I took a long break from writing and I come back refreshed, and inspired. I look to lots of different outlets for inspiration. I watch the people around me interact, I read voraciously, watch movies, take trips and research constantly. What has inspired me for over a year now is the music from one artist in particular...Ben Howard. If you haven't been blessed enough to know his music then listen to the video below. It's more upbeat than a lot of his other songs.
I was lucky enough to see him in concert this last April. We made the drive up to SF for one night just to see his show. To say it was amazing is a vast understatement. His music makes me ache in my bones, it makes me feel so much so deeply that it helps the words come to my fingers and pour onto the page. I listen to him when I drive, when I write, I sing his songs to my children to help them sleep. I thank God and the muse for music like Ben Howards. It inspires, it reaches inside of you and tugs free a feeling you didn't even know you had. Its the words of my heart put to chords.
His live music is like watching him bleed before you. He sings his heart out, puts it into every note and strum of the guitar. I want to write like he sings. I want to bleed before my computer and write in a way that reaches out to other people so that their hearts feel my words, and they fall inside my story.
There aren't many things past books that makes me a crazy fan girl. I collect authors instead of rock stars. I aspire to write like those I read. What moves me changes me for the better most of the time. I hope this music that pulls so much from me will help do the same. The last song I'm putting up here I couldn't listen to for a long time. I always skipped over it because something about it disturbed me on a very personal level. My grandma passed away in October. Her loss is felt deeply in my family, in my own heart. The song, I will be Blessed, always makes me think of her. Its haunting and tragically beautiful and I think, I'm so glad I was there the day she died. Not because it was a good thing, but because I was there to hold her hand and honor her life with my love and support.
