tag:dreamwidth.org,2017-01-06:2735066Erin Writeserinwriteserinwrites2017-03-10T17:19:36Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2017-01-06:2735066:204486Day 7: Creativity2017-03-10T17:19:36Z2017-03-10T17:19:36Zpublic2<p><a href="http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0688.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2497" src="http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0688-198x300.jpg" alt="" width="198" height="300" srcset="http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0688-198x300.jpg 198w, http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0688-768x1166.jpg 768w, http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0688-674x1024.jpg 674w" sizes="(max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px" /></a></p><br /><p>Been away from the posts for a few days, but I knew this was one I wanted to tackle.</p><br /><p>Creativity has always been important to me. When I was younger, I thought I was going to be a fiction writer. I’ve had a bit of success, here and there, at short fiction. Thing is, there’s not much of a market for short fiction, and I’m not sure I’m a novelist at heart. I don’t have BIG IDEAS. I’m kind of lousy at plotting.</p><br /><p>My creativity manifests in other ways, though. I’ve been doing calligraphy since I was in high school, and I maintain <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/calligraphybyerin">an Etsy shop</a> where I sell my calligraphy and paper crafts.</p><br /><p><a href="http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0642.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2498" src="http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0642-300x216.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="216" srcset="http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0642-300x216.jpg 300w, http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0642-768x552.jpg 768w, http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0642-1024x736.jpg 1024w, http://eringoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_0642-417x300.jpg 417w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p><br /><p>Lately, though, it’s been coming out in the form of songwriting. Well, lyric writing. I’m not a musician, but I am married to one. 🙂 And being married to one has brought me into a whole community that has nurtured and supported this creativity.</p><br /><p>The past two years, I’ve participated in something called <a href="http://fawm.org/fawmers/eringoblog/">February Album Writing Month</a>. (That link goes to my profile.) The idea is to write 14 songs-an album’s worth-in 28 days. Now, I haven’t made it to 14, or anywhere near, but it’s been a useful exercise anyway. This year, I posted three things…one of them, a lyric that’s been around for a while that has finally been set to music. I ended up adding two lyrics that aren’t quite finished. In my drafts I also have a Peggy Carter song (tentatively “Do as Peggy Says”) that I’ve been trying to write this for a year now. I’ve made a little bit of movement, but It’s giving me a rough time. There’s also a chorus inspired by a FB post conversation that still doesn’t have a song, and two brainstorming lists that I’m hopeful will turn into something at some point. I call that a win.</p><br /><p>All of this is moving toward an album that Rand and I are going to record this year. (eep!)</p><br /><p>All of this is to say that, while I’m not doing what I once thought I would be doing, I’m really happy with my creative life right now. I love being able to create and collaborate and feel supported and enriched by it.</p><br /><p>(The poster imaged above features lyrics from the song <a href="http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/songs/take-it-back.html">“Take it Back” by Kathleen Sloan</a>. It’s based on <a href="http://filkontario.ca/hoftribe/">a speech made by Barry and Sally Childs-Helton when they were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame</a>. I am proud and humbled to count these people among my friends.)</p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=erinwrites&ditemid=204486" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2017-01-06:2735066:203763Heart2017-03-03T17:46:09Z2017-03-03T17:46:09Zpublic0<p>(Yes, I am a day behind. I’ll catch up eventually…)</p><br /><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1Cw1ng75KP0" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p><br /><p>I sometimes make fun of Heart a little bit for going all ballad-y (and less rock-y) in the 80s. But this song. Is. So. Good. The ultimate power ballad.</p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=erinwrites&ditemid=203763" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2017-01-06:2735066:202886Album meme (expanded version)2017-01-18T17:20:50Z2017-01-18T17:20:50Zpublic4<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, I did the facebook “10 album” meme that’s been going around, but I had some additional thoughts. And I thought, “Oh yeah, I have a blog! So here goes.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">First, a repost of the 10 (okay, 11) I posted to facebook, covering roughly the years 1987-1993</span></p><br /><p><b>True Blue-Madonna</b></p><br /><p><b>Licensed to Ill-Beastie Boys </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">(Yeah, I know the many ways this album is, uh, problematic. I also know it’s not the best Beastie Boys album. But I was 13, and I listened to it A LOT.)</span></p><br /><p><b>Batman Soundtrack-Prince </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">Well, y’know, Prince. </span></p><br /><p><b>Faith-George Michael</b></p><br /><p><b>Appetite for Destruction-Guns ‘n Roses</b></p><br /><p><b>New Jersey-Bon Jovi </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">I loved Bon Jovi so, so much, you guys.</span></p><br /><p><b>Hysteria-Def Leppard</b></p><br /><p><b>Rhythm Nation 1814-Janet Jackson </b></p><br /><p><b>Blacks’ Magic-Salt n Pepa</b></p><br /><p><b>River of Dreams-Billy Joel</b></p><br /><p><b>Bat Out of Hell-Meatloaf</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> This obviously did not come out while I was a teenager, but my high school years were when I got into it. Also, It’s a miracle that it took me so long to figure out that the man responsible for these songs also wrote “Making Love (Out of Nothing at All)” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart.</span></p><br /><p>My taste in music could best be described as “mainstream.” 🙂</p><br /><p>Here are some albums that were important to me earlier in life:</p><br /><p><b>Annie-Original Broadway recording </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">When the movie version of Annie came out, I had been listening to this album for a couple of years. I was kind of a tiny hipster, annoyed by how different it was. The songs that were left out. The songs that were created/added. I still prefer this version. Oh, and as a side note, we’ve been re-watching 30 Rock, and it tickles me how much Tina Fey (or someone in the writers’ room) loves Annie. The songs come up rather frequently.</span></p><br /><p><b>Grease soundtrack</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (movie)</span></p><br /><p><b>Just Sylvia-Sylvia</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> my mom had this album, and I was obsessed with the song “Nobody.” I would pretend that I was going to sing it on a gameshow. (which I think might have been the 80s version of The Gong Show?)</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">*honorable mention: </span><b>“Eye in the Sky”-Alan Parsons Project</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">…it doesn’t get a full spot </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">because I only bought the 45, but it was the first music I purchased with my own money*</span></p><br /><p><b>Air Supply-Greatest Hits</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> I had originally stayed away from including greatest hits collections, but this one was a huge part of my childhood. My mom had it on cassette…in my memory, it was a copy, and it had Bonnie Tyler on the other side.</span></p><br /><p><b>The Other Side of Life-The Moody Blues</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> My dad was a huge fan of The Moody Blues, and I remember listening to many of their albums on cassette, in the car. I know not everyone is a fan of this record, but I liked it quite a bit (and was kind of obsessed with the single, “Your Wildest Dreams.”)</span></p><br /><p><b>Hi Infidelity-REO Speedwagon </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">I really, really liked this album when I was 9. In fact, I got in trouble for bringing it to school once, due to the risque cover.</span></p><br /><p><b>She’s So Unusual-Cyndi Lauper</b></p><br /><p><b>Hangin’ Tough-New Kids on the Block</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> I went on a trip to the beach with my friend Heather and her family the summer I turned 14. We had a tape that had Hangin’ Tough on one side, and Appetite for Destruction on the other. It’s really kind of hilarious.</span></p><br /><p><b>Dirty Dancing soundtrack</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> who else can sing the Kellerman’s anthem?</span></p><br /><p>And a few later (college/after college) offerings:</p><br /><p><b>Pop! (The First Twenty Hits)-Erasure </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is just one of the greatest hits albums that was a very big thing for me when I was first building my CD collection–which didn’t happen for me until early college. Billy Joel. Journey. Styx. Queen. REO Speedwagon. etc.</span></p><br /><p><b>Jesus Christ Superstar-Original London recording</b></p><br /><p><b>Les Miserables-complete symphonic recording</b></p><br /><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I never would have discovered my love for these musicals if it hadn’t been for my roomie/bestie Jen…</span></p><br /><p><b>Jagged Little Pill- Alanis Morrissette </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">I admit, I wasn’t on board the Alanis train right away. I was, in fact, kind of put off by the aggression and what, at the time, I felt was vulgarity of “You Oughta Know. Then, I don’t know, a year or so later, I went through a bitter breakup and was all “AND I’M HEEEEEEERE TO REMIIIIIIND YOU…”</span></p><br /><p><b>Shakespeare My Butt-Lowest of the Low </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is the quintessential album for surviving your 20s. It’s about being broke, getting fired, falling in love, breaking up, and trying to figure out your place in the world. </span></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=erinwrites&ditemid=202886" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments