For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the sets posted by the other 5 on Friday bloggers -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.
I'm in the last two days of the November writing marathon known as NaNoWriMo, wherein crazy people write a 50,000-word first draft novel in 30 days.
This is my fifth year slogging through the ordeal. At this point everyone participating seriously questions their sanity.
However, from past experience I also know that pushing this far past my normal creative process always gives me amazing material to work with later.
So, as I head for the 50,000-word finish line, here are five tunes about writing.
My next Thursday Thirteen will be my 300th listing of thirteen things. A big milestone for A Piece of My Mind!
Because I won't be able to get ready for that by next week--I'll need to recover somewhat from NaNoWriMo and my choir concert this Friday--my retrospective of Thursday Thirteens from 200 to 300 will be posted sometime in January. See you then!
This week launches a refit of the 5 on Friday musical feature.
The blogger who began our musical journey in early 2010 has put his meme to bed, but the other 5 on Friday participants are still spinning the tunes. Thanks, Travis for all of the fun you've inspired! See what happens when you start something that takes on a life of its own?
For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the sets posted by the other 5 on Friday bloggers -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.
This month is my own birthday month, as well as bringing birthdays for my husband, my mom, my brother-in-law, my cousin-in-law and two of my uncles, as well as several of my very close friends. So I think it's high time we celebrated November birthday boys here at A Piece of My Mind.
1 - I Saw Her Again -- Denny Doherty from The Mamas and The Papas
2 - Give a Little Love -- Leslie McKeown from the Bay City Rollers
My favorite musical November birthday boy! My teen heart throb, lead singer Les McKeown.
This week I'm hosting fellow Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada author Donna Alward here at A Piece of My Mind. Let's see what she's got cooking for her Thursday Thirteen. Over to you, Donna! ~~~
I thought I’d do a Cadence Creek Christmas themed Thursday
Thirteen! Since food almost always plays
a big part in my books, I figured coming up with thirteen different foods would
be easy – especially since this is a Christmas book! Ready?
13: Pot Roast – page 20.
The food at The Wagon Wheel Diner is pretty good – and we’ve heard about
it before in the other Cadence Creek books. Martha Bullock makes the best pie
in Cadence Creek and her recipes are a trade secret.
12: Nacho Dip – page 41. What’s a wedding shower without
some snacks? I love nacho dip and it’s so easy. Equal amounts of Miracle Whip
and Cream cheese blended together makes the bottom. Spread on taco sauce and
salsa, top with tomatoes, grated cheddar and some green onion and you’re good
to go.
11: Chocolate Fudge Cake – page 64. Pressed into alternate
arrangements for the rehearsal dinner, it’s off to the Wagon Wheel for lasagna
and garlic bread. But the bakery sent over a cake to help with dessert. Isn’t it
nice how the community just chips in when it’s needed?
10: Hot Cider – page 97. It’s winter. There’s more than just
fruit punch at the wedding cocktail hour. I love hot spiced cider – yum!
9: Beef Wellington – page 105. Main course at the reception.
After all, they’re feeding a room full of ranchers. What else would they have
but beef? I love Beef Wellington, but it’s a special dish I don’t eat very
often!
8: Pastry baskets filled with chocolate mousse and topped
with berries and cream – page 107. Wedding dessert. Pastry. Chocolate. Whipped
Cream. Berries. Did I miss anything?
7: Lavender Chocolate Cake – page 112. Come on, you didn’t
expect an ordinary wedding cake, did you? The bride is a baker and her best
friend and ex-boss made the cake as a gift. I knew it had to be something
original and very special!
6: Coffee and Eggnog – page 132. One thing I love to do at
Christmas? Add egg nog to my coffee instead of my usual light cream. The only
thing better is Bailey’s…
5: Cannelloni – page 147. Enough with the meat and potatoes.
Bring on the pasta. Tomato, basil, cheese… Cannelloni and Manicotti are 2 of my
kids’ favourite meals.
4. Stollen, Christmas Pudding, Strudel, and Carrot Cake!
Page 167. A trip to the bakery yields food for now and food for later. Taylor
and Angela have strudel and cake, and Taylor buys the pud and stollen for a
great traditional family Christmas she’s planning.
3: Romaine Salad - page 198. I got this recipe from my
“adopted” family in Calgary. Grandma Tena makes it and it’s delicious. Romaine,
mandarin orange, red pepper strips and poppyseed dressing. It’s so yummy.
2: Prime Rib and Yorkshire pudding - page 198. You knew it
had to be something tasty for Christmas Eve dinner, right? My Yorkshire pudding
never turns out, but I love eating someone else’s.
1: Cranberry Bread Pudding with Custard Sauce – page 199 I
LOVE Bread Pudding. Almost any kind. But I had this particular one at the Banff
Springs Hotel during one of our Christmas brunches and it was marvelous. Just
beautiful.
A CADENCE CREEK CHRISTMAS is out now anywhere
Harlequin Books are sold! You can catch up with me at my website too – www.donnaalward.com ~~~ Thanks for such a delicious list of thirteen things, Donna! The cranberry bread pudding does sound like I want some...like, now... For readers wondering about the Hal-Con costume Thursday Thirteen I mentioned last week, please check back next week. Let's see which one is your favorite.
For a final week, Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.
After today, Travis is retiring his four-year-old musical meme which immediately became the highlight of my week and remained so since February of 2010. Putting together my sets each week gives me joy, retaining the sense of play I need in my creative life.
Travis invited the regular 5-on-Friday-ers to carry on without him if we wished, and it appears that Jamie, Mike and I will continue to spin the tunes that we love.
But I just want to let Travis know that in coming up with his Friday musical feature, he has given me hours and hours and hours of happiness. Sending you love and ((hugs)) today as we bid farewell to an amazing run.
Well, we did it. Last Saturday, Shawna Romkey and I gave our first convention panel on Heroes and Villains during Hal-Con 2013.
Thanks to everyone who attended our panel. You asked great questions!
Last week I spun four superhero tunes plus one super villain tune. This week -- since I was giving the villains part of the panel -- here are five tunes that come to us from the villain's point of view.
1 - Devil in Disguise -- Elvis Presley
This song illustrates the sort of villain I mentioned at the panel last Saturday, the sort of character who seems like a 'suitable catch' on the surface -- until you get to know him a little better, and if you're an historical female character, it may very well be too late by then. You may have been married off to what seemed like a strong alpha male character, only to discover he is actually a villain, making all the wrong choices based on fear, self-preservation and self-interest.
This sort of tragic villain character -- someone who sees himself as a thwarted hero -- is shown in the video as Guy of Gisborne from BBC's Robin Hood (played by my fave, Richard Armitage.)
2 - The Sinner in Me -- Depeche Mode
This song perfectly captures the allure of The Gray Character, my favorite. This accounts for the attraction we often feel towards a character who we sense is still redeemable. This sort of villain holds a lot more tension within the story, because we aren't sure whether he'll choose the high road or the low road. A traditional villain will always take the dark choice.
3 - A Criminal Mind -- Lawrence Gowan
I've always loved this song, by Glasgow Scotland-born, Toronto-raised Lawrence Gowan. I love the bald admission given by the narrator: "Ask one who's known me / If I'm really so bad / I am."
This is the sort of internal monologue that would take place inside the traditional villain character. He has no ambitions to change, no desire to reform. He delights in his own horrible rampages.
Strangely, the tone of the song implies a degree of regret -- however, it's clear that the narrator will never make the choices of a heroic character. The greater good, self-sacrifice -- these ambitions won't tempt this villain in the least.
4 - Animal I Have Become -- Three Days Grace
Rumpelstiltskin from Once Upon a Time is a massive fave of mine (played by another of my long-time inspirations for a fictional character in one of my works-in-progress, Robert Carlyle.)
What a tour de force of villainy! As the original village spinner character, his descent into darkness through fearful choice-making is something we can relate to. We even hope that this character is still reachable and redeemable.
As the Dark One / Rumpelstiltskin, he is a cool deal-maker, preying on those who will do anything in a moment of need. He is not without emotion, however -- he has a streak of playful mischief-making, and delights in the sword he holds over people's heads.
As Mr. Gold, the contemporary Storybrooke pawn shop owner, he holds the most tension for the viewer, as we never know how this version of the character will react. Mr. Gold shows the most vulnerability, the most rage and the greatest desire to reach for happiness.
5 - Bad to the Bone -- George Thorogood and The Destroyers
The supervillain tune from my set list last week belonged to the Joker (played by dearly-missed Heath Ledger) -- and here he is again, in all his traditional villain glory.
My second Hal-Con is wrapped and in the can. A fantastic weekend! Thanks to all of the organizers who put on the event, especially since -- as you'll see -- things went a little off-script on Saturday...
1 - This is my husband Brad and me at our booth on the main retail floor, Day 1. We had an awesome spot, and I did the best ever at this show. Thanks to everyone who dropped by my booth, with very special thanks to all who bought my books. That's a thrill that never gets old.
2 - Upstairs on the second floor, in the official author area, my friend Shawna Romkey, a fellow member of our writers' group Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada, had her booth ready for Hal-Con pass holders. Shawna had an especially great con. Go, Shawna!
3 - Across from Shawna was bestselling fantasy author Terry Brooks, who came with his own legions of devoted fans. Witness the Terry Brooks lineup.
4 - When there was a moment between signings, Terry Brooks made his way along the other author tables, chatting with fellow writers. Here's what happened immediately following the convention, in Shawna's words: "Ummm...Terry Brooks just contacted me. He read my book on the flight home. He asked for my email to send longer comments than my website form would allow. YIKES!!!!!!!!!" Then -- "Terry Brooks emailed me!!! He had some really positive things to say and also gave me some great feedback! *faints* " 5 - What book is that, you say?
6 - One of the good news / bad news things about taking part in events like Hal-Con as an author is not being able to see everything that's going on. I did manage to stop for a few minutes on one of my trips upstairs to see Shawna, and watched these historical warrior reenactors demonstrating sword fighting.
7 - Sometimes the best place to see the headliner guests is just by staying put at your booth. That's Robert Maillet at right, from 300, Sherlock Holmes, Immortals and Pacific Rim checking out a jewelry vendor across from my table.
8 - Day 2 started out with a very large line-up stretching around the Metro Centre, with the interior crowds noticeably bigger. This shot of the corridor immediately outside of the room where Shawna and I did a Heroes and Villains panel on Saturday at 12:45 is a good indicator of the Day 1 crowd. Busy but still lots of space to move around. Halifax is a little city, and Hal-Con is still a young event -- only a few years old. By about 10:30 on Day 2, having been a former Toronto's Fan Expo participant, as well as an eight-year veteran of working front of house for what is now the Sony Centre, I could sense that the building had reached maximum capacity and that people were no doubt being turned away. I attempted to head upstairs to meet with Shawna before our panel, only to be faced with an unmoving wall of people being held back on the first floor. Using my Toronto Big City skirting-around-the-mob technique, I managed to get to the escalator where I thought I would have to plead my case as to why I had to get to the second floor. However, the staff waved me along when they saw my vendor pass -- thank God!
9 - Somehow our panel started on time, with a packed audience and even standing-room-only at one point. Shawna talked Heroes and I talked Villains, and we had great questions from the audience.
This was the first-ever panel at an event like this for both of us. Thanks to everyone who attended and took part in the discussion.
10 - Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us at that time, Hal-Con was enduring some rather extreme growing pains. Here's a link to a news report on Hal-Con's Day 2 fiasco:
11 - I salute the 5th Dr. Who, Peter Davison, who waded outside into the cold where all of the incredibly disappointed turned-away convention pass holders were lining up for refunds. Peter Davison walked up and down the line to chat with those who couldn't get in, showing wonderful generosity and kindness. Here's a clip from Dr. Who, with the 5th doctor in action.
12 - Shawna got to hang out with him at the Stargazer Soiree later that night. A jolly good fellow, what?
13 - The best part of taking part in cons like Fan Expo and Hal-Con is the incredible costumes that go by my author table. Here's a small taste of some great ones. Join me next week when I turn Thursday Thirteen over to the costumes of Hal-Con 2013.
Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.
It's Hal-Con time again!
Starting today and running through Sunday, I'll be at my booth on the main floor at the Halifax World Trade and Convention Centre, 1800 Argyle Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia. If you're looking for print copies of my Dark Ages vampire novel Saint Sanguinus or my dark fantasy novel Bound by Dragonsfyre, I'll be signing copies.
Together, we'll be giving a workshop on Heroes and Villains on Saturday, Nov. 9th at 12:45 until 1:30.
In the meantime, the great NaNoWriMo writing marathon of 2013 continues. If you're doing the marathon and you want to find me, I'm NaNo-ing as vamprom.
Let's celebrate all things superheroic. This week's set features songs written about superhero characters, a super villain and one classic hero of old.
Today I'm joining with Mimi Lenox and a world of Peace Bloggers as we put our thirst for Peace into the Universe.
This piece is from Vivaldi's Gloria, which my choir is singing at the end of the month. Vivaldi's Gloria is one of my favorite works, and as an alto I love this piece in particular.
On Dona Nobis Pacem day, Vivaldi's work sends out this wish:
"Lamb of God
You who take away the sins of the world
Grant us peace"
I'd like to take a moment to address this wish, sent out into the Universe.
Wishes are a good starting point. You can't get anywhere without wishing for something. Whether you wish you could write a book, or visit a place you've always longed to see, if you don't start by hoping for it, where will you be?
You'll be in the same place you're in now.
The Blog 4 Peace movement asks us to take our wishes a little further than that. On Blog 4 Peace Day, we're asked to fill social media with our hopes for peace, in order to further the worldwide conversation towards peace.
What will that do? you may ask. Just a bunch of bloggers and Facebookers, Twitter users and Pinterest pinners posting about peace.
Well, if you think about Amazon and its algorithms, when a book goes on sale and a good number of people all purchase it on the same day, that activity drives the book higher onto Top 100 or even Top 10 lists. Amazon then starts promoting the book to readers who have bought similar books. Success builds on success.
If we all continue to blog for peace every year on Nov. 4th, if we send out Facebook posts, tweet about peace and pin peace to our Pinterest boards, we will collectively push our wishes and hopes for peace into the Universe's Top 10 algorithm.
Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.
The great NaNoWriMo writing marathon of 2013 has begun. If you're doing the marathon and you want to find me, I'm NaNo-ing as vamprom.
For today's music mix, let's go for the chicks. Female point-of-view, and all that.
1 - Bubbly -- Colbie Caillat
2 - Sweet Surrender -- Sarah McLachlan
3 - The Battle of Evermore -- Led Zeppelin with Sandy Denny
This is a combo song, with folk singer Sandy Denny joining with male supergroup Led Zeppelin and lead singer Robert Plant. They compliment each other beautifully. Strangely enough, I'm a big fan of Led Zeppelin, while my husband is an admirer of Sandy Denny.
