1. Voice. I struggle with voice, with separating my characters from me and from each other. I think I'll be able to work on that to make my manuscript sellable, now that I've got the plot working better, but it's something I'll need to know for future works as well.
2. Description. I've never been a fan of heavy description, which means that I don't write enough of it. My critique partners have said that my prose is good, but it takes a lot of work to get it to that point, so I'm going to work harder on it.
3. Dialogue. My dialogue can be good, but again it's one of those things I work a lot on. I go back and forth on it. When I was younger I was good at it, now I'm not as good again. I'm really learning how much of a balancing act writing is.
4. Networking. I have a presence on Twitter, but I'm going to my first writing conference in 2011, and I hope to meet more people who are doing what I do. For so long it was me in my room, and now I'm slowly becoming part of a community.
5. How to read without then self-depricating. The published authors i'm reading have all been writing longer than me. I have to learn from them, not be jealous of them.
6. People. I want to meet new people, see how they tick. For characters, sure, but also to expand my world. 2010 had a lot of that, but I want more. I want to get closer friends, and get closer to my friends, because they're indispensable to me.
7. Music. I love music. I could see myself writing reviews, or something, in the future, but I've been learning about in a kind of "need to know as I know" way. I need to make my own class on music history, or something, and get a better grounding in it.
8. Budgeting. Probably not the best thing to say when I'm planning an epic European tour, but hey, I do need to learn how to spend less money so I'll have it for that tour.
9. Being nice. I'm kind of snarky, and don't always know when it's appropriate to be so and when it's not. I need to think before I speak a little more, if only because that will allow me to be wittier anyway....
10. Keeping the happiness going. After the disaster that was the end of 2009, 2010 has been great. I'm hopeful, I'm writing, I'm in a program that will get me where I want to go if I work for it. I want to keep these feelings going and strong no matter what happens in 2011. Even if my plans fall through, the way they did in 2010. There are big things on the horizon.
This was going to be ten lessons I learned in 2010, but I didn't feel like being that deep today. So. ten Youtube videos I discovered in 2010.
1.
My friend Marla introduced me to this one. It's hilarious. Kind of makes you feel a little icky if you grew up on Sesame Street, but it's seriously funny.
2.
Charlie is fabulous. I discovered him this summer, and love his videos. He's very real and funny. This video is really cute, but also went viral and helped Carlie gets the fame he has now.
3.
This video was mentioned in Anthony John in The Five Flavors of Dumb, and I googled it early one morning. There's an irony added after Cobain's death, but I love watching them as a group of kids messing around on each others instruments, singing along to a song that's come down from a Belgian man in the 40s to 90s grunge.
4.
I was there for this. Not only is it one of my favorite Amanda Palmer songs, but this version with Georgia from Bitter Ruin is absolutely gorgeous.
5.
6.
All right, a lot of people don't like this one. But if you ignore the fire-boobs, the video has a really great, necessary message.
7.
This video was made by Steven Mitchell Wright based on the duet between Amanda Palmer and Tristan Allen. Tristan's story is one of my favorites of the year. Amanda found him hanging out on the street near Berklee, at the end of his summer program. He played for her at her apartment that night, it was webcast and eventually he released a record on her label. I saw the webcast here, and was there at the recording session thanks to Twitter. It's incredibly inspiring, and the video is magical.
8.
I make no bones about being obsessed with Taylor, but I love this video especially. The sharp colors of the fantasy world contrasting with the black at the end for the girl about to face the reality of high school... I love it.
9.
This one's kind of old, but it's a goodie. "Lookth at my face. Lookth at my face!" I never was a Donna fan, but David Tennant and Catherine Tate are too funny in this.
10.
This embodies the things I love about Amanda Palmer. It was made in a day, on a beach. Using a uke she had only recently learned how to use. The message is all about being yourself, doing what you love.
I realize that this list has sort of a theme. Empowering youth, in a way. To go along with that, as a bonus, I give you my eleventh favorite video of the year. the music video for Pink's Raise Your Glass.
I'm a little predictable. If asked to guess what my favorite CD would be in January I probably would have said "Whatever Taylor's new CD is." But I have very specific reasons for loving this CD. The song "Never Grow Up" resonated with me immediately, since I'm balancing trying not to grow up faster than I'm ready, and "Long Live" went on repeat the night after the closing night of Cabaret. Since we're close in age, a lot of what she says I understand, even though our lives are so different. Judge me if you wish, but I love Taylor Swift.
Sometimes when you really love an artist with one CD, you're almost afraid of their sophomore record. I was like that with Amy's second release, coming three years after 2007's This is the Life. That was the CD I toted (metaphorically) around Europe with me, that took me back to buses late at night across the UK and the bar at a hostel in Amsterdam.
A Curious Thing did not disappoint. Amy's deep Scottish voice burrowed into my soul again. Like the first CD, it's a lot about show-business, but also life and being a success. Knowing what that means for you. And if nothing else, her cover of Dancing in the Dark is worth the entire album.
I discovered R.E.M. in general this year. AftP is the CD that has "Nightswimming" on it, and that song started my R.E.M. obsession. I'd had the Best of R.E.M. on my iTunes for years, but it wasn't until Ingrid Michaelson did a version of the song at the House of Blues Boston:
That I discovered this song. It worked its way into my head, and my manuscript, and I immediately went to Newbury Comics to find more R.E.M. I love their lyrics, the melody of their voices and the fact that they're unabashedly sentimental at some points, rocking at others.
This is a little bit cheating because it's not like I hadn't listened to this at all before this year. I never appreciated it. All my love for Amanda Palmer, but I barely gave the time of day to the band that started her. Big mistake. The songs are as intelligent, emotional and slightly bizarre. When I heard them live, songs spoke to me in a way they never had. The words were what I felt. Brian's drumming makes you appreciate the drums like nothing I've heard before. They're simply amazing
Months after the titular single went up the charts, the album is still there too. "Need You Now" is definitely not the only song worth singing here, and maybe not even the best one. I don't usually like country-- not the heavy kind-- but I love the simple lyrics and emotion in Lady Antebellum's music. The fiddle doesn't hurt either. (Note: Not to be confused with Lady GaGa, whom I also love).
Mentioned by Jennifer Donnelly in Revolution, St. Vincent has connections to both Amanda Palmer and Sufjan Stevens, whom she toured with. She's definitely not Christian Rock a la Sufjan. But she's not quite Amanda theatrical. I could see her crooning into the microphone in a cabaret in the forties. We all know I love a cabaret.
If you buy one record from my little list, make it this one. Everyone deserves to know Dar, and this retrospective is a great way to start. I've loved her stuff since I was thirteen, listen to it on repeat when I write, and still I come away with something new every time I hear a song. Her lyrics are intelligent, thought-provoking and fun. Her voice is gorgeous, and you can really see how she's evolved when you listen to this album. Also enjoy the voices of those who sing with her, the friends she's picked up along the way.
"Me I'll just fill up on coffee/let the caffeine do the talking" Kate sings in a song about unrequited love. "If I were an English teacher/Maybe I could get you to dance with me". The lyrics and the tune are heartbreaking. But in another track she's swearing against the people who wronged her, a strong, rocking woman. I love both sides of her, and especially this album. I even enjoy her cover of Hallelujah, something that I won't do unless your name is Rufus Wainwright.
Even after I saw (t500) Days of Summer, I wasn't one of those obsessed with The Smiths people. I liked them, sure, but I didn't care much about them. Then I discovered "Sing Me to Sleep" again through Jennifer Donnelly. After that, forget it. Love. Morrissey is an incredible songwriter. I hate that they split up for got, but at the same time, there's enough in three records to keep fans going a long time.
Okay, okay, it's a single. But this song so embodies the way I've felt lately, as well as the things the world needs to know. It's okay to be different, it's okay to be "too school for cool". You can still rock out with the chick who's still a rock star. Watch the video. You'll get it.
Since this week is a week of limbo, I'm going to suspend my blogging schedule. A little bizarre as I just started it. I was going to make the Friday Five the 2010 Five and there are too many things I want to remember about 2010 to confine it to five things. Thus was born the week of top 10s of 2010. (note to self: if you continue next year with top elevens, you will regret it come 2015....)
This blog is about books, mostly, so we'll start there. These are books I read in 2010, not necessarily books that were published this year. Also, they're not in preference order.
I LOVED this book. The protagonist, Andi, is a lot like the MC in my manuscript, so I liked her immediately. I adored her love of music, and her quips. The Parisian setting won over my Francophile side, and much of the music that will land on a list later this week I discovered or rediscovered through this book. It is the kind of thing I aspire to write. I brought it home with me over break just to keep its brilliance by me.
Set in Paris, this is a love story between a very believable girl and a hobbit. Not really. But Etienne St-Clair is not your typical debonair Parisian lover, which makes it great. There are little things in this book that make it so wonderfully real. My full review is here, but I'll tell you this: if you haven't read this by the first quarter of 2011,you're missing out.
Sorting through GoodReads this week, I couldn't believe that I only read this book a year ago. I've listened to the audiobook three times. My favorite Christmas present this year was a key pendant that my Dad got me, unaware of its significance. I love Ruby, in all her surliness. The characters were the most memorable of any of Sarah Dessen's works, and the story was so unique. It's one of those book I rethink scenes from when I'm thinking, and gives me something to aspire to.
I devoured these books in the spring. After having read the Gossip Girls books, I admit that they are similar, but Luxe is so much more detailed. The characters are real, have intense motivations and I adore the setting. Also, they fit in so well with the world written about by Edith Wharton that they don't seem anachronistic at all. I'd give a lot to be a lady of leisure in 1899 New York, even with all of the drama. Except for a blip of weird motivation at the end of the book, this series was one of my favorite reads of the year.
It's an American children's classic from the nineteenth century, but I'd never read it. At The Strand, I found a copy on the dollar racks and grabbed it. I loved it, and would have loved it even more as a kid. Yes, as a children's lit scholar I can see all the historical mindsets we're not as appreciative of today. I don't like that once disabled, Katy is shunted to the upstairs of the house and all that symbolism. But the philosophy of finding courage and goodness in pain is one I could have used as a chronically ill child. The sequels sort of lost me, but the first book struck a chord.
This book had been on my shelf since some time in 2008. I wanted to read it, but it was too big to lug around school. So, when I was home sick for the summer reading every thing I could get my hands on, I finished it. LOVE. Part of my adoration comes from the 1899 setting (see a pattern), but the interconnectedness of people and plots is what truly got me. Donnelly's heroine is incredible (a trait I admire in her writing) and the book feels so real. The book spans my two favorite cities-- New York and London-- in one of my favorite time periods. It's a historical epic with heart. What's not to love? The sequel The Winter Rose is fabulous as well, and I eagerly anticipate The Wild Rose.
This book almost summarises my view on children's lit. Tatar uses Proust and Benjamin in her introduction, passages that I noted myself while reading their works over the summer. She examines the history of children's stories, and explores the ways in which literature influences both child and adult readers. It was by far the best children's lit text I read this year.
My full review of Jane is here. I know it's a controversial book, disliked by some fans of Jane Eyre, but I love it. I also love that Meg Cabot used it as her book club, and Lindner came onto the messageboards to answer questions about the book. Mine were literary, about the Epilogue and the absence of Jane's friend. She didn't shy away from them. And even without the element of Jane Eyre I think the book works stand-alone.
I'm late to the party on this one. It's been around since the 90s, but it doesn't feel like an older book. Partially it's the historical setting (1890s. Again), but even then you can usually tease out the time when it was written. Not in the Sally Lockheart books. They're great adventures with fun characters. The last one didn't win me over as much, but other than that I adored them.
I think I've had a copy of this since the movie was rereleased in the mid-90s but I never read it. During the Sick and Reading Summer I got it as an eBook. The thing that I loved most about it is how well you can trace Scarlett's decisions through her character. She really is a petulant seventeen-year-old in the beginning, as selfish as the day as long, and it's totally believable. I remember wanting her and Ashley to get together when I first saw the film, but obviously I was a silly eight-year-old. I love Rhett, and their failed marriage. It's probably the most fascinating relationship I've ever seen on the page.
That's my top 10 books of 2010. Lots of history, love stories and YA. Sounds about right!
