Writing Every Day for a Year: A New Brand of Insanity

I’ll lead off this blog post by explaining the exact details:

My New Year’s resolution for 2019 was to write every day for a year. I decided in advance that I would allow myself days off (Nationals, Play Performances, Cons, getting my wisdom teeth out) just in case. But In the end, I’d still guess that I’m in the 345-355 range, writing at least two sentences per day, and usually more.

By a fairly reliable method, I’ve figured out that I created about 51 new completed story documents during that time. Some of these have more than one story, and there are several long, in-progress documents with other stories, so that averages out to at lest one story per week, since I write primarily one-shots when I’m not writing my novel. I also started adapting a new screenplay and edited old writing. I’ve created probably 10 new characters, and written about… well, at least two of them. Right at the beginning of the year I started to write my second novel. We won’t talk about how much of that I’ve written.

As you might expect, I learned things through this process. During these last few days of the year, I’m taking some of my writing time to organize a list for you.

• I don’t recommend doing this… but I also do

I can absolutely tell you that the quality of my writing suffered from this. Focusing on quantity and speed made me put a little less effort into making everything a perfect work of art. In theory, that can be fixed in editing, but when I’m mostly writing one-shots because long projects require more contemplation, the editing doesn’t really happen either.

The reason I might still recommend it is actually a payoff I’m still waiting to see. My hope is that I have built enough of a habit that I won’t go full weeks or months without writing. Going through the grueling process of writing something every. single. day. will hopefully make a normal writing pace seem much more manageable. Also, the ability to write something that isn’t perfect is incredibly valuable, because otherwise you just never write.

• Writing what you want to read is just as important as everyone has told you

When you’re trying to find something to write every day, and your brain can’t handle one project for that long, you start to figure out what is the easiest thing to write. Important information on how my brain works: I write best when I’m working on at least three projects. Preferably writing all three at once. As I’m writing this blog, I have written in two other story documents today, and I’m feeling much better than I did at the beginning of this month when play performances kept me from focusing on more than one one-shot at a time.

So the best way to get my brain to concentrate on something when I’m six months in and done with writing is to find something I really want to read. For me, that means injuring characters and writing angst for the most part. Sometimes that means injuring the same character in different ways in different universes over and over again. It’s a wonder my characters do anything for me. But in the end, I get stories I actually care about and want to go back and reread once I'm done with them, which is better motivation to get them done.

• Mental breaks are important

The other reason my writing suffered that sometimes you really just have to give yourself a break from what you’re writing. Just like you need a break from people you spend time with in real life, you can also need a break from your fictional characters. (And maybe they need a break to recover from being injured for the fifth time in a month.) This also contributes to why I work on multiple projects at once. I do have a need to keep being productive all the time, but detouring to other stories can help provide breathing room for a story I’m stuck on.

• Sharing is caring

There were a few people I shared stories with for the first time this year. There are people who have read my stories before and very kindly asked for more. There’s the one certain person who has read every single completed story I’ve ever written and some not-completed ones. As a rare extroverted writer, the only way I can write at all is if I know someone is going to read my work. At the same time, why on earth should I write 50+ stories and not share them with more people?

One of the things I learned this year that would take a much longer blog post to explain is that maybe, just maybe, my writing is more important to other people than I’ve been thinking. In a lot of ways, it’s just been a way of getting the stories out of my head so I can make room for other things. But there’s a good chance that God gave me that need to get the things out of my head for more reasons than my own personal sanity.


Since sharing is caring, and there are some lovely people who might read my blog and care to read more, I’m going to provide a guide of easy-to-understand stories that I could share with you if you let me know you’re interested, and a few with direct links so you can read them right away.

If you want something that needs no other explanation, you can read my horror story from this year. Though the characters in my story this year were inspired by some of my original characters from other stories, (the only way I was able to even come up with an idea,) I always try to write my horror story so it’s self contained.

For a story that technically requires some context but is easier to explain, I have a RWBY fan fiction I posted this year. I actually want to write a fan fiction in my own preferred genre (hurt/comfort, sibling feels, friendship feels) in this fandom, but along the way I came up with this idea.

Some people out there have read my novel (and for those who still want to, I’ll probably do a new edit in the new year. Hopefully a quick edit…) and I do sometimes write additional one-shots for those characters. I have a few of those to choose from. Of ones I can definitely share, there are two Valentine’s Day one-shots, a story about someone being sick that is somewhat close to the above fan fiction, an incriminating kissing story, and a one-shot that’s kind of a prequel to my second novel.

Speaking of incriminating kissing stories, I do occasionally write romantic one-shots. I managed to round up three of those that I can survive sharing with people, though one is an overlap with the previous category. They’ll require some more explanation because they’re my original characters, usually in alternate universes, but sufficiently standalone.

As we get deeper into original stories that take more explanation, I’ve got three options. The first is - kind of out of character for me - set in a perfectly normal everyday life. I’ve just, you know, decided to have one of my characters get in a car accident. There’s some drama. The second is much more typical of my style, and involves superpowers and runaway children. Also involves several characters who actually belong to Zella. (Well. So do others. Complicated technicality.) The third is a spy story. Because everyone loves a good spy story. But it definitely drops you right in the middle of everything.

So that’s it, that’s my review of writing every day for a year. I appreciate all the people who knowingly or unknowingly supported me. I appreciate all the people who knowingly or unknowingly hung out with me late at night when I was actually writing on my phone because I needed to get words in. I appreciate the people who have already read some of these stories and any of you who read them now. I promise I won't do this again. Thanks for being around to get me this far.

In Defense of Gratuitous Pleasing of the Fans

Obviously: End Game Spoilers.

I’ve ranted against fan service many a time in my life. I watch enough TV shows with loud internet fandoms and writers who are intimidated by them. I’ve seen well-developed ships get shoved to the side because screenwriters are too scared of backlash from the loud minority who were angry that their OTP wasn’t canon. I've seen plots reversed because the public thinks they know better about how a story should end. I think an author ought to be true to their original vision, even sometimes when it doesn’t match my own.

But I witnessed a moment of ultimate fan gratification that will make me eat my words. It turned the term on its head, considering "fan service" is usually applied to adding scantily dressed female characters to a scene to please male fans. Instead, I’m thinking of an army of well armed female characters who are pleasing the female fans.

I’m referring to a moment in Avengers: End Game that got some of the best audience reaction when I saw it opening night in a crowded theater. When Captain Marvel turned to take the gauntlet past a horde of faceless alien creatures, and the entire female Marvel heroes lineup got ready to back her up. A moment echoing Black Widow’s “She’s not alone” from Infinity War, but tenfold. Valkyrie, the Wasp, Shuri, Okoye, Scarlet Witch, Nebula. Even Gamora, who’s from another timeline and has no idea who these people are.

This moment, speaking as a writer and a filmmaker myself, was probably the most contrived moment of the entire film. (Which might be saying a lot. Who knows. I liked it.) Captain Marvel didn’t need this backup. There was no reason for all of them to be there; Scarlet Witch was just beating up on Thanos and the Wasp was busy starting up a time machine. But the fans awaited, and the female Avengers (The A-Force?) arrived.

This contrived moment could be a time to address the fake feminism that the media has been forcing on us since Captain Marvel came out. I could complain about how I found a complex female superhero I related to, only to have "feminists" (including the actress herself) misuse her image to push their agenda. Using a movie that was surprisingly subtle about its feminism, no less. (Unless you had the misfortune of reading reviews before you saw it.) If you want to ask me why I feel this way about the feminism they're pushing, please ask. I don't want you to think I hate my fellow women. Because believe me, as a woman, I do believe in real feminism, but that ain't it.

That's not why I'm blogging. I know this scene was uncalled for and preposterous. But I have cried at it both times I’ve seen the movie. Excessively. I’ve cried without really understanding why, so of course I had to diagnose it.

The answer came to me from writer’s group; turns out we can be useful. A friend has been reading through my X-men comics, and I’ve had the great pleasure of watching her enjoy them. These are large volumes of X-men comics from the 70's-80's, more or less, and they’re my favorite comics of all time. Apart from some Spider-Man, they were the first comics I read, back in 2005 when I was 12 years old and supposed to be studying quizzing. This friend, who’s pretty new to superheroes as a whole, expressed a dislike for Kitty Pride, who’s been a favorite of mine for the past 14 years.

I looked at it objectively and yeah, Kitty’s kind of an obnoxious teenager. She’s both too realistic, as an emotional 13 year old, and too idealized, as a kid genius, ballerina who joins the X-men before even starting high school. As someone who uses the term sparingly, an argument could be made that she starts as a Mary Sue.

But I read those comics when I was 12, and all I saw was a girl my age who got to be on a team with my favorite superheroes. I knew nothing about feminism, or fanboys objecting to female superheroes stealing the spotlight. I just knew I was one step closer to seeing myself in a fictional world I desperately wanted to be a part of.

I read and watched a lot as a kid. I regret to say I read less now, but still watch plenty. But all I wanted when I was 12 was to find a character who looked and acted like me. In all my consumption of media, I hadn’t found one yet. There were some I almost related to in books, and practically none in movies.

More than plot, more than cool magical creatures, more than secret worlds, what I wanted out of my fiction was a character like me. Kitty Pride wasn’t that character. Not yet. But she gave me hope, and she gave me someone to want to be like.

So I didn't cry at that scene because of the statement it was making. I cried because I finally, fully understood why representation is important in movies, after years of vaguely nodding along with people who are passionate about it. I don't mind relating to male characters. Most of the characters I cosplay are male because it's hard to find a female character who acts much like me. Until I saw it on screen, in all the glory of more female heroes than you can count on one hand saying, "We got this," I didn't realize what I was missing.

I cried for my 12 year old self who just wanted to join the X-men. I cried for my 15 year old self who saw the X-men and Fantastic Four movies and realized Hollywood still couldn’t give me a superhero role model I could relate to. For my 22 self who claimed the CW Supergirl before her show even aired, because finally I had a female hero who didn’t need to be sexy. Who started to cosplay Supergirl and go visit kids in the hospital so I could feel like a real superhero sometimes. And I cried for my current, 26 year old self, who saw Captain Marvel and thought - thanks to her personality, not her feminism - “Finally. I can really see myself as a superhero.”

There's nothing wrong with relating to both male and female characters. Humans are deep, and being able to relate to all kinds of different people is a positive thing. For the moment, I don't mind the fact that in general, a sci-fi or action film will usually have a male protagonist, because Hollywood is still figuring out how to write female heroes and make them more than "A Strong Female Character." But maybe it's an exciting thing that the finally ARE figuring it out, and my younger sisters and nieces will have those role models to look up to.

In the meantime, I've got  14 years of aspirations to be a superhero behind me, and I’m ready to take that gauntlet and beat Thanos to a pulp, because I have plenty of my own real life female superheroes to back me up, even if it takes a contrived moment of glory for Hollywood to acknowledge that we actually exist.

Writing A Blog In Lieu Of This Song

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

- Aldous Huxley

Hey stranger. Long time no see. I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me.

NOPE.

I have procrastination to do, and I will get word count while I do it. Blogs totally count for NaNoWriMo total when I'm not even writing a novel. I already wrote the novel. Feel free to ask me about it.

Also I feel a burning desire to share music with you. You could probably tell that from my last series. Whiiiich I never actually finished. I edited that last post there to finish the alphabet, you can go check it out if you care.

Intro over, it's time for a new post. A lot of what I have strong feelings on involves music, and I will readily tell anyone that I can (and do) assign a fictional character to literally every song I like. This is how I write. If there's no music involved, there's no story. So I thought I would share some songs I've collected that have to do with writing.

This list is partially for the benefit of my writer friends, since I have many. Some of these songs can be very inspiring when you find yourself in a rut. Or they can at least show you that tons of other writers in the world feel just as stumped as you do. However, this list can also be enjoyed by the non-writer who is crazy enough to read all the way through it.

"I'll be twice as good as that, six months from... never."

-Watch What Happens

There are some obvious songs about writing that I didn't feel the need to address. Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield, Non-Stop from Hamilton, Watch What Happens from Newsies. (Yeah, I used my version. So sue me.) These are completely about writing or talk extensively about it. Incredibly inspiring, but most of you have heard those before. Hurricane from Hamilton also addresses the topic some more and some of the ways that the words in your head that you're trying to get on paper can get out of hand. I've definitely experienced that.

The rest of these songs will be organized by artist. I managed to find several from each artist, and I can say with confidence that I would recommend any of these bands as writing music if you happen to be someone who can write while listening to music with lyrics. (If not, I also have instrumental recommendations for you. Please ask me.)

Twenty Øne Pilots

I do not have writer's block,

My writer just hates the clock

-Migraine

My pick for writing songs from TØP would have to be Ode To Sleep and Migraine. I relate to many of Tyler Joseph's lyrics about how his brain works. It's hardly just these two songs, it's basically every TØP song that I've properly listened to. The brain, especially when you're writing, can just be such an exciting and dangerous place. You want to get all your ideas out, but you also don't want to spend too much time alone with them. Really. But TØP also has the right sort of music for writing in my opinion. Ode To Sleep especially has the slightly electronic sound that I think works best as background music, plus their songs tend to be long, which means you don't have to go find a new song on YouTube too quickly.

Take this weapon forged in darkness,

Some see a pen, I see a harpoon.

-Ode To Sleep

Bastille

Oh I feel overjoyed

When you listen to my words

I see them sinking in

Oh I see them crawling underneath your skin

-Overjoyed

Speaking of people who are on the same wavelength as me, Bastille was my best discovery of this year. The last time I bought more Bastille songs I listened to three in a row and went "ARE YOU READING MY MIND??" This is true for many themes, but Dan Smith's take on writing is always on point. I'd say this is most prominent in the song Poet. I didn't even bother taking a quote, I could quote literally the entire song and it would be relevant. It gets across the point that some things just need to be written down, both so you as the writer can keep them "forever", but also so other people can experience them.

Oh they told me nothing new,

But I love to read the words you used

-Things We Lost in the Fire

I wrote several essays about this, and I think I even shared one as a blog post. While it has been incredibly important for me to find my own voice and learn how to write the things that are in my head, that's not the only reason writing is so important to me. Having friends who also write lets me get to know them in a way that I don't get from just every day interaction.

It is not enough to be dumbstruck

Can you fill this silence?

You must have the words in that head of yours

-The Silence

Waterparks

I don't wanna talk about it

I don't wanna think about it

Because the last time that

I had these thoughts

I just kept going on about it

-Dizzy

Let's be real, writing isn't all fun and games. But this band certainly sounds like they are. Shout out to a certain other writer for getting me addicted to this punk rock boyband. They're a bit of the odd one out on this list because I can only find the one instance when they directly talk about writing. But there are several songs that came to mind on the topic anyway. Sometimes, even for the extroverted writer, things just won't come out in speech. People close to me have heard more times than they can count "I explain things better over text." There's definitely something much safer about having time to think over what you're saying and rephrase as many times as you want rather than stammering over your words. In most human interaction I'll admit that face to face conversations are important, but I appreciate the times (like now) when I can take my time and explain the way I actually think rather than the way I sound.

I can't even count the times

I settled for these scribbled lines

Tell me won't you

Stay awake, stay awake for me

-Hawaii (Stay Awake)

FM Static

What will it be like, will it all go down?

Everyday I'm gonna write this down

Right here in my diary

If you write titles as long as FM Static, you don't deserve for me to type them out

With all this talk of needing to get my thoughts on paper, you'd think I'd be the type to have a diary. NOPE. I've managed to keep a diary for cumulatively about a year of my life, and that wasn't consecutive. I've never been able to convince myself to write for that long purely for my own benefit. Nothing against people who do journal. I owe a lot to a certain expert journal-er friend of mine for keeping track of my life for me. But writing does take a fair amount of effort for me, and I'd rather have something I can show other people.

I want to say, what I want to say,

And hope no fear gets in the way.

-Breaking Me Again

That said, FM Static's album "Dear Diary" is one of the best albums ever created. Unsurprisingly, there are many songs that relate to writing. The main character of this concept album works on his life's problems (and since he's in high school, he has many) in the pages of his diary. Trevor McNevan, my second favorite lyricist of all time, did an excellent job making these songs relatable to literally everyone in some way. But there's definitely an underlying theme of needing to leave a mark on the world, and there's a lot of us who decide to do that by writing.

I don't care if it comes out perfect, 

As long as I can spit it out

Some really long title again

(It should be note that "Breaking Me Again" is not on Dear Diary but I don't care. I love it anyway.)

Brave Saint Saturn/Five Iron Frenzy

Let's move on to my favorite lyricist of all time.

Real change doesn't come from a mandate

Real love you cannot legislate

-Underground

If you haven't figured out by now from my blog title, URL, and several past blog posts, I have a deep appreciation for Reese Roper. Every time he brings up writing or creating in his lyrics, it's an acknowledgment that words can have so much power. Analyzing the lyrics for both bands is inspiring to me to be careful in what you say, but not to pull punches.

I'm afraid that if I write this song,

She might break my heart in two.

-Anastasia

At the same time, Roper has written some of the more relatable lyrics about the struggles of writing. "Plan B" is about giving up and procrastinating in general and let me tell you, the plan B often seemed pretty tempting during college. ("Think I found my calling now, laying down in the yard.") "Superpowers" acknowledges that Roper himself was notorious for this, and for forgetting his own lyrics. ("Sometimes we have a deadline for writing these songs. Five minutes left to write this one... la, la la, la la, la la la.")

Relient K

And sometimes I say things that

I wish that I could take back

The most crucial thing I lack is the thing called "tact"

-Bite My Tongue

In general, I think we can all agree that I'm a lot better at not pulling punches than I am about being careful. This is definitely another reason I prefer to write, because I can more easily catch those things that wouldn't even occur to me as tactless.

So rather than imply

Why don't you just verbalize

All the things that you're trying to say?

-Come Right Out and Say It

But Matt Thiessen of Relient K did an excellent job of writing about both sides of it. I'd rather over-explain, over-analyze, and over-apologize rather than not tell someone something that could make a positive difference in their lives.

Thankfully, I know where to go for advice on which things fall into the category of necessary information and which are better left unsaid...

I lay my life before you, and I'm not getting up.

Father, how I adore you,

Those words are not enough.

Those Words Are Not Enough

Yellowcard

... the strength I know

It's somewhere in my bones

To pull the curtain up again and get on with this show

At least you know that I still care enough to write

Awakening

Honestly, I couldn't do a post about writing and music and not bring up Yellowcard. They're literally the reason my novel exists. Somehow. I don't understand it. That would take a much longer time to explain.

I'm finding my own words, my own little stage

my own epic drama, my own scripted page

I'll send you the rough draft, I'll seal it with tears

Maybe you'll read it and I'll reappear

-Rough Draft

But I think Yellowcard really gets at the heart of a burning need to write. Whether it's in reference to songwriting, or the need to keep writing even after a breakup or a big life change, those lyrics always stand out to me, even in songs I wouldn't particularly like otherwise.

For me it's more than that. It's been such an interesting journey, going from a teenager who had so many stories but was convinced that I would never be able to write it in a way that sounded good, to having now finished writing that novel I was planning 10 years ago. But between the hard work, the things that worked that shouldn't have, the things that have been put in my way as inspiration, I see a different picture. I do believe that I'm meant to keep writing, whether I ever get published or not. Maybe I don't even always need an audience either, despite my dislike of journaling. But I've seen things God has already done with my silly little stories, and as long as he lets me keep getting my thoughts out on paper, I'll keep seeing if I can do any good with them.

'Cause I still remember the reasons I write

Things that I've dreamed for so long

-Fields & Fences

Alphabetical Music - Part 3

The continuation of my last few posts. I might eventually get through the whole alphabet. These posts are where you can come for music recommendations and for me unwinding by writing about music.

I'm writing this while watching TV with my little sisters and bonding with their cats, so I feel I'm a little out of it, but hopefully my commentary makes sense.


M

The Marvelous Toy - Peter, Paul and Mary
I blame Peter, Paul and Mary for my love of harmony. Also a lot of my love of folk music. This is an adorable little song and it also gave me fond memories of listening to it in the car with my dad and singing along.

N

Now and for Always - The Lord of the Rings Musical
This. Is. The best thing. That has ever happened to musical theater. It still hasn't made it to a US tour or anything not all the songs are perfect. But this one is, and it's even more important because, as much as I love the movies and will defend them to the end, this scene in the movie was never quite right. This version is.

O

On My Way Home - Pentatonix
I have an incredibly deep and long-standing love of this song. It's so gorgeous and I have a lot of great associations with it. If you check my ipod, I have listened to this song more than 140 times. Sonora and I did a cover of it on my Youtube. And basically just... Mitch in this song tho...

P

Polaroid - Imagine Dragons
Speaking of songs I have covered, I'm very proud of that one. This song is just the epitome of Imagine Dragons. I love that none of their songs sound like each other, they have a brand new sound every time. This song got my attention with its unique style, but the words are so beautiful too. Also somebody else made a video with it for me.

Q

Quiet - Matilda the Musical
Musical theater is often the best place to find incredibly relatable songs. Composers know what they're doing, they write about real people in ways that everyone can understand. This song from a fantastic musical perfectly described something that I never would have been able to explain myself. There's a certain wonderful kind of quiet that comes after being really upset. Also I might have sung this one.

R

Rise Again - Needtobreathe
Needtobreathe is probably my favorite still-touring band and this might be my favorite Needtobreathe song. Every time they release a new CD I assume it can't be as good as the last one, there's no way, but they haven't failed me yet. This CD, Rivers in the Wasteland, still might be my favorite. There's such a variety of music and a mix of really meaningful songs and really fun songs. This one is somewhere in between for me. Obviously the lyrics are fantastic, but the style just makes me so happy too.

S

Stereo Hearts - Gym Class Heroes ft. Adam Levine
I haven't really gone for putting really popular songs in these posts, aka songs you'd hear on the radio. But I adore this song. I have a soft spot for love songs about music and this is such a fun one. For a pop song, the lyrics are surprisingly clever.


One more post and we're finally done with this!

Edit: That one more post never happened. I need to write a new post, so here's a quick rundown of the rest. I had a plan. But I lost it. So we're going with what I found on the spot.

Tear in my Heart by Twenty one Pilots. For the line "My taste in music is your face."

Under Bridges by Brave Saint Saturn. If you haven't heard it, you need to.

the Voice by Celtic Woman. It's beautiful and haunting.

Warrior by Paradise Fears. You probably need to hear it and you didn't even know it.

X we'll get back to that one...

You Are My Hope by Skillet. Still one of my favorite praise songs.

And I don't even like the song, but I feel Zen and the Art of Xenophobia by Five Iron Frenzy needs an acknowledgment.

Alphabetical Music - Part 2

The continuation of my last post. I'm not sure any of you are wildly interested in this, but I'm enjoying it, so I'll appreciate the sensation of not being paid for trying to get views (fun fact: I do run the social media at my job, so that's basically what I do) and I get to write some more about music.


Unfortunately, when I came to write this post I realized that somehow I had lost the next 8 songs off my list, so I had to recreate the list. I'm trying not to repeat artists, though there will be at least one repeat on the list as a whole.

G

Good Morning Planetarium - Falling Up
Thought I ought to show Falling Up some love. I learned to love them even more after listening to the audiobook written by the lead singer. If you have some time and you're an audiobook type of person, I highly recommend it.

H

Hopeless Wanderer - Mumford & Sons
I love Mumford & Sons so much. I find new reasons to appreciate the poetry of their lyrics every time I listen through a CD. This particular song is special because when we performed Little Women a few years ago, Nadia and I had kind of assigned a different Mumford song to each character, and this was the one we assigned to Jo, whom I played. I identify a lot with Jo, and possibly even more so with this song.

I

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night - Five Iron Frenzy
Okay, this one's even more special. See, I had the misfortune of becoming a Five Iron fan AFTER they had already retired. So I put their CDs on repeat and learned to love their songs without any hope of ever seeing them or getting new music. Then a few days after one of the worst days of my life, I get home and I see the unbelievable. Five Iron is coming back, and they've released a new song. Now, I don't know that I can say I love their new stuff as much as their old stuff, but I absolutely adore this song. One of my favorite t-shirts is my FIF shirt that says "And hope still flies."

J

Just Fall - Anthem Lights
For the longest time I just liked Anthem Lights for their marvelous covers of other people's songs. Somewhere along the line I started listening to their original stuff, and as cookie cutter as some of it is, I really love quite a few of their songs. This is one that I kind of wish I'd run across a few months before I did, but it's been pretty useful anyway.

K

Kindle My Heart - A Little Princess Soundtrack
This super pretty song is in a super pretty scene in this super pretty movie. As wonderful as it is within the context of the movie, the real reason it's special to me is that this song is a lot of the reason I kept up with singing and trying to find voice lessons. Because once upon a time when I was quite young I somehow had enough courage to sing this song for someone and they told me I had a pretty voice and it was quite possibly the first time anyone ever complimented me on my voice. I really ought to do a cover of it now that I've had lessons...

L

Lift a Sail - Yellowcard
There are way too many Yellowcard songs I could have gone with, so I may have had to opt for one where I didn't have a better option for this letter. But this is one of my favorites. I've assigned it to several of my original fictional characters, and I used it as the curtain call when we performed the Voyage of the Dawn Treader a few years ago.



Alright guys, I think we'll have this done in two more posts. Let me know if you appreciate any of my song recommendations.

Alphabetical Music - Part 1

As stolen from this clever blogger friend of mine. If anything will get me to post on my blog, it's music. You can expect a few of these posts and then there's another music one I've been working on for a while. If you're looking for music suggestions, I'll be providing them here free of charge.

I'm splitting this blog into three parts because 1. Personally, I'm not going to read a blog with 26 paragraphs talking about songs. 2. It keeps me writing on my blog for a little longer.

A

Already Home - Thousand Foot Krutch
During the first music class I took at college the professor asked us to bring in a song for analyzing. Unfortunately he put a time limit on the song, so I wasn't able to bring this one in, but it was my first choice.

B

Broken Things - Ryan Kelly
I can't remember who first introduced me to this song by Ryan Kelly, of Celtic Thunder fame. There were definitely times in my life when this song was incredibly important, and it's pretty to boot.

C

Can't Live Without You - Owl City
Speaking of being important to my life, this song is actually the sequel to one of the more important songs in my life. I listened to Tidal Wave so many many times on my way to and from work during one particular year. Then my little sister informed me that one of the songs on the new Owl City CD was officially a sequel to Tidal Wave. And do you know what? This one made sense for my life in the same way as Tidal Wave did when I first listened to it. When you listen to one song after the other, you can see what an encouraging thing that was.

D

Desert Soul - Rend Collective
This song is the best in concert. I never knew that using a garbage can as an instrument could be so powerful. But the lyrics are amazing even apart from the performance.

E

Everlasting Arms - Vampire Weekend
Okay this one is just fun. I have no deep reasoning for you behind this song. I just love to jam to it.

F

Failure to Excommunicate - Relient K
Relient K had to make it onto this list somehow, but I was trying to find songs that it's possible not everyone knows. This is here for the line "Jesus loves the outcasts, he loves the ones the world just loves to hate" alone.

Sunny With a High of 75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9na42244ZU

If you don’t know the Relient K song, you should.

I realize some people may come to California for slightly warmer weather than that, but 70’s is perfect for me. I think it was just about the perfect day to go to the beach.

I realize I glossed over a day, so I’ll backtrack before we hit the beach. The last day of driving was spent driving through the rest of Utah, (surprisingly) Arizona, Nevada, and some California. We’re quite happily in Anaheim now.

We learned that yeah, everything out West is really big. Mostly really flat. But then suddenly you’re driving through a valley with mountains of monstrous size on either side. And there are cacti. Still haven’t seen any tumbleweeds though…

Today we went to Seal Beach to experience the Pacific Ocean. This was mostly because Nadia has come to the ocean with the goal of seeing seals. Also the internet claimed parking was free. (The internet lied, by the way.)

Despite my deathly fear of fish and other sea creatures, I do love swimming in the ocean. The water might have been a bit cold for the natives, but I think it was just about perfect. I led the charge into the ocean and unwisely just kind of stood there letting it pull me a little further in every time. It was all fun and games, but I did faceplant once or twice from some pretty big waves. I have a deep respect for surfers now.

Eventually I started to get cold (because my favorite water temperature is a little chilly so I can get out of swimming for forever) and sat on the beach to attempt to dry off. We had lunch, surprisingly unbothered by seagulls. At the end of lunch, Nadia pointed out a large shape in the water.

Nadia: “That’s a big piece of something in the water. Must be a log.”

Me: “Looks like it. Unless it’s… NADIA, IT’S A SEAL!!”

Nadia was one step ahead of me and already sprinting to get a better look at it. I followed with her phone and eventually handed it off to her because I was, once again, freezing. Eventually Nadia finished seal watching and we strolled along the pier. We had some extra time for parking (internet lied…) so we explored the touristy stuff and bought souvenirs. (I needed sunglasses anyway.)

We’ve discovered that we can walk to Disneyland/the surrounding parks from our hotel without too much effort. Our Disney expert tipped us off that Downtown Disney would be worth investigation. Needless to say, the Disney/Star Wars/Marvel nerds were pleased with the investigation. We found more souvenirs, and some excellent food as well. Personally, I acquired a Pascal – the chameleon from Tangled. Since I’ve been declared Rapunzel, I decided I needed Pascal in my life.

I ended up walking the trip from the hotel to Downtown Disney four times today, in addition to wandering around the Seal Beach area. More than a little tiring, but I am really starting to like Anaheim. It’s a friendly sort of city, and definitely very pretty.

Thanks to a tip from a California native, we got to watch the nightly Disney fireworks from the street in front of our hotel. Then I found a nice tree and had Nadia help me film a ukulele cover. Then I got stuck in a traffic jam picking Quincy up from his baseball game. We still had fun anyway.

So we’ve made it all the way here to California, what are we going to do now?

WE’RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND.