New Music - Evanescence & Lacuna Coil

I took this morning off from writing and editing and have just be relaxing, listening to music on Youtube and catching up on some odds and ends projects that I have been neglecting.

Lately, my music collection has been a little lethargic. When I'm writing I want to listen to something that is really gritty, has lots of distortion and a gallop kind of tempo to it, but - of course - I'm a sucker for those moody gothic girls who like to complain ad nauseam about how miserable life is in paradise, so I started listening to Evanescence this morning and have to say - nice job Amy Lee.

I'm not a big fan of their first album, Fallen. I listened to it way too much several years ago and I just can't stomach it anymore. Plus, it was my X's CD and, well, along with Korn - NO THANKS!  But, I have been listening to Evanescence's second two albums and will tell you - it is some really good music. It will definitely be used as writing music in the near future.

Another band that I'm really excited about is Lacuna Coil. They are an Italian Goth Metal band. One of their great songs is here. Take a listen:





I absolutely love this song, and the video - with their frocks - it is perfect!

1130 + Words - Artistic Integrity - Release Dates

I managed to knock out around 1130 words this morning. I got it down by 8am and then forced myself to stop so I could attend to some clients. Afterward, I jumped into my edits of The Preparation and finished the scene with Warren and the message he received. I think it turned out pretty good. I think this means tomorrow I start editing Chapter 5.

I just finished listening to an interview with Amy Lee from Evanescence. I stumbled there on Youtube because I had been putting together a writing playlist (you can find it here) and found We are the Fallen. Come to find out, this is Ben's new band [who was in Evanescence] and they were talking about how they were being compared to that original group but didn't want to be. Then I did some more reading and found out that Amy keeps kicking people out of the band, and they're all pretty hostile about it. So, I ended up watching the interview hoping she would say something about the member changes and she did. I thought it was pretty interesting [since there are always two sides to every situation].

She made the comment that she wanted to be honest and write music that stretched her, that basically challenged her as an artist. But, she said writing with Ben was stifling because he wanted their music to be more commercially accessible, easy to understand, more straightforward.

This shocked me, because I think this way [not the latter, the former]. I thought a lot about this today when I was working on a Business Plan [eventually scrapping the biz plan altogether and going with just a simple marketing plan]. I'm not interested in tailoring my writing to make it more commercially acceptable. Yes, I would like to get paid for my effort. Yes, I wouldn't mind making Hocking money - be able to live my life and focus all my energies on just writing great stories that I love and hopefully others would love, too. But, I'm not interested in switching from my current genre to - say, vampires - just because blood suckers are a popular ticket right now. I don't write for others, I write for myself. I would be ABSOLUTELY thrilled if someone else [meaning, a multitude] read and liked my stories - but it is not the main reason why I write. I write because I love my charaters, I love the stories and I want them to come out - to live, to breathe.

I think, if what Amy Lee said was true, she is right and justified in her decision to change up members in order to hold on to her integrity. Of course, no one really can know what's going on in that band but the members themselves. And who really cares, anyway? Some people just feed on [and often create] interpersonal drama in their life. I suppose. It is a way of life, but no life I would ever want to live. No thanks. But many, if not most, would say the same about living in the back of a pickup truck out in the woods - which, of course, I think is a sublime way to live. Here is the video.




In the end, you have to be honest with yourself and protect what is yours. You are the only one you are stuck living with for the rest of your life, so you have to be able to look yourself in the mirror. The relationship with yourself is the only one yo have to make work. All the rest is just utter wreckage.

800+ Words But Getting Nothing Done

I jumped into it this morning and knocked out 800 words, even after getting up an hour late and having to get ready for the JWs to come by. They have been visiting for a few months now, and I love chattering with them about the bible. Not sure I agree with their eschatology [nor will I be breaking my self-imposed isolation, either], but who am I to judge, right? In the end, they didn't come after all - they had some sort of function to go to. I think their like Amway but without the cars, boats and dreams of piles of money [did you notice there I said "dreams"?].

I've noticed that I am barely able to get my routine tasks done in one day. It's not work crowding in, by any means. Actually, I think I just have too many things I'm trying to do each day, so I just get bogged down. Plus, my projects are really quite intensive. I start writing and it takes me a few hours. Then a few more hours to do edits. Then a few more hours to do research and work on outlines for upcoming books to write. Don' t get me wrong, I love it. But by the time I'm done with just that it's already noon, and I haven't touched any of my task list, nor have I read any books that are sitting on my Good Reads shelf.

Not sure how to solve the problem, either. And what's worse: there are even more things that I would like to do that I simply just don't have time for now: like work through my math books, read my the physical books I got from my sister when she moved [there's a whole box of them], etc. I wish Uberman Sleep actually worked [or, at least, worked better for my schedule], then I could have - well only a few more hours, since I only sleep about 5-7 hours now each night. So, maybe 4 more hours. But, man, does Uberman kill you during the first transition. Besides, it definitely doesn't work with my clients.

I started working on the first soundtrack for THE PREPARATION. It's got some really good songs on it - all of the best I've been listening to while doing the edits and possibly when I was writing it, though I wrote the bulk of it in Astoria, so I don't really remember what I was listening to then; a lot of John Mayer, I think. And Five for Fighting. I should probably add them to the soundtrack then. I'll be uploading it to iTunes and also to Youtube and posting both here on the blog when the book is released on Amazon.

I also watched two short interviews on youtube with Amanda Hocking. I have been reading a month of posts on her site each night. She is my moral support in a way. She gives me hope. I mean, if I could sell just a FRACTION of what she does, I would accomplish my goals and be able to live off what I make from books. In the end I'm just a rabbit living in a hole; reminds me of this guy. In fact, lets see a picture of it.

This would literally be paradise for me, though I wouldn't want to hunch down and have to crawl inside. My dream house is just big enough for a single bed [just wide enough and long enough to sleep on], with a small counter/table on the opposite wall for cooking, writing, storage, etc. Above that would be a window length opening of a spectacular view [like a lake or deep forests]. The dwelling would be under ground, ground level would be the bottom of the window. A decent sized door at the foot of the bed to get out. That's it.

You can find Dan at Moonlight Chronicles.