thejourneymenblog

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N is for Nocturne

N is for Nocturne

Music plays a significant part of  my writing, perhaps because I’m a musician. I studied at music college many years ago. While I didn’t reach my ambition to become a band director or another kind of music teacher, I’ve never lost my adoration of the art.

In The Journeymen, there’s  no shortage of musicians, too. The nice thing…

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M is for Mysterious Ways

M is for Mysterious Ways

I’ll be brief today. This song is great and speaks for itself.

Mostly.

The amazing beat and instrumentals came first, so naturally it’s what we tend to focus on. But like other U2 songs, the lyrics are amazing, too. They have that deeper meaning of being comfortable in both secular and sacred settings.

Yes, the words refer to a woman as seen from a man who lives underground and eats from a can.…

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L is for Layla

L is for Layla

I really should refrain from asking my husband about songs that start with a certain L.

I could have used him when I write my K piece, because that was a yawning gap in my writing. Instead, I asked him for L. Oh, the silly things we do off the cuff.

No, instead my L song had been chosen a while back, but it had turned out there are not only a lot of L songs, but L songs that indicate time. That…

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K is for Kyrie

A to Z Blogging Challenge: Becca's Playlist

(I’m a bit behind on my A to Z Challenge, but there are oh so many songs…)

I didn’t have a K song in my Journeymen listening collection. No Killing Me Softly songs, no Kiss You All Over songs.

Actually, that last was very nearly the K song out of sheer desperation, until I saw this one.

It was just after high school when I hear Mr. Mister sing kyrie elaison down the road that I must travel. I…

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J is for Journeyman

J is for Journeyman

Well, this is kind of perfect for an author writing a series called The Journeymen.

This band, Blackmore’s Night, very conveniently made it about a journeying person, a person going somewhere. It’s tiring, the road never ends. You know, like a time traveler.

It’s not about an experienced craftsman, but I’m happy to throw that pun into my books.

BN is Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple amazing…

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I is for I'll Keep You Safe

I is for I’ll Keep You Safe

I think I looked forward to this day most of all because of this song. And now I’m listening to it and I have no words. But this is my blog and I’m supposed to write, so I’ll try.

If my stories, my writing, had a theme song, this would be it.

Sleeping At Last is really just Ryan O’Neil. It was a band, now it’s more just his musical project. But there is something about his voice, his poems, that…

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H is for Hearts a Mess

H is for Hearts a Mess

You guys remember when that Gotye song with the xylophone and Kimbra and it was all over the radio? Like, every third song? Why does the radio do that? Why do we keep listening? Well, “Somebody that I Used to Know” is a good song. Now. I wish they’d play it again.

I thought that Gotye, Wally De Backer, was basically a one-hit wonder. I was mistaken. He has way better songs out there, mostly…

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G is for "Go All the Way"

G is for "Go All the Way", the 70s classic with cringworthy lyrics and a hidden meaning.

It was the best of the 70s, it was the worst of the 70s.

Like most of the rest of the planet, I might have forgotten about Eric Carmen’s band, The Raspberries, if it weren’t for the two Guardians of the Galaxy soundtracks that revived this and so many other great songs.

That lead guitar and bass interaction, can I just say? And don’t you want to sing Come on all day?

When I heard this song again…

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F is for "Susanna Fair"

F is for “Susanna Fair”

Book two of my time travel series is called La Dottaand includes the story of Alfonso Ferrabosco. I think I gave a hint of who he is in last year’s F column. He was a musician and possible spy in Elizabeth I’s court whose religion left a big question mark. Also, he was a family friend to Gabriele Paleotti, who is a historical character in my books. Sometimes historical fiction gives authors…

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E is for “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”

E is for “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”

My D entry from yesterday talked about the difficulty of developing characters. There’s another difficulty, too. At least there was for me.

When I began to write my story, based solely on the idea that I am a decent functional writer so why not, I forgot to think about a conflict.

A conflict. A problem. I had characters and a meet-cute (still in chapter one, by the way), but no idea what to do…

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D is for "Demons"

D is for “Demons”

Maybe one of the hardest parts about developing deep, round, characters is, well, developing them. Just out of the blue. I guess I didn’t realize how complex that really is.

When I developed my sixteenth-century notary and love interest, Niccolo, I had a vague notion that I wanted him to be kind of dark, a little moody, maybe kind of like Jane Austen’s Darcy somehow, but worse or something. My…

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C is for Caledonia

C is for Caledonia: a blog of songs about my favorite country I've never been to.

If you hadn’t noticed my middle / maiden name, my family is Scottish.

And it may seem that I’m overly obsessed with Italy for someone whose family comes from the other part of the continent. I’ll grant you that.

Nonetheless, I decided to put someone distinctly Scottish in my stories in the character of Doug MacGregor. He is Sarah’s father and he comes from Scotland. He’s a rather fascinating…

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B is for "Because"

B is for “Because”

The Beatles deserve a whole letter, at least.

In fact, they and their solo incarnations have their own station on my Spotify listening list. I’m an unapologetic Beatlemaniac. It’s my absolute favorite music. It’s what I listen to when I need joy, which says a lot. Joy is like oxygen.

And “Because” is so perfect. It’s John Lennon’s loose lyrical connections, sung with unbelievable multi-track…

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A is for “All of Me”

A is for “All of Me”

And it’s definitely not for Ageism or Apprehension. Nope.

As I’ve been compiling information about my A to Z playlist this year, I’ve been most surprised at how vulnerable sharing this information is. So many of these songs are based on the fact that I’m of a certain age, which happens to be over 50. It also shows how utterly mainstream I am.

I’m not sure how I feel about that. I am an artist and…

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A to Z Blog 2019 - Yes, it's true...

A to Z Blog 2019 – Yes, it’s true…

I know it’s kind of silly that I would try this again. I haven’t had a lot of success writing on my blog every day for a month. But in 2019, I have a legit reason.

I love writing and want to do it all the time. It’s just when I get there, something happens.

In December 2017, it was a health scare that went from an appendectomy to a coma.

In December 2018–yes, a year later–it went from another…

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Updating My Writing Wiki

Updating My Writing Wiki: A link to my favorite writing sources, ongoing and informative and probably mostly for myself.

It’s happened one too many times.

“Hey, Becca, what are your favorite writing sources?”

I have quite a few, being the opinionated soul and English teacher I am. Sadly, though, I’m not as good as pulling them from the top of my head. Worse, I have different sources I consult for different things. Creative writing, after all, is a big topic full of subtopics to explore. What they call the…

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Starting Book 3

I’ve said it before. Writing is hard.

I’ve been having a rough year in general, and I started a new job that has proven to be a nearly overwhelming challenge, so writing got put on the back burner. Then someone talked me into doing NaNoWriMo.

For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, when authors take over the month of November and write a 50,000 word novel. Which, for those…