It’s been a few weeks since I’ve blogged and even longer since Bob Dylan Tuesday. I have no excuse other than life getting in the way and allowing myself to get off track. I have been editing though so all was not lost and I have been making notes for the short stories that keeping popping into my head every so often. One that came to me the other day was because of today’s song.I have The Wind Cries Mary by Jimi Hendrix in my playlist for the novel I’m currently editing (Misfortune). There is a scene out on the lake (Lake Superstition) where Ivy relives a traumatic moment from her past and this song is just so hauntingly perfect, especially the last lines:
Will the wind ever remember
The names it has blown in the past
And with his crutch, it’s old age, and it's wisdom
It whispers no, this will be the last
And the wind cries Mary
I play it over and over while I picture Ivy and Noah sitting in a skiff and she is shivering under the overcast sky as she tries to overcome her fear of the lake where her mother drowned when Ivy was only a child.
Then last week I was listening to it on my MP3 while I was driving to work and the threads of another short story came to me. A girl drowns in Lake Superstition (years after Ivy’s mother) and her ghost rises to try and guide her younger sister through the dangerous path that her life has taken. I’ll put it aside for now and continue with the editing but I know it will eat away at me and I’ll keep making small notes until eventually a first draft will form and I won’t be able to resist anymore and will start working on it. Ah, the undisciplined mind.
In the meantime, I’m editing. Oh, and planning a road trip.
I play it over and over while I picture Ivy and Noah sitting in a skiff and she is shivering under the overcast sky as she tries to overcome her fear of the lake where her mother drowned when Ivy was only a child.
Then last week I was listening to it on my MP3 while I was driving to work and the threads of another short story came to me. A girl drowns in Lake Superstition (years after Ivy’s mother) and her ghost rises to try and guide her younger sister through the dangerous path that her life has taken. I’ll put it aside for now and continue with the editing but I know it will eat away at me and I’ll keep making small notes until eventually a first draft will form and I won’t be able to resist anymore and will start working on it. Ah, the undisciplined mind.
In the meantime, I’m editing. Oh, and planning a road trip.
8 comments:
Life is funny that way. I like the sounds of a road trip. I need to take one, soon.
Cheers!
Road trip! But yes, those note-taking periods are really important, wherein the ideas percolate and begin to gel. It's an awesome time.
And yeah, that's one of the most heavily atmospheric songs ever. Love love love.
Aaron, I'm planning on getting a bit of editing done on the road trip - during the times when it's not my turn to drive of course :)
I agree, Katey. Sometimes the note taking periods are the most fun.
I love it when a song perfectly aligns with what I'm writing. It doesn't happen often for me.
Usually for me it's more about the music, but in this case, the words just ring so true for my character.
You blog about writing *and* have a regular post called 'Bob Dylan Tuesday'? That's a follow from me guaranteed then! James
Thanks for stopping by, James. I've been trying to make Bob Dylan Tuesday a regular post although am aiming for the last Tuesday of each month.
With dizzying level of glossy showmanship daring chutzpah, it is easy to be suspicious of the label of genius. However, in Hendrix we are dealing with the real thing. His voice (as well as sounds) were original and he created a repertoire that has strands which still define popular culture. He is revered by psychedelic scene, his folksy songs have a status of a benchmark (remember ‘Little Wing’), his blues have given rise to veritable industry of cover versions (please hear ‘Voodoo Chile’).
http://modernartists.blogspot.com/2011/09/jimi-hendrix-voodoo-child-in-room-full.html
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