This time of year you can’t read the paper, watch television, listen to the radio, or peruse the internet without tripping over a “Top Ten” or “Best of” list. It’s fun to hear other people’s views on the best and the worst and argue with friends on your personal lists. I always enjoy New Year’s Eve as a time to not only look forward to the new year, but also look back on the one that has just past before the door slams shut forever.

In that same vein, while listening to some music last night, I decided to write a post today about my favorite songs of 2008. Now… take this with a grain of salt though, because while a lot of these songs came out in 2008, some of them did not. I just discovered them in 2008.

In no particular order:

Songs by 30 Seconds To Mars. This band was, by far, my favorite band of the year. I was borderline obsessed with them at one point. My husband would say it was more than borderline. I love all the songs on their “A Beautiful Lie” CD, but my top five favorite songs by them would be “The Kill” (acoustic version), “The Story,” “R-Evolve,” “Hunter,” and an instrumental song “Time to Wake Up” that I found on the internet.

Two other bands I discovered in 2008 were Boys Like Girls and My Chemical Romance. I found them because they were listed under artists similar to 30 Seconds To Mars, although I really don’t think they are very similar. My favorite songs by Boys Like Girls are “Hero/Heroine,” “Thunder,” and “Up Against The Wall.”  I have to say that I don’t particularly care for many of the songs done by My Chemical Romance, but I love their song “I Don’t Love You”. That song was what initially inspired my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel idea. I remember having it playing on repeat for about an hour straight while I outlined my novel.

“Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. Every time I hear a song by Coldplay for the first time, I think of U2, which is one of my all time favorite bands. I don’t know exactly what it is about the lead singer’s voice, but I think of Bono every time.  I think it’s more than their accents, but regardless, they get an immediate plus from me. This song, by the way, is also my daughter’s current favorite song.  She’s only two and a half, but she knows many of the words to it.

OneRepublic’s “Apologize.” I heard Timbaland’s mix of “Apologize” on the radio and absolutely loved it. I could barely wait until OneRepublic released their own album and I got it as soon as I could. I really like their sound.

“Shattered (Turn the Car Around)” by O.A.R. I liked this song when I first heard it, but didn’t quite appreciate it like it deserved until I really listened to it. Now it’s definitely a favorite of mine, likely because it was also an inspiration for my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel.

“Love Remains The Same” by Gavin Rossdale. The first time I heard this I recognized Gavin’s voice immediately, which I love. The song is completely different from his older (Bush) stuff, but I love it. If I had to pick one song to describe my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel this would be it, despite all the other inspiration I got from other songs, this one tops them all.  It might just be the favorite of my favorites.

Other favorites are these, however, they don’t rank as high on my list as those I’ve already mentioned.  Many of them were also key inspiration to my NaNo novel, which, again, is probably why they have stayed favorites:

“Forever” and “With You” by Chris Brown

“No Air” by Jordin Sparks w/ Chris Brown

“Leavin’” by Jesse McCartney

“Bleeding Love” and “Better in Time” by Leona Lewis

“Say” by John Mayer

“Stop and Stare” and “Say (All I Need)” by OneRepublic

And there you have it…  my favorite songs of 2008.

What plans do you have for your genealogy research next year?

First and foremost, I want to finish writing the genealogy book on my Seibert family that has been in the works since mid 2007.  I’m almost done with it, and besides, I promised my family I would have it ready by this year’s family reunion.

I’d also love to stop procrastinating about talking to my grandfather, Floyd Cummings, about his life and relatives.  I want to videotape him in an interview talking about his life, mainly before and during WWII.  I also would like to know more about his family.  I’d like to know the specifics about his relatives, like births and deaths and such, but I’ve heard some crazy stories in passing about his family that I’d really like to know more about; how some thought his Aunt was a black widow what with having 9 husbands and them all dying, how his grandfather was able to survive the 1889 Johnstown flood, and how his father pulled a prank on a neighbor, putting the neighbor’s carriage on the top of his barn, among many others.  I’d like to know the specifics, at least as much as he can remember, before he is no longer around to tell them.  I want my next big genealogy project, after I’m done with the Seibert book, to be a book about my grandfather’s side of the family, so this will be the perfect starting point.

How about for your blogging?

No new plans for my blog.  I will continue to post when I have something to say, and otherwise not.  That’s the way I blog right now and I like that.  I don’t see any reason to change.  The only thing that may happen is that I might not get as much time to blog because I am currently pregnant and will have another child to take care of next year.

As far as non-genealogy, non-blog related plans…

I can’t really think of anything other than I’d like to finish my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel, sometime in 2009, preferably before April.  I’ve written about 60K words on it so far, but I’ve basically set it aside for the past few weeks.  I’ve only written a day or two out of each week since November 30 and I feel the need to pick it back up again and work on it more akin to what I did during the month of November.  Maybe not 1667 words per day, but at least set aside an hour each day to work on it.  I needed a bit of time off from writing, but I think it would be fun to write again.  Besides I was just getting to the good stuff.

Every year prior to this one, I’ve used my laptop to write the story.  Each day I’ve had a goal of writing at least 1667 words, and every year I would have to write for three (or more) hours, struggling to get those words out of my mind and onto the page.

This year, in only two days I’ve already written 5348 words and it was all done in less than 4 hours, without it seeming like a chore.  I have been pleasantly shocked by my performance.

Some people have said that my success is due to my story idea being much better than previous years (which I don’t actually agree with by the way), so it’s easier for me to find the words, but I think it’s mainly due to using my brand new (to me) AlphaSmart 3000.

When I sit down with my AlphaSmart, I can only write.  There is no internet calling me.  No music to distract me.  Nothing else to do but type.

Also, since there are only 4 lines of text readable at one time on the AlphaSmart, I can’t accidentally look up and see that paragraphs earlier there are horrible spelling or grammatical errors that need to be dealt with.  Or worse, I can’t start reading what I’ve written so far and realize it’s all been crap and I should just stop now before I kill the written language with my horrible prose.  All this can (and has to) be edited later when using the AlphaSmart.  It’s just not built to edit stuff.

No distractions and no ability to edit my work means that all I can do is focus on what I have yet to say.  And this in turn equals many many words written in a short amount of time.  I love it.

Now, after saying all this, I admit that I’ve only been writing for two days, so it could just be a fluke, but I really do think it’s all due to the AlphaSmart and it’s ability to keep me focused.

I recommend writing on an AlphaSmart (or something like it) if you are like me and have problems staying focused (or as my husband likes to say: if you have poor willpower).  It might help you focus too.  And I don’t see how it could hurt.

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Update:  Well, it’s been a week of writing and I’ve consistently been able to write an average of 2,330 words each day even when I’ve not felt very much like writing.   I’m almost positive now that it’s due to the AlphaSmart.

I was all set up to create a 30 page graphic novel during the month of NaNo instead of writing a novel, as in, I had all my supplies at the ready: pencils, pens, bristol board, ruler, etc. But as I started practicing my drawing, I was not happy. Not at all. I was prepared to not have the drawings be perfect, but I didn’t realize just how unprepared I was to do this sort of project. I’m pretty good as drawing from life or a photo, but drawing something straight out of my head is completely different. I realized that I need to do much more drawing, and not just from photos, in order to get to the level I need to be to take on a project like this.

So, as I’ve already said, I’ve decided to once again attempt to write a novel for NaNo this coming month.

I plan to take my idea for the graphic novel and expand on it:

To make a long story short, it will be about a woman struggling with poor self-esteem, trapped in an abusive relationship, and her attempt to get out of the relationship and gain a healthier perspective on life.  It will have a hopeful ending, but she ultimately goes back to her husband.  It will also feature an affair and most likely a pregnancy.  At least I think this is what it will be/contain.  I’m not too sure of all the details right now, because as I write it, my perspective on the story will change as I get to know my characters better.  It’s a bit crazy to say (though I know other writers will understand), but my characters will tell me where the story should go.  I can’t force something to happen that they, my characters, don’t approve of.

Only ~3 and half days to go.  I’m so excited!

He tried to tell me in the kindest way possible that writing is just not my thing. He didn’t need to be gentle. I agreed with him right away. Whenever I sit down to write a novel I can’t ever seem to get the words to flow. When I do write, it’s generally flat and stilted. I do pretty good with non-fiction, but writing “literature” just does not seem to be my thing. I did complete NaNoWriMo last year, but the novel was horrible. Probably the worst thing I’ve ever written. Plot holes, one dimensional characters with multiple personalities (as in they changed their one-dimension qualities throughout the novel), etc.

However, I still have a very strong urge to tell stories, and I don’t think that will ever stop. We figured out that since I am such a visual person, I probably need to use a visual format, like a graphic novel or a screenplay, instead of a novel.

If you remember, I started a screenplay when Script Frenzy was going on. I was very happy with what I wrote in that case because it was a good way to translate what I see in my head onto paper. I just haven’t done much with it since then. I think I’ll dig it back out to see what I can do with it.

I think the idea of creating a graphic novel is a wonderful idea too, since I used to love to draw and paint. I just don’t see any of my current ideas fitting into that format. My husband, however, has written two stories that I would love to turn into graphic novels. One is about zombies and the other is a children’s story.

The only problem I see with getting back into writing/drawing is that I’ve not done either for at least a few months and I’ve started projects or developed interests in the mean time that already have me stretched a bit thin. I just have too many interests!

I also agreed to edit my husband’s 2007 NaNoWriMo novel for him, so I just don’t know how much more I’ll take on at the moment.

I’ll get the stuff out, but probably wont do much on any of it for another month, when I’m no longer consumed with my genealogy book or busy editing my husband’s novel.

I want what I do to be fun and not feel like something else I have to do.

I’ve had a story running around my head for about 3 years now and I’d love to get it on paper… er, pixels… or whatever computer jargon is appropriate here.

I’ve tried writing this story a couple times. The first time was for 2005’s NaNoWriMo, but I only got a couple thousand words in before I crashed and burned. The times I’ve tried since then have been equally disappointing. My main problem with writing it has always been that I saw it vividly in my head, as if I was watching a movie unfold before my mind’s eye, but when I tried to capture it in words, it just fell apart pathetically. Now, I know that it is likely just me lacking the creativity to find the right words, and maybe it’s just a cop out, but I’ve been thinking that if it feels like a movie in my head, maybe I should write it as if it were a movie even if I’d rather see it in novel format. Also, then I can just say something along the lines of “To the left of the meadow you see him lurking behind the bushes” rather than come up with some literary stuff like, “Breathing slowly, he peered out into the meadow through the tangle of arrowwood branches.” This way I might finally be able to get the story on paper and then go back in and work on turning the script into a novel.

We’ll see how it goes. In any case, good luck to those who are starting their Script Frenzy adventures.