August 2008
Getting Cozy with Karen.
August Musings
"Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak"
~ William Congreve ~
This month's column has been a struggle for me, as you can tell by my extreme tardiness. A huge part of it is due to some personal issues. Summer can certainly play havoc with schedules. A fresh topic has been eluding me, too. It's a challenge to be creative when you're melting into the carpet fibers like a peanut-butter chocolate fudge ice cream cone.
But here I am at last, laptop turned on, the inimitable Josh Groban soothing my savage breast with his delicious Italian tenor.and that brings me to this month's musings. Let's talk music!
Struggling through the first paragraphs of my third topic last night trying, without much success, to make it work-and I usually enjoy sharing my thoughts-I realized inspiration was pouring into me via my earphones. At some time during the frustrating process, to ensure my dentist had molars to play with my next visit, I had turned on music.
There are those who need absolute silence to write. I'm not one of them. In fact, I need noise. Over the years, music became my noise of choice. Growing up, I had no choice but to study in the same room with the television so I learned to relegate the mental intrusion to a background hum. Once I toddled off to college, I discovered going to the library with friends was almost painful. It felt like I was studying in a tomb. My productivity plummeted. I finally had a stereo of my own so I withdrew to my solitary cottage every day and turned on music. The only time I watched television the next four years was to catch Star Trek and Dark Shadows reruns, and make sure my Broncos kicked butt as [Warning! Age alert!] the Orange Crush.
A pause to change CDs. Benise flows from my earphones now, if you're wondering. I'm cooking now! We've moved from languorous and inspirational Italian opera to quick and passionate Spanish flamenco.
So what is it about music that affects so many of us and how do we use it to enhance our lives? Leo Tolstoy said, "Music is the shorthand of emotion." I couldn't have said it better [g]. There are a variety of music genres in my collection because I'm a mood listener. I not only choose a CD because of the mood I'm in, but because of the mood I want to experience. This is especially important when I write. Layering emotions into a scene is much easier when I'm in the correct frame of mind. My fight scenes would be very different if I listened to Barry Manilow instead of my Braveheart soundtrack. Phantom of the Opera and Matrix are two more of my favorites for action scenes. Interestingly enough, a number of authors I've talked to like soundtracks. I believe it is because we can easily relate the music to a particular mood by the visual connections we've garnered from the movie. It is, after all, the intent of a score.
I know an author who can't write a love scene without Barry White's gravelly voice crooning in her ear. [This would drive me nuts because, despite my earlier training, singing infringes on my concentration. Funny enough, that doesn't seem to apply to foreign languages; hence, Josh Groban.] Another friend uses techno/dance to inspire her to work and write action scenes. She uses the soundtracks from The Dark Knight and Children of Dune because they're "haunting." The harsh score of Les Miserables helps another when she's looking for an "extremely intense" mood. Many listen to Celtic music or sounds of nature. Some prefer piano pieces, or guitar, or flute, or.the list goes on.
Music can be beautiful or desolate. Pull at our emotions. Push us away. It can soothe anger or foment discord. Create passion or kill it. Maya Angelou said, "Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness." Music, quite simply, is evocative.
It's the reason I surround myself with it every day. I don't sit down to write until I've chosen my music. If it's not right, I can't get started. The music then becomes an irritant that niggles at me until I stop to change CDs. Writing without music now is not an option I'll consider unless it absolutely can't be avoided. I've gone through my collection and pulled my favorites from cases and tucked the CDs into a travel case [I moved my writing completely off my main computer to my laptop so need my tunes, too!] for quick access.
Plato said, "Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
I know I'd certainly be lost without it!
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What else is happening in my writing world?
I started a "W" plotting class with the great folks at Hearts through History Romance Writers on August 4th. It's one of the last three workshops I'll conduct this year. In September, I'll be visiting the Indiana Romance Writers. In October, NEORWA. Then I'm taking the rest of the year off to focus on my writing. If you have friends who would like to take the class yet this year, have them check the schedule on my NEWS page. I also have the entire lecture course available to purchase on the website.
I've fallen a bit behind in my quest to tag all of the books I did manage to list on my virtual bookshelves at Shelfari. Technically, a bit behind doesn't cover it. I think I've actually only had time to complete a dozen. Which has made it relatively easy for me to ignore the other half a dozen invitations from friends leading me to other groups like Shelfari. [If you're reading this, my friends, sorry! I'm too short already to be stretched this many directions! LOL] If you're on Shelfari, I'd love to be friends and share what we're reading. If you're not and would like to be, contact me at karendocter @ yahoo.com (remove spaces). All I need is your email address to invite you.
For those of you who went to the RWA national conference in San Francisco, welcome back! I hope you had a great time and came home with oodles of creative inspiration and good news from editors and agents. I'm determined to join you next year in D.C.
As always, if you'd like to comment on this newsletter or anything else, please feel free to sign into my guest book at the bottom of this HOME page. Looking forward to hearing from you! If you're on MySpace, you can find me at www.myspace.com/authorkarendocter. And, by all means, if you enjoy reading my newsletter each month, please tell your friends. They can sign up for their own copy easily at the bottom of this HOME page.
See you in September if you'd like to Get Cozy with Karen again. In the meantime, feel free to check out the rest of my website at your leisure.
I wish you a month overflowing with creativity and confidence. May you realize all of your dreams!
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Articles
Plotting.Beauty or Beast?
First Print - savvyauthors.com blog, June, 2010
Born to Write
Colorado Romance Writers Romance in the Rockies newsletter - February, 2006
The Big Kids Clubhouse Secret Handshake.Finally!
Colorado Romance Writers Romance in the Rockies newsletter - August, 2006
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