She is done with her graceless heart

If you've ever visited a favorite author's website or checked out their blog, it should come as no surprise that most are beginning to create playlists for their stories. Some authors don't believe in listening to music when they write and others swear by it, hence why all writers are different. Still, I've always enjoyed when one posts their list. This way I can hear what songs the author specifically chose for certain parts of the book. Gives the reader a deeper understanding of the tone of the novel, in my opinion.

I'm no exception. Music guides me through the story and helps me get unstuck at points. But what this post is mainly for is to shamelessly plug one of my favorite artists, Florence + the Machine. Florence Welch's lyrics are not just lyrics, their poems; heartfelt, beautiful poems. She is one of the few artists I can listen to and smile no matter what mood I'm in (whether it be foul, happy, or sad). I really don't know how she does it. Even if I've listened to the song 100 times, it will still make me smile.

Though not all of her songs are prefect for my stories, I find listening to her as I write to be the most beneficial because not only are her lyrics perfection, but her melodies are lush and soothing. They bring me to "the zone," which is where every writer wants to go. Below I've included my favorite songs by her. If you've never heard of her before and like what you hear, I recommend you pick up her albums, Lungs and Ceremonials. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Enjoy and hope you all have a fantastic holiday season.

IT GETS BETTER: Random House

Goodbye Letter from Borders Employee (100% Accurate)

This is a handwritten letter from a Borders employee that was left before they closed for good *sniffs*. Now, working at a bookstore myself, I can tell you that everything this person lists is true and precise. I dealt with everything they said, which proves to me that book shoppers are all the same.

Being a writer isn't easy.

We endure long periods of solitude. We don’t see the world like everyone else does. We talk about our fictional characters as though they are real and our best friends or worst enemies. We have moments of amazingly high inspiration and moments of very low enthusiasm. We get easily lost in other forms of creative work. We are our best supportive system and our own worst critic. We stare at a computer screen (sometimes a blank document) for several hours in a day/week/month. We have irregular schedules because inspiration comes when it wants to, not when we want it to. We have a love/hate relationship with editing and rewrites.

We are one of a kind and it’s not easy to do what we do.

Wise video is wise.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

This is pretty cool

Put your music player on shuffle. The first lines of twenty songs = a poem. The first line of the twenty-first song is the title.

Here's mine:

Don't let go

In the heart of the night when it's dark
Breathe in the water
Lay down your sweet and weary head
When did I choose to be blind?
I know you want it
Born to fight and we're born to flee
If you want it slowly don't knock on my door
Whenever I step outside
Memories are just where you laid them
When you're around I don't know what to do
Every time our eyes meet
You let me violate you
Turn around
Run run run away so long lost never coming
Oh, you know I have seen
Another head hangs lowly
Do you know that I could never leave you?
Hey mama, hey mama, look around
I'm sitting across from you
No walls can keep me protected

Kind of has an incestuous tone to it, don't you think?