way of therapy, but unfortunately made me start having flashbacks.

Flashbacks to bad, bad things in my childhood.

Another one of those friends turned into my boyfriend not long after we’d met; the connection was an instant one. He helped me through the flashbacks. He also helped me to realize the things I considered normal in my family life weren’t normal. I started asking around, as subtly as I could, and found he was completely right.

I was afraid to go home, but I knew that someday - hopefully someday soon, I could leave and join my boyfriend where he lived.

It didn’t take long for me to go into a deep depression. I had to hide it though, because I was threatened with being put in a psychiatric ward.

[The rest of that is too hard to write right now and is upsetting me, so I hope you don't mind if I skip over things.]

My then fiancé (now husband) had been putting money away to get me a plane ticket, though, so when it became possible my life was in danger, I flew out to Australia to be with him. We got married almost five months ago, and life has been good.

One Day I’ll Fly Away

Hello everyone and welcome back to Write Anyway.

This week’s Musical Monday is going up a little late because I have been so BUSY lately. Unbelievable busy, which I suppose serves me right for taking a weekend off to celebrate my first wedding anniversary with my husband.

Between road trips and readying job applications, I’m still just as tired as I was last Wednesday, but what can you do? (Yes, I know, sleep.)

Anyway, better late than never, right? We’re back to it this week with a new theme and some lovely songs for you to listen to on this very musical Monday we have today. This week we will be talking about memory, which might just be a bit more interesting than you think.

So sit back, enjoy the music, and start writing…

Memory – Elaine Paige – CATS performance

Ah, we must have this little touch of Broadway when it comes to talking about memory, don’t we?

Memory – Sugarcult

Sugarcult has been one of my favourites since I first discovered back while I was at university. Memory is one of my true favourites from this group (along with “champagne” and “bouncing off the walls”). I hope you like it as much as I do.

You Want to (Make a Memory)

This video is this week’s new discovery. I had never heard the song before going searching on YouTube for some songs with the memory theme. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the original, official video, but I hope you like the song enough to forgive me for putting up a fan made video.

Today is my first wedding anniversary, and because of that, I am putting up the love theme week again. Be sure to check out my other sites like Fiction Scribe to see where I’m spreading the love with fun contests to celebrate the occasion.

I wish you all a wonderful Monday and a wonderful week as well.

I have picked a nice, feel good theme. And what better feel good theme than love?

(Unless you have gone/are going through some even that would put you against love and the whole ‘love’ thing. If you are, I apologize. You might want to come back next week.)

I have mentioned love before, but this week I’m going to talk about the lovey-dovey, squishy, butterflies in your stomach kind of love. Long relationship kind of love.

I’m lucky enough to have a wonderful love in my life. I try not to talk about him too much because I still remember what it was like being single and having happily coupled/married people talk about how happy they are, but I do think my husband is one of the best guys around.

So occasionally I gush a bit about how much I love him.

In honour of the theme (and my husband), here are a few of my favourite love songs:

(more…)

Hello and welcome to another wonderful Musical Monday here on Write Anyway. I hope you are having a lovely Monday so far and aren’t suffering under a case of the Monday blahs.

This week I am putting up a theme I think we can all relate to in one way or another. (Even guys, despite the fact that the word ‘beauty’ definitely has female connotations in our society.)

Beauty.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or so they say. Beauty can be found everywhere and nowhere. Beauty is a mysterious and wonderful thing original to and derived from each person’s reality…

Beauty and the Beast – Beauty and the Beast

Okay, this might not completely appropriate, but when I thought of beauty, I immediately thought of Beauty and the Beast.

Beautiful – Christina Aguilera

This isn’t one of my favourite songs musically, but I do like the message in the song – that you are beautiful if you truly believe you are beautiful.

Reflection – Mulan

I believe a lot of what makes someone beautiful is self-confidence and believing in yourself enough to truly be who you are and not what everyone else wants you to be. That’s why I picked this song to go along with this week’s theme.

Dove True Beauty Project

This isn’t a song, but it is a stunning video of where the ‘beauty’ from our magazine models comes from. I think as many girls and women (and men) as possible should watch this video and realize that going for the magazine looks and style just plain isn’t healthy.

Hello and welcome to the last full week of April Musical Monday!

This week has certainly not gone as planned in my life and I am eager for a theme for the week that will make me feel good and remind me of things I like and find comfort in.

This week, the theme is: Night

Now before you ask me about this choice, I am a night owl. I used to be much more so, but even after my college days, I like the night. The moon, the stars… I have always been able to work well at night and have always found peace at night.

Night and everything related to it has been inspirational to many writers, poets, and even painters. While it does not always have the colour and light of day, it has mystery and music all its own.

This week I have chosen some favourites and some random songs for your listening pleasure. I hope they help you with your writing and you find music as inspirational as I do.

Have a happy and productive Monday.

We Belong to the Night – Pat Benetar

This is an old but good favourite of mine.

Music of the Night – David Cook

I can’t often resist putting in a song from Phantom of the Opera.

Into the Night – Santana Featuring Chad Kroeger

This is one of my must have songs. I have loved it since I first heard it, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Because the Night – Patti Smith

It is Musical Monday once again because I have had enough of random prompts for a little bit. That, and I have a prompt I like a lot for this week with a song to share with you that I absolutely love. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

This week’s theme is none other than the title of my favourite song this week: daughters.

Aw, our little girls. Our tomboys, princesses, businesswomen, mothers, lovers, sisters and so much more. Women everywhere, no matter what their background, beliefs, career, marital status, location or whatever else all have one thing in common – they are all daughters.

This week we will be talking about (and hopefully writing about) the wonderful daughters of the world.

And now, for your listening pleasure…

Daughters of Bluegrass – Daughters

Honestly? I chose this video because it is something I would not usually listen to. I thought I would mix it up and throw in something a bit strange.

In My Daughter’s Eyes – Martina McBride

Does it get any better than a heartfelt song from a mother to her daughter?

Daughters – John Mayer (The Grammys performance)

This is my ‘must have’ video for this week. I have loved this song since I first heard it. It is sweet, slow but moving, and has a sentimental message I can appreciate even though I am not a mother. (I am a daughter, so that helps things along.)

I hope you enjoy the musical selection for this week and find it inspirational for your writing.