by LuAnn Schindler
When I write, I like to listen to music. OK, I usually enjoy listening while I write. Other times, like when I'm on a tight deadline, I prefer the peace and quiet of our farm. Sure, there's the occasional 'MOO'........
Seriously, music ignites my writing muse. My musical choices vary as much as my writing topics. Some days, 80s and 90s rock blares, keeping my energy focused on the page. On Saturday mornings, I need the Kings of Leon and The Fray to jumpstart my morning pages. If I'm working on a creative endeavor, such as poetry or flash fiction, slow tunes by Sara Barilles, Howie Day or Tim McGraw or classical pieces like Moonlight Sonata help me keep an even writing pace.
And some days, I let iTunes decide what's up next.
The rhythm and words formulate the emotional connection between musical rhythm and written word.
It works for me, but does it work for all writers? What artists, music genres or songs keep you connected to your writing muse?
I was writing a road trip scene today and felt like I needed a little music while I worked. But since I prefer to work in austere conditions with no distractions to the eyes or ears, I don’t even have a way to play music in my office other than my laptop. So I thought I’d check out Pandora.com, which my husband has been raving about since it debuted on the internet. Guess what? I have a new obsession! Pandora knows me better than I know myself! Pandora understands me at the core! Brace yourself for even more exclamation points!
For those of you who haven’t used Pandora, you type in a couple of your favorite random artists and it figures out what you like. How it works is all very mysterious to me, but damn if I didn’t type in Pink Floyd and Jeff Buckley and have Pandora tell me I’d like Ben Harper. I love Ben Harper! And I hadn’t yet said a word about it, Pandora just knew. Then I added Ray LaMontagne and Alison Krauss and Pandora told me I’d like Matt Costa. I’d never heard of him, but now he’s my new favorite!
This kind of unbridled joy at Pandora’s mind reading skills has been going on all day.
On/Off by Snow Patrol just came on! I’d written this song on my hand a few weeks ago, meaning to buy it, but never got around to it. Did Pandora see that? It’s crazy over here, my friends! Run on over to Pandora.com and feast your ears. She knows what you like!
Wait…are you kidding me? Now it’s Jason Mraz? Am I that transparent? Are my tastes that obvious? Or is Pandora just the mystifying oracle of music that I think it is?
At what point to you wonder if they’ve planted a chip in your head?
Do you miss Jennifer de Guzman’s always well-observed and trenchant column at now-definct Comics World News? SO DO WE! Luckily we were able to do something about it, and de Guzman’s NEW column “Life in Comics” will run the first monday of every Month in PW Comics Week henceforth. In her first column she discusses where the greatest hopes for comics lie:
Considering the present political climate, it probably is no surprise that the word hope has been on my mind a lot lately. Hope is a tricky concept because while it seems to indicate a positive outlook, it carries the underlying assumption that all is not presently as good as it could be. I’ve come to realize that this is perhaps what is behind some of the reactions to my last column at the now-closed site Comic World News, in which I asserted that more rigorous comics criticism will attract more literary-minded creators to the medium, thus setting the stage for a richer comics canon. In response, I was called to task for “complaining,” being “pessimistic” and having a “bleak” view of the state of comics.
De Guzman’s is one of several new columns that will be debuting this month in PWCW.
You have signed up already, right?
SLG announces a new graphic novel about a North Pole mystery– an increasingly popular subject for comics it seems –by Ben Towle. The first chapter is available as a free download.
In May 1928, the Italian airship the Italia embarked on an ambitious and dangerous expedition to the North Pole. A celebratory radio communiqué from the international crew announced their arrival at their destination, but soon all communications ceased. Excitement turned to uncertainty, and a world-wide search effort was launched to recover the crew of the Italia, whose fate was unknown.
Ben Towle, a nominee for a Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition Eisner Award in 2004, captures the tense mood during the weeks of search in his graphic novel Midnight Sun, to be released in December 2007 from SLG Publishing. Midnight Sun follows H.R., a down-on-his luck American reporter. He’s dispatched to cover the story of the lost Italia at the top of the Earth, where the Arctic summer means there is almost perpetual daylight.
The tone of this series may take readers familiar with my last work by surprise, said Towle, referring to his graphic novella Farewell, Georgia, which attracted the attention of the Eisner Awards judges. But its a story thats close to my heart one that Ive been developing and editing and re-editing since before Id even conceived of any of my prior projects. Its historical fiction, I suppose,” Towle added, but heavy on the fiction.
The Italia was a real airship and its disappearance and the subsequent search for its crew grabbed headlines worldwide, but since then it has become a little-known footnote in the history of aviation. My first pass at the story was basically a melodrama chronicling the real-life story of the Italia, but I realized that what I really wanted to do was use the events of the crash and the personal dynamics of the stranded crewmembers to examine more universal themes like the interaction between fate and conscious choice, leadership and democracy, and love and obligation, Towle said.
As Midnight Sun’s story unfolds, a pre-Depression-era newspaper reporter discovers the facts surrounding the airships mysterious disappearance while the crew of the Italia contend with the perils of Mother Nature and human nature. Underscoring their struggles is Towle’s artwork, depicting both gray city scenes and stark Arctic landscapes.
Midnight Sun is a 136-page graphic novel that will retail for $14.95. It is available for pre-order from comic book stores with the Diamond code OCT073222, as well as at SLG’s website, www.slgcomic.com, where a free PDF of the first chapter is also available for download.
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I'm writing the funny to Glee's soundtracks. Something about those crazy kids cracks me up...But it takes me longer to write when I have to get up and rock it out every other song!