Right, so I'm a child of the 80s. Anyone that knows me knows I wear my GenX with pride, and will even when I turned HALF A CENTURY OLD on Saturday. This song called out to my teenage years from an ad for a video game on telly and I couldn't stop until I found it. This is Em fighting the Shadow Guardians in Rift and [redacted because I cannot seem to avoid spoilers] in Storm, even before I wrote the part where [omg seriously?] that fits it so perfectly. I even had another traffic light moment, though I didn't cry this time. That could be due to the fact that [it's out in January, can you please just wait till then?] in the climactic scene, and this was just a fight. Who knows.
Anyway, let's finish this Nano month strong with a piece that could go behind so many of my fight scenes or just as a camera pans over the Oranian landscape...
I wanted to be an author, so I stole a blue box and ran away.
Apparently when my sister asked me what my plans were for my birthday and I said:
1. To tell everyone I'm 30.
2. To tell everyone I'm 45.
3. To completely ignore it and hope it goes away like I did on my 40th birthday when I was in the US and Simon was still in the UK.
None of those have worked. Somehow, I can figure out the mojo for selling a book, getting a dog to eat breakfast, and making the internet magically start working again at home...but I couldn't avoid the march of time. You can see a photo of one of my last, desperate acts here, but the chameleon circuit wasn't the only thing that wasn't working.
As of today, I am Sally O'Malley, FIFTY YEARS OLD.
Someone tell my brain that when it comes back from wherever it goes when I walk into a room and forget why. Someone tell my body that when the aforementioned brain decides we need to jump up from the couch and then BAM oh, that's what gravity is...
Most people pontificate on the occasion of a milestone such as this. Y'all five loyal Lettuce Readers should know by now that I'm not most people. I'm barely one people, though there are lots of people...and Qatu, and elves, and dragonkind and AI drones and Irish Fae running amok in my head. It's like a badly stitched TikTok in there on a good day.
So I will leave with this thought: I am eternally grateful to the village that has raised me up to this age, and I look forward to the second half of this life with all the excitement and trepidation that comes with being fifty years old.
That's right, I'm FIFTY. FIFTY YEARS OLD. And I like to kick, and stretch, and KICK. (Oh, Molly Shannon, I"m so sorry.)
Let's start by saying that I am not the Beatles fan my partner is, not by a longshot. I know enough to know that there was a song at some point called Eleanor Rigby...but not enough to know that "All of the lonely people...." was a part of that song. This version is making the rounds on TikTok right now, and it is just lovely. A total soundtrack song - and when I listen to it, I can see Em and Lex in very heroic situations doing very heroic things that I can't talk about because of SPOILERS, SWEETIE. But this is definitely on repeat for Nano.
I will say, though that the theme of the song resonates with a novel written about escaping from a lonely existence in the real world to a game world...and finding out that it has its own challenges. "Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door/Who is it for?" makes me think of Maddie putting on the "mask" of Em and doing things that she can't do, but who is that for?
Eleanor Rigby
by The Beatles/arranged by Cody Fry
Ah, look at all the lonely people Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby Picks up the rice in the church where the wedding has been Lives in a dream Waits at the window Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door Who is it for?
All the lonely people Where do they all come from? All the lonely people Where do they all belong?
Father Mackenzie Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear No one comes near Look at him working Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there What does he care?
All the lonely people Where do they all come from? All the lonely people Where do they all belong?
All the lonely people (all the lonely people) All the lonely people (all the lonely people) All the lonely people (all the lonely people)
Eleanor Rigby Died in the church and was buried along with her name Nobody came Father Mackenzie Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave No one was saved
All the lonely people All the lonely people (Ah, look at all the lonely people) (Ah, look at all the lonely people) (Ah, look at all the lonely people)
So I discovered this song via a friend on FB and while I know the words and the song...this version is so Taeben it's ridiculous. I swear he's been on my mind so much lately that I think a backstory for him may be in the works. I mean, it isn't like he is going to show up in another Orana novel, right? (insert malicious giggle here)
But for now, enjoy the latest addition to my writing playlist. Here's hoping this doesn't bleed into my current NaNoWriMo...
You Are My Sunshine
by The Dead South
The other night dear, as I lay sleeping I dreamed I held you in my arms But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken So I bowed my head and I cried
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are gray You'll never know dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away
I'll always love you and make you happy If you will only say the same But if you leave me and love another You'll regret it all some day
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are gray You'll never know dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away
You told me once, dear, you really loved me And no one else could come between But now you've left me to love another You have shattered all of my dreams
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are gray You'll never know dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away Please don't take my sunshine away
And speaking of my current Nanowrimo project...I will have copies of the first book in the series (plus the rest of my Orana novels and Proud Racer/Clobberpaws) this weekend at the Carolina Renaissance Festival. I'm participating again in a book signing/author meet and greet event with other local Fantasy and SciFi authors. Come out and see us if you're local!!
First let me say that this song is a total guilty pleasure for me because the movie it was written for is the same...and I know it is bad and problematic and all that and yet, I love it. So there. When I heard this in Stranger Things I was up and dancing around...in my head, at least.
But for now, this song speaks to me of a woman trapped between real life and game life, and the men who may be a little of both. Now back to my Nano noveling!
"Twist Of Fate" (from "Two Of A Kind" soundtrack)
Do we deserve a second chance? How did we fall into this circumstance? We weren't so straight and narrow This is much more than we deserve
A higher voice has called the tune Two hearts that lost the beat will now resume The gift of life extension By divine intervention
It's gotta be a strange twist of fate Telling me that Heaven can wait Telling me to get it right this time Life doesn't mean a thing Without the love you bring Love is what we've found The second time around
Don't understand what's going on Woke up this morning, all the hurt was gone This is a new beginning I'm back in the land of the living
It's gotta be a strange twist of fate Telling me that Heaven can wait Telling me to get it right this time Life doesn't mean a thing Without the love you bring Love is what we've found The second time around
The first time I heard this song was at the end of Bright...one of the worst SciFi movies I have ever seen. But the song stuck with me...and now it strikes me how perfect it is for this month's Nanowrimo project. And that's all I'm going to say, because of Spoilers, Sweetie.
Home
by Bebe Rexha, Machine Gun Kelly, and X Ambassadors
Home A place where I can go To take this off my shoulders Someone take me home
Home A place where I can go To take this off my shoulders Someone take me home, someone take me
Look, I didn't power through the struggle Just to let a little trouble, knock me out of my position And interrupt the vision After everything I witnessed, after all of these decisions All these miles, feets, inches They can't add up to the distance That I have been through, just to get to A place where even if there's no closure, I'm still safe I still ache from trying to keep pace Somebody give me a sign, I'm starting to lose faith
Now tell me: how did all my dreams turn to nightmares? How did I lose it when I was right there? Now I'm so far that it feels like it's all gone to pieces Tell me why the world never fights fair? I'm trying to find
Home A place where I can go To take this off my shoulders Someone take me home
Home A place where I can go To take this off my shoulders Someone take me home(It's been a long time coming) Someone take me
Hooooome, ho-o-o-o-me Hooome, hooome Someone take me Hooooome, ho-o-o-o-me Hoooome, hooome
Look, I been through so much pain And it's hard to maintain, any smile on my face 'Cause there's madness on my brain So I gotta make it back, but my home ain't on the map Gotta follow what I'm feeling to discover where it's at I need the (memory) In case this fate is forever Just to be sure these last days are better And if I have any (enemies) To give me the strength to look the Devil in the face and make it home safe
Now tell me: how did all my dreams turn to nightmares? How did I lose it when I was right there? Now I'm so far that it feels like it's all gone to pieces Tell me why the world never fights fair? I'm trying to find
Home A place where I can go To take this off my shoulders Someone take me home Someone take me
I found no cure for the loneliness I found no cure for the sickness Nothing here feels like home
Crowded streets, but I'm all alone I found no cure for the loneliness I found no cure for the sickness Nothing here feels like home
Crowded streets, but I'm all alone Someone take me Hoooome, ho-o-o-o-me Take me home Hoooome, hooome (take me home) Someone take me Hoooome, ho-o-o-o-me (someone, someone) Nothing here feels like home(Hoooome, hooome) (Take me home) Someone take me Hoooome, ho-o-o-o-me (someone, someone) Nothing here feels like home(Hoooome, hooome) (Take me home) Someone take me
