This week's writerly news + music love + Ode to #Arrow

Pssst. Come here. Let me tell you a story.




There once was a girl who constantly read and wrote
She stayed away from the TV because her #booklove was no joke
Then Twitter brought her a show 
Featuring a whiskery guy named Arrow
And now her writerly/readerly stuff 
Has suffered greatly. (She blames Amell.)

Ode to Arrow
By Jessica L. Brooks

That should really be the end of my writerly news, 'cause it's basically all I've got. Seriously haven't read a lick since last week because Lovemuffin and I have watched almost 40 episodes of Arrow since last Saturday. I mean, talk about a marathon. (But us fanperson-ing together *has* been fun, so there's that.) Now that I've caught up (not counting the last episode, DO NOT GO THERE), feel free to squee with me on the interwebs, because I'm totally down.

Quick recap on what I actually have done this week...

News/Noteworthy

* After a Hellogoodbye hiatus, I am back full-force in love with them and they are fueling the writing I am getting done (because, you know, some *is* getting done, as Lovemuffin does work and I'm not allowed to watch an episode without him). 

Their most recent release

** Songs to check out: Just Don't Let Go Just Don't, The Magic Hour is Now, Die Young, Die Dumb; Not Soon  

There is a VINYL of this and I am totally freaking out.

** Songs to check out: Coppertone, Getting Old, The Thoughts That Give Me the Creeps, When We First Met

* I have something exciting (for me, anyway) that I get to announce soon (coming out in enewsletter next week) and I can't wait to share it here in a week or so! *woot*

* If you haven't purchased Ghiradelli brownies, you're missing out. They are the best thing since sliced bread (and pizza. And brownies that are plain, because, yes... these HAVE chocolate IN them. TRIPLE the chocolate. THIS IS IMPORTANT). If you have a Costco, they'll hook you up with six (yes, six) batches in one box. I can't even.

* I've been getting bits and pieces of the second Cozenage book popping into my head (which is awesome). Don't want to say much, but it involves something Jonas does that is different (but neat, IMO). So... yeah.

* My author pal Cheyanne (@NormalChey) and I are going to watch the first two (probably... one for sure) episodes of Arrow tonight together on Twitter (I jumped the gun and started watching it before this, so she's the newbie, but it's all good), so if ya'll want to join in, we'll be on at 8 central (for the love of all things, do not tweet spoilers, yo!)! The hashtag will be #Arrowthon. 

Giveaways

The Man in the Iron Mask still has two weeks to go... enter to win it here! (The hashtag for this monthly feature is now officially #JLBgivesawayaDVD.)


And... that is all I've got, because I was up until two a.m. this morning thanks to Baskin Robbins and their super-caffeinated Blasts. (Thank you, Lovemuffin... totally my bad.)

Have a very blessed weekend, everyone! 

Light 'Em Up: Igniting This Summer's Writing Inspiration

Writers look for (and find) inspiration everywhere, including throughout the artistic and unique melodies and words in music. ST Bende and I are over at the Indie Ignites blog sharing our current writing inspiration (including Fall Out Boy, Of Monsters and Men, and Philip Philips). 

We were trying to keep the post short, but two more current inspirations for me (one sparking ideas in my head for years now) are 

1) Mayday Parade's A Lesson in Romantics album (You Be the Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground, I'll Be The Wings That Keep Your Heart In The Clouds being my absolute favorite song ever and inspiration for If I Speak True a couple years ago -- link)

and 

2) Hillsong United's ZION album (Mercy Mercy, reloaded being one of the ones I can have on a loop and just keep writing forever -- the louder the better -- link)

Whether you too are looking for some writerly inspiration, or simply wanting to enjoy some new songs this summer, I'm sure you find a few you like. :) Check our post out HERE and share some of your current favorite songs with us! See you there!

Main Characters and Their Theme Songs

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. ~Victor Hugo

Not too long ago I did a post regarding two movie scores that helped with the tone of Jonas and Hattie's story in Pity Isn't An Option. (If you missed it, you can read about it here.) The reason I'm bringing this up again is I belong to an independently published author group called Indie Ignites, and one of our members posted Indie Ignite's Not So Infinite (But Pretty Eclectic) Playlist a couple of days ago. (Pretty cool idea--check out the entire playlist here!)

Along with the musical score inspiration for PIAO, I also had one playlist for Jonas, and a separate playlist for Hattie as I wrote. So when Stephanie asked us to share our main character's theme songs (or the theme song for the book) for the post, it wasn't hard to pick a song from each of their playlists to share as their "themes". :)

Jonas' is We All Fall in Love Sometimes by Jeff Buckley

And Hattie's is Gone Away by Lucy Schwartz

So what do you think? How do these songs make you feel?

Do you have a theme song for your life, or for your main character if you're a writer?

Tune in tomorrow for Pity's PAPERBACK COVER REVEAL!!! (dun dun DUN) I am so excited about this, as the lovely and quite talented Hafsah Faizal at IceyDesigns will be doing my cover REVEAL at IceyBooks! This is what I said when I saw it for the first time:

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY *takes breath* AYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

(No seriously. You can ask her.)

Oh and don't forget... it's Read An Ebook Week! Which means the ebook version of Pity Isn't An Option is currently FREE!  (You can get it here.)

Be blessed,

Jessica

The Soundtrack to Your Heart

No, this isn't a late Valentine's Day post. Last night I realized I'd never mentioned the two specific and incredibly talented people who inspired so much of Wanless and Jonas and Hattie, and their story. And I thought, why not talk about their music, and how well they conveyed moods and storylines without using a single word?

I'm not sure if any of you have ever seen the movies Keith or Remember Me (both for the older YA or adult crowd, for my younger readers out there--Ugh, Keith just... ugh. Jesse McCartney was so great), but the original score soundtracks blew me away. If there was ever, EVER an opportunity for anything to do with Jonas and Hattie's story, I would be absolutely head-over-heels crazy-amazed to have Tree Adams (Keith) and/or Marcelo Zarvos (Remember Me) be a part of it. Their music really moved PITY along. Talk about talent!

I wasn't sure how to share anything on here without dealing with copyright issues, so I decided to give you links to preview the score soundtracks yourself. Take your time to listen and get a feel of the emotional state of the settings and/or characters!

Keith

Remember Me

So, what do you think? For me, it was as though Hattie and Jonas' hearts were speaking through those songs; as though their emotions and feelings and the way they saw things were came right through the notes and latched onto my own heart.  :)

How about you? Are there any instrumental songs that have inspired you?

Have a great three-day weekend, guys!

Be blessed,

Jessica

It's all about love

So most books -- especially YA (since that's the category my head has been submerged in for over a year now) have a love story entwined into the plot. Call me crazy, but I love a good old-fashioned love triangle. I know some people are getting tired of those, but I'm announcing right here, right now, that I'm not one of them. (This might come back to kick me in the backside later, but -- get it? ha ha. But. -- this is how I'm feeling... this month, anyway.)

For me, the love triangle doesn't have to be "she likes him and he likes her but this guy also likes her and she can't choose between the two of them", it just has to have one person the MC likes, a LOT, and another person that also has his/her emotions invested in the MC -- whom some readers will connect with, and possibly root for.

Now, why did I bring up the love triangle? Oh, yes. Because next week I'm going to be doing some short and sweet posts on writing about love. Now before you get all excited and think I'm going to talk about how to WRITE it, I'm not. I would much rather discuss ways we are inspired to write about it. Music. Pictures. Poems. Books. Things we see/hear on a daily basis that knock us in the head and give us wonderful, romantical ideas. You know. The mushy stuff.

So start thinking of a few things you'd like to share. It's going to be a love-fest! (Okay, maybe that's a bit extreme, but I think you know what I mean.) Oh, and if you're needing a little something to get you in the mood, check out the song below.

Currently inspired by: Florence + The Machine - Cosmic Love

Isn't it Ironic?

Music and me = inspiration.  As far as writers go, that's nothing new, but once in a while a song will come on the radio and make you immediately think of your MC.  (Not "This made me think of something new to write", but "This is exactly like a person I'm writing or have already written about".)

Today it was Ironic, by Alanis Morissette.  Totally made me think of Calli, the main character in my WiP. (Ironic, isn't it?)

Has that happened to you?  Do you have a song that could practically be the theme for your MC?

I got the bug.

So over the past few days I got the bug again.  Finally.  I was starting to get a bit worried, I will admit.  Life is time-consuming, and with so many things needing fixing in my WiP, I was feeling overwhelmed.

But a little time off has done wonders.  My house was clean...for a millisecond.  And I cleaned out a lot of places that had been stuffed full of anything and everything for over the past year or so.  Enough to fill two trash cans.  Talk about feeling empowered.  

Speaking of empowered, that's the perfect word to explain how it feels when you have gotten something accomplished in your writing.  It could be thinking of a new scene, or funny dialogue, or even just watching the word tally go up as you type along on the keyboard.  This time my writing bug gave me all of the above.  It was refreshing.  And now I'm on a roll again, with ideas popping into my head at the strangest times of the day.  I love it.  

One of the things that started my writing up again was music.  We writers use many different tools to get us in the "zone".   When I'm in a slump, I go searching for new songs.   Songs I can rock out to, songs that make me sad, songs with words that make me think.  I blare them in my car, play them as I do laundry, listen to them over and over again until my kids know all of the words right along with me.  And it never fails... within a few days I've got feelings and ideas flowing through my veins again.  So here's to music, for giving me the writing bug.