oh las vegas i, i'm running out of time, and my youth is all but ashes;

[tiny_ninja]

Challenge #10

In your own space, talk About A Creator/Someone Who Inspired You.

Hokay, so. here's the earth This is a two part answer.

I am heavily inspired by music. This isn't new for most writers, but I have one artist in particular who inspires me: Andrew McMahon. His current band is Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, but he was also the frontman for Jack's Mannequin, and Something Corporate before that. I've been lucky enough to see him perform with all three bands, and I've been able to meet him three times. The first was to interview him after Something Corporate's show at Toad's Place in New Haven in 2004; after his set opening for Matt Nathanson and Gavin DeGraw in 2014; and as part of a VIP meet and greet for the Upside Down Flowers tour in 2019.

Andrew has a way of putting words together and describing relationships and life that I can't ever hope to reach. Many of my works would not exist without his inspiration - namely, One New Message, the original work heavily influenced by his song "High Dive." I really need to tackle draft two of that beast, and I'm hoping that I'll at least make some forward progress on it at some point this year. I'm also a slut for anything with a piano in it and well, Andrew proves that you can front a rock band with a killer piano.

Some of my favorite songs by Andrew:

Paper Rain (this one is going to be the soundtrack for a Setzer Gabbiani fic at some point in the future)
Canyon Moon
Watch the Sky
Me and the Moon
Bruised (my favorite song of all time)

And now for part two!

If you have ever talked over things with me, ranted with me, worked through plot problems with me, you have inspired me. I have stories and characters and ideas that would not exist without the people who stuck with me to figure these things out. I have three people I want to acknowledge.

Runic runicmagitek, the braintwin. We've been friends for a decade plus now and the characters and plotlines we've created and played through still continue to amaze me. They are still my best beta and it's been an honor to watch their writing grow and their editing skills get better and better ♥

Matt yeetresponsibly is to blame for my rekindled love of Power Rangers. He feeds the muses and then lets my brain run with it, and he is my lore guy for all things PR. My favorite mornings at work are the ones where we get to chat and plot in between brewing coffee and making drinks. Certain plot twists in A Hero Lies in You are 100% Matt's fault, lol.

And Meghan mywildestdreamings, for writing with me and always being there with a kind word and the encouragement I need to keep going when my writing gets tough.

Thank you all, you're amazing, and I will continue to be here by your side with whatever writing things you need. And to new friends - I can't wait to speak with you as well! ♥

Comments

[tjs_whatnot]

Oh my goodness! This is so timely! I used to hear the song "Fire Escape" on my satellite radio station and always told myself to search out more things by them because they just gave me so many feels and so many storytelling-love thoughts and I never did. Until today.

Thanks.

♥

[tiny_ninja]

Awwww! I hope his music inspires you to write something really great! ♥ "Fire Escape" is also my kids' favorite song, so we play that one a lot around here, lol.

[scripsi]

Thank you for the music rec!

[tiny_ninja]

I hope you enjoy listening to it! ♥

[spikedluv]

Thank you for sharing this post, I enjoyed reading it. Music can be so inspiring. I'm glad you've had such wonderful people as fandom inspiration.

[tiny_ninja]

Thank you for commenting! I think a lot of writers draw inspiration from music, and with good reason ♥