Multi-tasking in this post. I've got two things to tell you. One is the results for Battle of the Bands. The other is a blogger friend whose book has gone on sale. Don't want you to miss out!
First, Battle of the Bands. I think the clear-cut winner in this battle was the trailer for Daylight Savings Time. Ha! But, they weren't part of the battle, so let's get down to the song: Chain of Fools and the contenders (The Commitments vs Eva Cassidy). Some of you are (fairly) new to this game, so you probably don't recall that I've put Eva up in two battles prior to this one. She lost them both spectacularly. To be fair, her version of Autumn Leaves got much good comment, but I pitted her against Louis Armstrong (probably not the best idea). So, it was a refreshing change of pace (for me, at least) to see her take a strong lead in this battle early. The Commitments pushed back hard in the middle, but Eva voters turned out in droves at the end, so she solidly won this one (even without my vote, which she ultimately would've gotten). However, I must say again that I really like both versions of this song, so there really wasn't a "wrong" vote, not that there ever is. ;)
The Commitments: 7
Eva Cassidy: 16 (with my vote)
Now, here's the dish on how to get Chrys Fey's book for just $.99.
99 CENT SALE on 30 SECONDS by Chrys Fey!!!
Sale ends Nov.
20th so take advantage now!
Blurb:
When Officer Blake Herro agreed to go
undercover in the Mob, he thought he understood the risks. But he's made
mistakes and now an innocent woman has become their target. He's determined to
protect her at all costs.
The Mob's death threat turns Dr. Dani
Hart's life upside down, but there is one danger she doesn’t anticipate. As
she's dodging bullets, she's falling in love with Blake. With danger all around
them, will she and Blake survive and have a happy ending, or will the Mob make
good on their threat?
Excerpt:
She had no time to react when a strong force bowled her
through the doorway of her apartment, and a large hand plastered over her
mouth. The man she had bumped into on the stairs had a firm grip on her as he kicked
the door closed behind them. She struggled to get free, but his hold kept her
back pressed against his chest.
“It’s okay. I’m a cop. My name is Blake Herro.” He hauled
her into the living room. “There are six armed men coming up the stairs. We
need to hide. Where can we hide?”
Her mind went blank, she even forgot about the ice cream.
“Where?” he demanded with a quick shake.
She pointed to the six-foot long, three-foot high handcrafted
cedar chest she used for a coffee table. Officer Herro pulled her to it and
flung open the lid.
If you're interested in participating in the Insecure Writers Support Group, we post the first Wednesday of every month. You can go HERE to join the list. Thank you, Alex J. Cavanaugh for starting this whole thing!
I'm writing this on Tuesday morning (in preparation for tomorrow). Until last night, I had no idea what I would write about for this installment of Insecure Writers. Even I've got a bit tired of listening to me saying that the process is endless. I get sick of my own work. When I do go back and read for the purpose of editing, there's always *so much* to edit. It's discouraging.
For the record, all of those things are still true.
Another truth is that when you're doing something hard, it takes practice to get it right. The people who succeed are the ones who have endurance. The ones who are relentless.
I got a glaring reminder of that on Monday night watching Dancing With The Stars. It's interesting (to me) to see how people hold up when they're completely outside their comfort zone. Some stars are younger, have more talent (right from "go") and make it all seem effortless. This season, Bindi Irwin (yep, Steve Irwin's daughter) has done all of that. Every week I say something resembling this to my mom: "Her dancing is incredible, but I don't know how she radiates that positivity. She is effervescent." And she does/is.
My mistake was in thinking that it came easy for her. I found the clip of her presentation from Monday night on YouTube. I hope you watch it. There is a lesson in here for us as writers and as people.
Did you see those feet? 4 toenails left, which she is superglueing on, so it's all good!
Are you working that hard on your craft? I know I'm not. I get discouraged, and I walk away from my computer. You know, because I can. There aren't cameras watching my progress. But, maybe I should treat my writing like there are.
How well do you do when you get 9s when you deserve 10s on your work? Do you smile and say, "That's great. I'll just work harder!" or do you go sulk in the corner and say they don't know what they're talking about? Your characters are rounded, your plot flawless... all in all, possibly the best thing ever written!
As Derek said before the dance, "She's relentless. She never stops until she gets it."
So, what about you? Are you relentless? Even when it hurts, do you carry on? When you find yourself way outside your comfort zone do you hammer through it?
If you have time to watch this fantastic trailer about the time change, do it. This may be the best thing I've ever seen on YouTube, and I've seen a lot of things...
Battle of the Bands is, once again, colliding with my Soundtrack
posts. Yep, I'm doing those again. Here is a quick list of other people
participating in The Soundtrack Of My Life:
If you decide, at any time, you want to start posting these on your blog, let me know, and I'll add you to the list.
First, the story.
Where we left off: J1 decided to quit school (again). His parents lived approximately 30-45 minutes away from the college, so my first thought was that this wouldn't be that big of a deal. In other words, dating him was still doable. And to my credit (or codependency, whichever you prefer) I did give it my very best shot. However, J1 made it difficult. At least, it felt that way.
I remember spending a lot of time waiting on phone calls that didn't happen. Being disappointed by planned visits that suddenly became unplanned. However, I accepted all the excuses (shame on me!) and even justified the insanity to my friends.
Meanwhile, Christmas break came and I went home. This was a bizarre year home. It was the first Christmas with my parents actually divorced and living apart. Ironically, I don't have many memories of this Christmas. Did I block them? I don't know. I do remember visiting my relatives on both sides... just separately with one parent and then the other.
I didn't plan to include this... in fact, I only just remembered it now, but it was this Christmas visit when we spent more time than usual at my cousin's house. She had two young kids (a 7 year old and a 2 year old). The seven year old (girl) looked very much like my cousin and was a very happy kid. They'd had a big Christmas despite the fact her husband was out of work (so it was hard on them). All the women on my dad's side of the family are a bit psychic and interested in "odd" things. At that time, my cousin was big on palm reading. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but being one of those women (on my dad's side of the family), I found it intriguing. The lines on your hands tell several things, but my little second cousin didn't have a single line on either of her hands. I suppose that should have screamed something to me (and her mother!) but it didn't. It was just another odd thing. My hands said I'd go through two divorces (and I have)... my parents' divorce and my own. The line for my parents' divorce is much deeper than my own. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Anyway, there will be more to this story later.
Back to the J1 part of this story. So, we're at my nanny's house (dad's mom) and it was probably Christmas day late afternoon. The year was 1988. No cell phones and you still paid to call long distance. In point of fact, my family pretty much only called long distance in a state of emergency or for a two minute or less call. Why call when you could write a letter???? So, it was a fairly big deal to ask my nanny if I could use her phone LONG DISTANCE to call J1. I thought she might say no, but she agreed.
Turns out, I could've saved that dollar. I called and talked to him for about thirty seconds. He was watching a football game on TV and didn't want to talk to me. And he pretty much said it just like that. I mean he can talk to me any time, but how often is his favorite team (Minnesota) winning??? Merry Christmas!
Nanny was surprised to see me off the phone so quickly and said, "He wasn't home?"
I said, "No, he was. Just didn't want to talk. The football game was on."
She got what I think of as "the look." You know that look... like she bit into something rotten. Then she said tartly, "I hope you told him to sit on a tack."
Of course, the idea of me telling ANYONE to sit on a tack was absurd. (I didn't share the "saucy" aspect of the women on my dad's side of the family... unfortunately.)
But, I really really should have. I would've loved to see the look on his face when sweet little me said, "You and your football game can go sit on a tack!"
I'm sure I said something like, "Oh. Well, I don't want to interrupt you. Talk to you later. Bye." And then asked how high the next time he said, "Jump." Not pretty, but true.
Now, the song.
The song for today is Chain of Fools. It was originally a hit by Aretha Franklin, so we're not going to listen to that version today.
Had I been thinking harder (and longer) I might've included the movie The Commitments on my Top 25. I really liked the movie and loved the soundtrack. I might've loved the movie, but it's been a really long time since I've seen it, so maybe I loved it then but wouldn't like it so much now. I think the real point is I listened to the soundtrack much more often;)
Here is the version by The Commitments:
Back in 2007, I discovered Eva Cassidy. Very talented lady who died much too soon. Here she is with her version of Chain of Fools:
I really like both versions of this song, so this one is going to be a tough vote for me. In fact, I'm still not sure where my vote will land. I'm curious to see what you guys think!
Please vote for the version of this song you prefer. If you
want to get into the Ins and Outs of why you like one better than the
other... I LOVE long comments!
For more Battle of the Bands fun, check out the other BOTB bloggers to vote on their battles:
