The Soundtrackers Group is running it's The Soundtrack Of My Life event this month. Write a blog entry a day describing a specific song that was part of your musical journey. I got a late start but added the first 11 entries today. So if you're interested in a musical journey that intersects with pop about as often as Neil Young does (maybe less!), here you go. Further entries to follow...
Looks like I picked the right day to check my inbox. I knew (and I'm still some mixture of stunned and grateful) that my story "Jomsviking" had been nominated for a Quill award. Today I learned that it had been nominated in not one, but FOUR(!) categories! Not only that it is a finalist in 3 of them! Now I need to go read the other finalists...
I confess I'm curious... I entered the writers cramp on a whim today, something I rarely do. It was a slow day at work, so I knocked this out in an hour or so. I'm wondering how the judges evaluated it's merits - or lack thereof - without actually looking at it.
We all have that one friend. The one who talks too much. The one who makes a short story long. Those friends tend to get annoying if not taken in small doses. Yet they're the storytellers of the world. In generations past, they would have been revered shaman. Today they're a minor annoyance. I started playing around with that concept and realized I was being a storyteller telling a story about a storyteller telling stories. Our modern storytellers - the ones we listen to anyway - are singers. They're storytellers but we call them rock stars. This is a tale about a singer who didn't quite make the big time. Enjoy:
I have an idea. One of those ideas that consumes your mind until the story comes out. I know the setting, I have a feel for the characters, conflict, dramatic tension, and even a large chunk of the plot. The problem is, everyone dies in the end. That part is historical fact. It's actually the singular piece of information in the entire story which can't be changed. I thought about changing perspective, making the villain the hero, so the hero lives in the end, but it just isn't interesting that way. All of the drama happens on one side of the story, but they happen to lose. Has anyone else found themselves in a similar quandary? If so, what did you do?
This reminds me of something my high school English teacher said about Shakespeare: In a Shakespearean comedy, somebody dies. In a Shakespearean tragedy, everybody dies.
The results are in for the latest edition of The Lodestar Contest, and what do you know? My little story won second place! Seems somebody out there must have liked it. So thank you to the judges, I'm glad you enjoyed the story. And for the rest of you, maybe you'd care to give it a look:
I'm not really a blogger. The idea of an online diary just isn't my thing. More power to you if you're into it, but I'll pass. However, the Soundtrackers Group (I'm sure there's a way to link them but don't get me started on bitems right now) is doing their 12 Days of Christmas. So here's the first three entries (9 more to go). If you want a respite from schmaltz, here you go:
It's been a month or two since I wrote anything. I'd seen the Lodestar contest with it's suggestion of a lighthouse as a prompt many times, yet it never sparked any ideas. Then I thought "pirates!" I ended up not using pirates as anything more than background, but at least I was off and writing. So if you happen to be the sort who enjoys tales of the high seas, here you go. Enjoy!
FYI - for Americans anyway - looks like satellite radio is doing it's free trial week this week. Just hit the SAT button on the car stereo. Especially if you have a long drive coming up for the holiday.
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