(W)Ash Wednesday aka Laundry Time!

Why hello you, my darling blank white void that I call the internet. It is so great to finally be catching up with you in the year 2015. Believe or not, this is my first blog post of the great year two thousand and fifteen AD.

What could I have possibly been doing for those first 49 days?!
a.) working on finishing my novel like I said I was (of course not).
b.) gorging myself on candies, cookies, and pizza (definitely not).
c.) listening to an insubordinate amount of Pogo and related movie-spliced music videos on YouTube (I can't deny it!).
d.) incessantly following every single Star Wars related news item, including the dreaded Tatiana Maslany casting fakeout (i'm not over it!).
s.) binging Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and basically any other possible streaming device allowed (guilty).
t.) losing my mind, forgetting basic math and common english, sitting on my glasses, losing my keys (ummmm).
u.) secretly hoping JK Rowling will tweet at me. She's been so generous with her tweets lately, that beautiful woman. (I have been doing this. Yes.)
v.) GETTING MY SHIT TOGETHER (whoops, no).

OKAY, I'm sorry. I haven't exactly kept up on my new years resolution or anything. Writing has been a struggle! Videoing life has been a struggle! BUT, I SHALL TURN OVER A NEW LEAF, in honor JEEEESUS, oh praise GOUDA.  

I'm not going to make any promises (publicly), but things are going well and in honor of my return to the blogosphere (is that a thing?), I shall post one of the book related things I've been working on. My world map! Because I am cheap, poor, and not skilled at photoshop, I solely created my world map on PAINT. IT'S TRUE. So, look at it in the bottom. No one knows what any of it means. Do I even know? Probs not. But there it is.

Okay, well, I guess there is nothing left to say. This post has been sort of pointless and rambly (I'm making that a word. I don't even care). So, goodbye. It's weird not to make a promise at the end of my blog (cause I usually do and then fail to follow through). Sooo, I promise to save money, invest in good opportunities, and take extra special care of my extremely needy cat. kthx, sorry, god bless, cheers.

-ben josé

 Thanks, Paint. You did me wonders. Also, NERD ALERT.

What I Listen To When I Write

I'm a little odd when it comes to my writing process. Basically, it not very consistent and changes everyday dependent on my mood and how "inspired" I am feeling by my novel. Sometimes I need total quiet and sometimes a funky, fresh beat is just what gets me going. I usually open up my Pandora while writing. Frequent channels of mine include: AIR, Au Revoir Simone, Moby, Arcade Fire, Broken Bells, etc. So, all of the electro-pop/rock you can get! I guess my novel is coming from a place of synthesizers and theremins (P.S. Theremins are about the coolest instruments ever!). Does that make you more or less excited to read my stuff?

AIR - Amour, Imagination, Rêve

Au Revoir Simone - a powerful feminine troika of electro pop!

My second choice of music to listen to is the soundtracks of my favorite TV shows, movies, and video games. I am constantly on the channels for "Harry Potter," "Lord of the Rings," "Zelda", and more. Two of my favorite TV shows, "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica", have the most amazing soundtracks I have ever had the pleasure of listening too. Michael Giacchino (of "Lost") and Bear McCreary (of "Battlestar Galactica") are musical geniuses! Listen to all of their stuff, please! Honorable mention for: John Williams (no explanation needed) and Ramin Djawadi ("Game of Thrones").

Fav. song: "Passacaglia"

Fav. Song: "Life and Death"

Fav. Song: "Song of Storms"

However, Pandora feels the need to play ads in the middle of my writing jams and that can severely affect me and my continuation of writing. So, be wary of using Pandora. My alternatives include iTunes, YouTube, ya know... Check out Pogo on YouTube. You won't regret it!

One band I haven't mentioned yet but that continually inspires me is the band, Portishead. The song, "The Rip," by Portishead, was actually the song that inspired me to write my novel. As soon as I heard the haunting lyrics and saw the accompanying music video, my imagination took over and the initial images and characters of my novel came falling into my head. It was quite beautiful. Of course, the world of my novel is now so much more expanded and large, but that song stays with me every step of the way.

So, as November approaches (4 more days, y'all!), I am putting the final touches on my notes and outlines, preparing my body for 30 days of sobriety, and queuing up all my great playlists. The NaNoWriMo journey is about to begin...

- ben josé