Inspiration Everywhere

Listening to Bobby Bones this morning, I heard Marc Scibilia--singer/songwriter--talk about how he woke up one morning at the age of 18, looked at his Xbox, and said, "If I keep playing video games, I'll never get good at playing guitar." He shoved that player under his bed and hasn't looked back since. He doesn't own a television, and rented one to see the commercial his voice stars in during the Super Bowl. He has an album coming out in 2015. Did I mention he's not even 30?

Um...hello.

How much work could you get done if you had the stuff this guy is made of?

...that is all.

MMA vs. The Gold Rush

I sat down to watch television. First was a lovely half hour with Joseph Rosendo, Travelscope. He was visiting British Columbia. And OMG, just gorgeous. Of course, he featured all the hotspots, the coast, through the different regions and finally ending up at the old mining town of Barkersville. He went fly-fishing, canoing, and sightseeing. He saw bears and moose. And the scenery!! Gorgeous mountains.

I couldn't help but think about the place as an alternative to my own country. I mean, if I was ever going to enter the Witness Protection Program or just relocate, in general... I would be pleased to find myself up there! And, of course, my mind immediately went to the next story. Could I write something contemporary? Or maybe an historical? I could include the gold rush... bawdy men-infested towns--brothels vs. churches. The struggle to survive cold, northern winters and the gold rush fever itself.

So tempting!

When that was over, I found myself watching MMA--that fighting craze going on right now. Extreme fighting. I read a book--Against the Ropes [NOT a sweet read]--and I liked it. Reading it and then watching the fight on television today, I wondered how a person would be inspired by this.

But the fact that I liked the book well-enough just goes to show that we don't have to be stuck in a rut or like only one thing. :) Maybe if I watched these fights enough, I'd get inspired. <3

Have a great week, friends.
With Love,
Beth

--> see what I mean???  

Listen to it...

What are you listening to right now?

Me? Jim Croce. Okay, it happens to have a Christmas theme--It Doesn't Have to Be That Way, which is appropriate. Wouldn't matter, though. I love to listen to Jim Croce sing.

I'm often inspired by music, titles, themes...

The Guardian Angel story I'm writing has been aptly named One Heartbeat in the Darkness, which is a line from a Darius Rucker song, True Believers. I wrote a story and called it Shake the Sugar Tree for a while...it's now called 'Til Death do Us Part.

I hear songs on the radio...and get inspired.

What about you? Do you write to music?

Picture Perfect

I have a few kids... ya know.
This one was picture perfect last week when we visited the National Infantry Museum.
Hope she feels the love tomorrow, because I'm going back!

and I am getting into that outside exhibit if I have to climb a frickin' fence. :P My time-travel needs inspiration! It's been waiting WEEKS for the opportunity to conspire with the MUSE.  :D

And for missing Wordless Wednesday, how can I not give you that face?!

Later this weekend, more on Self-Publishing. Promise.

Romance or Real Life

On a day when my patience is wearing thin and I'm pretty sure Karma is playing catch up [have you ever spilt a container of lemonade on the kitchen floor two days after you mopped it?], I question my sanity to write a Romance Novel at all. Where does my inspiration come from? Am I stuck in a world of fantasy? Will the naysayers see through my words to the hair-brained gal with four kids and only the luck of the Irish to pull her through some days?

Where does the Happily Ever After[HEA] come into play? How can the Romance Novel be Real?

Happily For Now[HFN]: Though I like a story where I'm confident that the main characters will live together for the rest of their lives, I'm okay with understanding that bad days are bound to happen again. A mentality from the reader in some ways, even a true HEA can be seen as a [HFN]. I guess I fall here. I'm not silly enough to believe that even in true love conflicts will never arise again. Most people aren't. It's seeing what is behind and what will be again that allows contentment when life is out of control. It's knowing and expressing Faith that offers peace and joy.

But sometimes the HEA is a HFN where being with someone in a moment and truly loving them could mean finding someone else in another instant and truly loving there, too.

*gasp* WHAT?! This is not a Romance Novel!, you might be thinking.

But for some, this is the reality of Romance. When you write or consider romance and true love, do you leave out the entire audience who has suffered heartbreak? do you exclude those who have been divorced? Where is their happy ending if the only worthwhile HEA includes one person and one soulmate, the one person in the entire world who can make them happy, who they will live with and spend eternity with... forever and ever Amen. [which I'm going to do, btw :D *fingers-crossed*]

The romance novel takes snippets of a life: conflict and resolution. Anyone who agrees that the romance novel is about escaping is only partially right. It's also the reminder of what the outcome should/could/might be.

Better to consider where the root of the Happily Ever After comes from...
Where joy, peace, and love are the center of everything that exists.
For me that's God.

...because, it's a really rotten day, when nothing goes right and there are too many worries and the kids are driving me nuts and I haven't talked to my husband in hours, that I wonder how we've made it this far. :D But, I have my Happily Ever After.

Monday Inspiration

I appreciate people who are civil, whether they mean it or not. I think: Be civil. Do not cherish your opinion over my feelings. There's a vanity to candor that isn't really worth it. Be kind.
Richard Greenberg, NY Times Magazine, 03-26-2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are times I have to remind myself of this.

That is all...

Have the best, productive, inspired, happy, LAST three days of 2008!

Clean up in Aisle Five

A little Snafu in the revision process.
Working through it... just a blip before I'm back on track.

Here's some inspiration.

Thirteen Things THAT INSPIRE ME1. 2. 3. Okay, maybe not exactly INSPIRATIONAL, but sure sexy... 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Really big zuchini... 12. 13. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

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