I don’t have a really clear picture of what I’m going to write, but I have finally started collecting a bunch of random little pieces of stuff. This includes songs that struck a chord with me while listening to my ipod in the last six month, things I’ve said about my past writings, and a short story (folk/fairy tale?) that has stuck with me for years. I’m also starting to think about mood (not tough to figure out, once you see where my head is on this) and I’m getting really excited.

Since I’m not completely clear on which direction I want to go with these ideas, I’m just posting them here to officially claim them as my inspiration. Then throughout the month if I get stuck I can come back and see what I’ve got and where else I can go.

• “In the Garden” by Dolores O’Riordan from her 2007 album Are You Listening. This song is haunting and beautiful and since there is no straight narrative, it’s open to interpretation.
• “Crystal” by Stevie Nicks as heard in the movie Practical Magic. Also haunting and beautiful, and I think I can go somewhere with this too.
• I was telling Aimee, the ML for the Poughkeepsie, NY area, that my favorite short stories that I have written are the ones with a twist. The most fun I have reading other stories is when I get to the end and have to re-read it to better understand, thanks to something revealed at the end that flips upside down everything I thought I knew. And I love that, playing with the reader’s expectations. Unreliable narrators fascinate me but I don’t think I really “got it” until college, and something tells me I need to re-read a few things we studied in high school English classes…
• “Boadicea” by Enya (aka “Fire and Ice”). An instrumental piece. Guess what? It’s hauntingly beautiful (ironically, that phrase is used in How I Met Your Mother when Ted learns that karaoke means “empty orchestra”).
• The Little Match Girl, story by Hans Christian Andersen. To ultracondense it, it’s about a little girl who sells matches on the street and then starts lighting them one by one, and the next morning she is found dead on the side of the street.
• “The Mummers Dance” by Loreena McKennit. Spirited, perhaps useful to inspire an upbeat scene.

Obviously the tone will be haunting (if I do this right), and a lot darker than last year’s fantasy novel. Still thinking about storyline, but I think I’m on the right track. Just have to figure out how to stretch it out to novel length. Oh, and a title.

EDITED 7:04pm TO ADD SOME THINGS I FORGOT TO PUT ON THE LIST:

• Tarot
• spiral down (yup, the phrase; no hidden meaning)
• What Dreams May Come, movie with Cuba Gooding Jr and Robin Williams. First time I watched this I realized during the credits I had a massive headache because it was intense, emotional, intellectual (and a few other -al words).
• LA Ink (I heart Kat Von D but I heart Kim and Hannah more)