I posted the lyrics to this song in the Subject Songlist - Encouragement post. However, I could not find a video. So, since I love this song so much, I decided to be a bit nerdy and do something really out there, and video it off the TV. *grins*

For a bit of background, Colin Buchanan has to be Australia's greatest children's entertainer. He used to be a part of Australia's biggest kid's TV show called "Playschool". Now he is a singer/songwriter of children's Christian songs. He has made five or six music DVDs for kids, and countless concerts around Australia. (and a think some parts of the world!) This is from Colin Buchanan's latest live concert on video, The Colin Concert DVD. 

*please note!* Forgive the poor quality... recording off the TV onto a camera balanced on a chair does nasty things to quality.

This is a drabble I wrote for Holy Worlds' "Write a Story from a Single Scripture Verse" quest. The verse is:

Here is a 5,020 word story I wrote for a friend's magazine. (She wanted a much shorter story, but... yeah, ok. I got carried away!) Since I haven't done a lot of writing, arty, or musical things lately, I'll post this one. I wrote it about a year ago, so if you see a few sticky/rough spots, it's because it hasn't an editor's eye on it yet.

Since I've been slack lately I haven't got any writing done. Shame on me. Anyway, I thought it was high time I did a post on music to novel by, chiefly movie scores (and the composers) and instrumental playing. I'm posting the music by artist, even though there are some artists that I only know a few of. I thought I'd post some photos too, since we rarely know what these people look like! So, here goes!

Tommy Emmanuel
I can't go past this epic guitarist. He is the only guitarist I listen to, is my favourite, and I met him. Hence, he gets pole on the grid! This guy can do anything; and deliver any feeling you need to listen to to get yourself in the right writing mood. Soulful, exciting, happy, gentle, blue, or climax sounding, he can do it all! Here are a few to show you what I mean:
Happy Hours
Ruby's Eyes
The Trails
Jack Magic
Angelina


Hans Zimmer
Here is one we all know! Hans Zimmer is the master of film scores, and has supplied us authors with bountiful music tracks to boost our imaginations. Chief among his movie scores that I have found awesome and inspiring:

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Prince of Egypt

Alan Silvestri
Another composer who isn't as well known as our Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestri still has composed some pretty epic scores, including the well known theme from "Back to the Future". However my favourite would have to be the theme from "Forrest Gump". It has one of the most beautiful, pure, and touching melodies that you could ever hear, and it relates so well with Tom Hanks' character in the movie.

Back to the Future
Forrest Gump

Last night I couldn't get to sleep, my mind was way too busy; probably thinking how I was turning ancient today! Anyway, 10:30pm last night, I thought the only remedy would be to write a poem. So I did. *grins*

Ok, this is another story hook for a novel that hasn't even seen the light of day yet. It is merely an idea I have been kicking around for months, and hasn't been aired yet. I guess one of these days I will satisfy my inner storyteller by writing the whole novel down good and proper, but for now I am just posting this drabble/story hook. A summary may follow, if I feel like writing it down.

Here is part three of "The Gift of Grace: Kelita's Crown". You can see part 1 here and part 2 here.

Here is part two of three of "The Gift of Grace: Kelita's Crown". You can read part one here.

Here is the story that follows the story hook drabble which I originally wrote for the "Write a Story from a Single Song" challenge from Holy Worlds. The song is "The Portrait" from the movie "Titanic". It's quite long (3,115 words, before finishing the editing) so I'm going to post it in installments. I would really appreciate any advice or criticism of it! (Please note: This is the first piece of fantasy work I've done outside of the Spiritual warfare genre) PS. Don't let the sparkly picture I toyed with in photoshop turn you off!

I'm sorry, you must be quite over poetry by now, but I've been feeling very poetic of late, and you must take advantage of inspiration when it strikes. * smiles * To make up for it, I've posted some pictures with it!

Here is my first drabble, which is quite poor, that is a precursor to a short story I am writing. (which is coming along miserably, at the moment as you will eventually find out) However, I will not be deterred! I plan on finishing this story even if it explodes the epic fail scale! Anyway, enough motivational speaking, here's the drabble.

Before bed at night, I open my window to get some fresh air in the room. My bed is right up against the window sill, so as I kneel, I look right out into the dark, and feel the cool breeze. Autumn is here in Australia, and the night air is filled with the scent of smoke from burning off fires. It brings back happy memories of when my siblings and I were little. So, feeling in a poetic mood, I wrote a poem!

Music is one of the largest parts of my life. I honestly can't go a day without listening to some form of it, and I listen to a huge - I'm talking huge - variety. So I thought every now and then I would post a subject and a few songs I find speak to me especially well. Since life has been up and down for me lately, I thought I would post several songs (as well as lyrics) to do with encouragement. Some of these songs will have YouTube videos to go with them, but if I can't find the vids, I'll post the lyrics. Hope you enjoy them!

Here is a poem that has a picture that corresponds with it slightly. I wrote the poem when I was bored, and I drew the picture to dedicate to my good friends that work at the Library.

This is a 1,999 word short story that came first in Holy World's Christmas competition. It's not without it's major flaws, however. The judges comments were really helpful and instructive, chief among their points was that I wrote it too close to Frank Peretti's style. Which is true. Note to self: Don't read a book that turns out to be a new favourite before you write a short story. Even so, I thought I would share it here.