[but you don't live downtown no more]
Man, it is stuffy here. Blah. Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I've been doing so much regular writing that I guess I've been neglecting this journal. Not that I have much to update about, anyway.
I feel like rambling about writing or music or something. Because most of my entries are of the highly uninteresting variety lately. Hmm.
So, my poetry lately? Has been kicking ass. I'm not even joking. I don't even know what it is, but it keeps developing and changing and I keep learning so much about the art of poetry and it's wonderful. I think a good chunk of it has to do with having someone to bounce ideas around with (that being Aaron, b/c he's an awesome writer like that). But I still don't know. It's really incredible, and I'm definitely not complaining. I'm just in awe.
I think something that definitely helps me in my writing is all the music I listen to and how much music influences my life. I know so many people say, "OMG, music is my life," or "OMG, writing is my life," but I rarely believe it from most people. I don't know why, most people just don't seem sincere about it, for some reason. I guess I feel like it seriously has to affect your mood in order for it to be "your life." I know if I can't listen to my favorite music, or even just music outside of what I listen to at work (which is not the music I prefer to listen to all day, but what can I do about it? at least it's something), or if something happens where I'm not able to write all day, that will honestly make me crabby. I NEED to be able to have my music, I NEED to be able to write. That's just who I am.
Which brings me to a completely separate point, lol. People who say they'll give anything a chance, but follow that up with a, "except . . ." GAH. This is mostly referring to music here, to people I see on last.fm, who are all, "I'll give anything a chance," and then their profiles are all indie music, or else the people who are claiming they love all music, but don't listen to country or rap or whatever form of music that isn't a form of rock. :p Hate to break it to ya, but rock is not every genre of music.
And it seems like most "music snobs" won't listen to country, like it's some lesser music form or something. Well, at least most country artists play their own instruments. I grew up with country music, and that's the country I prefer to listen to, stuff from the early to mid-90s, but I'll listen to some of the newer country (though not a lot, b/c a lot of it is a bit too much like pop music for me to handle) and I LOVE classic country.
Of course, I'm not one of those people who can claim to listen to everything, either, but in most cases, I can find at least one artist in most every genre I like. I'll at least give something a try before dismissing it as crap. :p For example, I am not a huge fan of contemporary Christian music. I'm not all that religious, so that's part of it, but I seriously don't think a lot of those musicians are that great in the first place. It's more of a talent thing than anything else. There's nothing novel or unique about them to keep me interested. But, I do like the band Jars of Clay. I think they do harmonies really well, and harmonies are something I totally go weak in the knees for. I also don't like rap that much, but I think that's another case of me not being able to relate to the music. It's also personal taste, too. When I can't understand something, I have a tendency to not want to listen as much, especially when it's not pleasing to the ear, which is why I also don't do a lot of death metal. I like hard rock plenty (uh, yeah, Disturbed is like my number 12 most played artist on last.fm or something crazy like that), just not the scary scary screaming hardcore metal. And don't even get me started on screamo/emo/hardcore. I just won't go there, for all of our sakes.
See? I always ramble when it comes to music. I didn't talk about writing as much as I thought, but I guess I didn't really have much to say about that, and sometimes I feel like most people won't REALLY get what I'm trying to say, anyway. I don't feel like I can group myself with a lot of other writers. I write in a lot of different styles, and write about so many different things, and I honestly can't compare my style of poetry to anyone else's. Which is definitely a good thing, but makes it hard for other people to really get sometimes. I do so much subtle things with my poetry that most people completely miss when they read it, because they're not paying attention to the details, just the overall picture. And I guess I'm one of those people who believes poetry should be as much about the details, the individual words, as it is about the piece as a whole. I use tons of wordplay and figurative language and play around with sound so much, and it makes me superbly happy when people point those things out, because it shows they're paying attention, and they get it. Which is why I like getting comments from Aaron on my poetry. :D Seriously, man, you rock at that. Sure, it's always nice to get the, "This is awesome, I loved it" comments, but when someone wants to get down to the bare bones of your piece, that makes me want to squeal with fangirl joy. I've always been all about the details.
Mmm, yes, I think that's about it. Feel free to state your comments below.
I feel like rambling about writing or music or something. Because most of my entries are of the highly uninteresting variety lately. Hmm.
So, my poetry lately? Has been kicking ass. I'm not even joking. I don't even know what it is, but it keeps developing and changing and I keep learning so much about the art of poetry and it's wonderful. I think a good chunk of it has to do with having someone to bounce ideas around with (that being Aaron, b/c he's an awesome writer like that). But I still don't know. It's really incredible, and I'm definitely not complaining. I'm just in awe.
I think something that definitely helps me in my writing is all the music I listen to and how much music influences my life. I know so many people say, "OMG, music is my life," or "OMG, writing is my life," but I rarely believe it from most people. I don't know why, most people just don't seem sincere about it, for some reason. I guess I feel like it seriously has to affect your mood in order for it to be "your life." I know if I can't listen to my favorite music, or even just music outside of what I listen to at work (which is not the music I prefer to listen to all day, but what can I do about it? at least it's something), or if something happens where I'm not able to write all day, that will honestly make me crabby. I NEED to be able to have my music, I NEED to be able to write. That's just who I am.
Which brings me to a completely separate point, lol. People who say they'll give anything a chance, but follow that up with a, "except . . ." GAH. This is mostly referring to music here, to people I see on last.fm, who are all, "I'll give anything a chance," and then their profiles are all indie music, or else the people who are claiming they love all music, but don't listen to country or rap or whatever form of music that isn't a form of rock. :p Hate to break it to ya, but rock is not every genre of music.
And it seems like most "music snobs" won't listen to country, like it's some lesser music form or something. Well, at least most country artists play their own instruments. I grew up with country music, and that's the country I prefer to listen to, stuff from the early to mid-90s, but I'll listen to some of the newer country (though not a lot, b/c a lot of it is a bit too much like pop music for me to handle) and I LOVE classic country.
Of course, I'm not one of those people who can claim to listen to everything, either, but in most cases, I can find at least one artist in most every genre I like. I'll at least give something a try before dismissing it as crap. :p For example, I am not a huge fan of contemporary Christian music. I'm not all that religious, so that's part of it, but I seriously don't think a lot of those musicians are that great in the first place. It's more of a talent thing than anything else. There's nothing novel or unique about them to keep me interested. But, I do like the band Jars of Clay. I think they do harmonies really well, and harmonies are something I totally go weak in the knees for. I also don't like rap that much, but I think that's another case of me not being able to relate to the music. It's also personal taste, too. When I can't understand something, I have a tendency to not want to listen as much, especially when it's not pleasing to the ear, which is why I also don't do a lot of death metal. I like hard rock plenty (uh, yeah, Disturbed is like my number 12 most played artist on last.fm or something crazy like that), just not the scary scary screaming hardcore metal. And don't even get me started on screamo/emo/hardcore. I just won't go there, for all of our sakes.
See? I always ramble when it comes to music. I didn't talk about writing as much as I thought, but I guess I didn't really have much to say about that, and sometimes I feel like most people won't REALLY get what I'm trying to say, anyway. I don't feel like I can group myself with a lot of other writers. I write in a lot of different styles, and write about so many different things, and I honestly can't compare my style of poetry to anyone else's. Which is definitely a good thing, but makes it hard for other people to really get sometimes. I do so much subtle things with my poetry that most people completely miss when they read it, because they're not paying attention to the details, just the overall picture. And I guess I'm one of those people who believes poetry should be as much about the details, the individual words, as it is about the piece as a whole. I use tons of wordplay and figurative language and play around with sound so much, and it makes me superbly happy when people point those things out, because it shows they're paying attention, and they get it. Which is why I like getting comments from Aaron on my poetry. :D Seriously, man, you rock at that. Sure, it's always nice to get the, "This is awesome, I loved it" comments, but when someone wants to get down to the bare bones of your piece, that makes me want to squeal with fangirl joy. I've always been all about the details.
Mmm, yes, I think that's about it. Feel free to state your comments below.