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Friday, November 25, 2011

Musical Stories Special Edition: Memoir

Happy Friday everyone. I hope all my American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday, and that those of you who went shopping today grabbed a few bargains, and no bruises.

You might remember last week that I said I would showcase a few Musical Stories that didn't quite fit any of our genres before I got started on the third series. I think today's three could all be classed as the memoir genre. (I wish I'd thought to include Memoir when I started this!) I'm sure I don't need to state this, but I will anyway, I'm not suggesting that these are real memoirs, rather they are the stories of the people depicted in the songs.

You get an added bonus with the first song as the best sound quality version I could find is played against a backdrop of scenes from Thelma and Louise. There are other versions of this song, but I don't believe anyone could sing it better than this woman, although I suspect the singer's memoir would be way more exciting than anything the character in this song could experience.

I first heard the second song when I was too young to understand the words, and it has remained a favourite of mine ever since. I bet there's not a single one of us who hasn't, at least once, wanted to give it to someone with both barrels :-)

My final choice for this week is a bit of a self indulgent one. Yesterday was the twentieth anniversary of the death of someone who I consider to be the greatest showman ever. You're still missed mate.

I hope you enjoy these, we'll have another special edition next week and then we'll start series three.









If you want to know how Harper Valley was faring 15 years later, here's your answer.





Saturday, November 19, 2011

Stupid Comments

If you're looking for this week's musical stories, it's here, but you can't comment on it. Too many people were unable to comment on my posts so, much as I loved the comment system I was using, I uninstalled it. In doing so, I lost all comments since 16th September. I don't know how I messed it up, and I'm really upset about it but from now on there shouldn't be any problems.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Musical Stories 20: Romance

I messed up and you can't comment on this post. There is a newer post above it if you would like to leave a comment. Yes, I'm an idiot :-)

Thank you so much to all of you for your prayers and good wishes for Diva. She is absolutely fine now. She went to school today dressed like Annie Hall, which is a style she thinks she has invented, (for 'dress down' day), excited to tell all her friends about her trip to the hospital. Oh, the resilience of youth! She doesn't read my blog but I did tell her that all my friends were thinking of her and she wanted me to say thank you from her too. So, thank you from Diva!

By the way, I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but I was interviewed over on Emily's blog, Get Busy Writing. It was last Monday, but I thought I'd mention it in case you haven't discovered Emily's blog yet.

It's hard to believe, but we're at the end of our second journey through our musical stories, which means we end on a romantic note. The choices this week are a reminder that the course of true love can be anything but smooth.

The first song is proof, if proof were needed, that guys are just as scared as girls of getting it wrong and spoiling things. If you're not sure what to say, say nothing and enjoy the moment.

Song number two is the sad tale of what happens when you fall in love with someone you shouldn't. You see them when you can, instead of when you want.

For the final choice, the whole world knows this guy is in love, now, if he would only admit it to himself! If that description didn't give it away, I'll be very surprised.

So there it is, the end of series two. I do hope you've enjoyed it. There might be a third series, but for the next couple of weeks I'm going to showcase a few songs that didn't quite make it. These are usually ones that I think have a great story, but if they were books, I wouldn't quite know where to shelve them :-)






Thursday, November 17, 2011

I'm thankful

Blue has something wrong with her, medically. It's still undiagnosed, and it's not major, but she suffers at times with her health. In contrast, Diva has the constitution of an Ox so it was a shock last night, when Diva came home from school and complained of having had pins and needles all up her left side during the bus ride home. It had started in her arm, moved up to her shoulder and travelled across her face. Her mouth and gums had gone completely numb. When she was talking to me, she sounded as though her tongue was swollen, and her speech was slurred. The pins and needles disappeared, but her arm had gone numb, she couldn't feel anything. I phoned the Doctor, and they said they would see her in the morning but to phone if anything changed in the next half an hour. I'd barely put the phone down when Diva began to panic that her arm was burning. I was back on the phone straight away and they agreed to see her in half an hour. Five minutes later, her arm was no longer burning but it was too heavy to lift, and very cold. I couldn't feel any difference in temperature, but it was obviously happening. That's when she told me that earlier, her leg had also gone numb and she struggled to walk for a few minutes.

By the time we went to the Doctor, most of the symptoms had subsided, but she now had a headache on one side of her head, which seemed to be moving round, spiking, fading, moving then spiking again. Lights were hurting her eyes and she felt sick. Outwardly, I was very calm but inside I was panicking. The symptoms seemed to be coming and going so fast and I had never seen anything like this before. I'll be honest I was really scared. After examining her and doing some tests, the Doctor called the paediatricians ward at our local hospital and told them to expect us. He told us not to go on the bus but to take a cab. This is the point where I really grew frightened.

I'll cut the rest of this short, but some of you may already know what the diagnosis was. The hospital (and the Doctor, it turns out, although he didn't say) are positive it was a migraine with aura. The type of aura (all the symptoms before the headache) is rare but still common enough to diagnose easily. They can't officially diagnose a migraine as there needs to be more than one to call it that but they are certain that's what it was. Strong painkillers eased the headache enough to the point where I was allowed to take her home rather than her staying overnight as they had originally wanted. This morning she has no more than a mild headache.

You may think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, and maybe I am, but last night, for a couple of hours I thought there was something seriously wrong with her. Don't get me wrong, I'm not underplaying the severity of migraines but they can be managed, they are not life-threatening, and she may not get another. If she does, we'll know what it is and be prepared. The things that were going through my mind – stroke, poisoning, tumour – are a lot harder to deal with.

I commented this morning on a post asking what I am thankful for. Today, I am thankful that last night my daughter had a migraine.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Musical Stories 19: Horror

Life's been a bit hectic this week, but I couldn't miss my regular chapter of Musical Stories, so here I am. Before we get to that though, a very brief update on how NaNo is going for me. In a word, badly. Apparently, I'm set to achieve my 50,000 words on June 15, 2012. Hopefully, I'll pick up this weekened though as Phil from A Time to Phil and I are doing one of our regular team 10k events, where we write 10k words in a weekend. This is our third time, and we've always managed to push each other over the finish line in the past, so wish us luck for this time too!

This week's Musical Stories are from the horror genre. I've gone for a slightly more tongue in cheek theme this time, rather than out and out chills, but I hope you enjoy them all the same.

The first one is a great example of the writing 'rule' where everyone should have a motive for what they do, even the bad guys. This gentleman's motivation is that he loves his work!

I love the second story, it's a wonderfully creepy YA tale. If it was made into a film I have no doubt that one of the boys would be changed into a screaming girl, but I like it better this way.

For my final choice, what happens if you're turned into a zombie and your co-worker won't speak to you? Why, you send him a memo of course! This song is fun, as well as being creepy but - and this is a serious warning – If you're one of those who can't watch The Walking Dead, don't watch the video. Minimise it and just listen to the song, I really don't want to gross anybody out.

Next week, we reach the end of our journey for the second time and we'll end on a romantic note. In the meantime, have a lovely weekend, and don't have nightmares!






Saturday, November 5, 2011

Musical Stories 18: Children's Literature

I'd like to tell you that I'm late with this week's Musical Stories because I was hard at work writing or editing, but I'd be lying. The truth is, I went to bed at 8pm last night. One of these days I'll find a decent sleep pattern!

Better late than never, this week's Musical Stories are Children's Literature. They're all quite different, but each is special in its own way.

I love number one almost as much for the video as for the song itself. The singer mimics the mannerisms of a small child beautifully. I hope you're able to watch the video as well as listen, and you'll see what I mean.

Number two is a reminder that the world can be a harsh confusing place, and sometimes children have to find this out early. This one never fails to bring a lump to my throat.

The final song for this week was recommended by Margot Kingberg from Confessions of a Mystery Novelist. I do have other songs that, perhaps, tell more of an actual story than this one but it was so beautiful I just had to include it. (Sorry if there's an advert at the beginning, it was the best version).

Next week is the penultimate chapter in this series and it's horror, so be prepared to be spooked!






Tuesday, November 1, 2011

And we're off!

It's 12:04 am. I might as well start while I'm feeling enthusiastic :-)

I'm registered as Sarah Pearson if anyone wants to find me. There are a few of us, but I'm using the same picture as my blog one.

This is going to become my theme tune, not just for NaNo, but until I get published.




I nabbed this from Sommer Leigh's blog Tell Great Stories. If you liked that, she has more here.

Best of luck to everyone taking part, officially or unofficially!