Writing by the seat of my pants (again)

Dear Friend,
The Office of Letters and Light is doing another writing event, like National Novel Writing Month, but instead of holding it in November they're doing it in the summer, for two months.  It's called Camp NaNoWriMo! For at least the month of July (the beta testing month) I will participate by writing another 50,000 word novel in the course of one month.  Depending on how that goes, I may decide to do it again in August.  That's right, two novels in two months, then a break for two months to do it again in November.  I could possibly write three books this year.  Wow.

The most interesting part of this is, I haven't planned very much this time.  I came up with my plot two days ago, and I haven't outlined any of it yet.  I have only three characters thought out, too.  What's weird is that I'm taking a character from my previous NaNovel (written last November) and going back in time and writing about her adolescence.  In all of my writing about this character I've "known" that she grew up with two particular friends, so naturally you would think that those two characters would feature prominently in the story of her childhood, right?  Wrong.  I also knew that every summer those two friends would be gone, visiting family, leaving the main character alone.  I'm setting this novel in the summer, so her friends are gone.  Am I crazy?  I've just made this much harder for me, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.  Besides, in 50,000 words I can probably get back to the point where her friends have come back home.  I've been able to think up two characters for my main character to interact with, though, and I think it will set up some interesting story telling ideas. 

So, tonight, midnight, I'll start my crazy method of writing stories.  I hope I last the whole month, for the third time. 

New Owl City Album, you know I had to write about it, didn't you?

Dear Friend,
Remember how I'm obsessed with a fan of Owl City? Well, this past Tuesday "All Things Bright and Beautiful" came out, and nothing was going to stop me from getting it.  (Actually, I just downloaded it, like everything of Adam Young's, it all came from ITunes.)

Between bouts of listening to nothing but the Beatles I've managed to play this new album almost enough times to memorize the lyrics, and I thought I'd just write down a few thoughts on it, track by track. (I'm getting the track order from Amazon, since downloading it after pre-ordering put the second version of Alligator Sky as a different album. If the order is wonky, don't blame me, blame Amazon.)

1. The Real World: Honestly, not the greatest opening for the CD, but good. Very typical of Adam; dreamy, electronic sound and sweet, surreal lyrics.  "Reality is a lovely place/but I wouldn't want to live there" 3/5

2. Deer in the Headlights: I love the opening of this, especially since it made my Mom stop and say, "What sort of instrument is that?!"  Lots of energy and catchy. The lyrics are also quite funny.  4.5/5

3. Angels: So far the odd numbered songs are leaving me a little cold.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad song, and I love singing along with it, but it's no "Fireflies." The highlight  is the line "I believe there are beautiful things seen by the astronauts." 3/5

4. Dreams Don't Turn to Dust: I love it. I'm not sure I can get very eloquent about why, probably my usual reason for liking optimistic songs. Upbeat, idealistic, fun, and I love the percussion. 4/5

5. Honey and the Bee: Joined by Breanne Duren, this song is so sweet and lovely.  I have always liked how Adam and Breanne sound together, her voice is so sweet and girly compared to his geeky boy sound. Guitar in this song is great, too. 4/5

6. Kamikaze: I LOVE this song, though I don't actually understand what he's singing.  I know that sounds stupid, but it's true.  His shouting in the chorus just energizes me, and I love the beat of the song, along with the sounds. 4.5/5

7. January 28, 1986: This really just works as an intro to "Galaxies", so I'll move on.

8. Galaxies: I've been waiting for this song for literally months.  I loved it from the time he put the samples on his website.  I love the energy, the Christian theme, they words, everything. I don't even mind that possibly half of the lyrics are "da, da, da, da."  If this were the only song on the album I'd have thought it was worth the money.  5/5

9. Hospital Flowers: Back to the odd numbers not grabbing me.  It's a slow song, and to me, depressing. I realize that the idea behind it is supposed to be optimistic "Happiness returned to me/Through a grave emergency" but it bums me out.  It will probably be good for those blue days, though. 2.5/5

10. Alligator Sky (feat. Shawn Chrystopher): I've listened to this song so many times I don't know if I'll ever bother to listen to it again. It was the first single, and downloaded automatically when you pre-ordered the album. All I can say is Owl City and rap don't really play well together.  I like the song, but often wished I could hear it without the rapping.  Now that I have the album, I can. Hard to rate, though, I'll give it a 2/5

11. The Yacht Club: Joined by Lights. (I probably didn't capitalize her name properly, sorry) It's not a bad song, but really, the poor odd numbered songs.  I don't really get the lyrics, and can't connect to it.  I like the collaboration with Lights, and I'll definitely listen to this often.  3/5

12. Plant Life: I want to know how much of this song was Adam Young and how much was Matt Theissen.  I can imagine Relient K doing this song (actually, I want to hear them do it.) I love this song to pieces and bits.  I think I listened to it three times in a row last night.  I adore the waltz tempo, the imagery, the accordion (?) just everything. I love everything about it. 5/5

13. How I Became the Sea: Um, wow, I feel like I'm dreaming a very bizarre dream whenever I hear this song.  It's an amazing feeling, and I'm fascinated by the song, but in a way I can't tell if I actually like it, you know? (So much emotion that my sentences run on, apparently) 4/5

14: Alligator Sky: Ah, finally, the real "Alligator Sky." I love it.  I feel like most of my comments are repeating themselves, so I won't elaborate, other than to say, Adam, please, no more rapping. 4.5/5

15. Lonely Lullaby: This isn't actually on the album.  It's available through Owl City Galaxy, though. I've written about it before, but that was more of how the song made me feel.  I'm over that now, by the way.  It's still a lovely song, and I think he should have put it on the actual album instead of making it an online "club" type of exclusive.  I hate that sort of thing. The song itself earns 4/5

There you go, my thoughts on Owl City's "All Things Bright and Beautiful."  Check it out, you might like it.