Dance with me

Today's writing prompt. Now anyone that has read my blog before knows that I am not averse to getting my inspiration from music. However I don't think I have ever used a song with no lyrics purely as inspiration for my writing before. Lets see how it all turns out.

Leo walked over to the record player, his bare feet muffled on the soft sprung floor. There was a scratch and a crackle as the needle picked up the ridge and started to pull out the first notes from the piano.

He moved silently to where Jess was sat, having just taken a drink from her water bottle, and held his had out to her. Not saying a word they began to move in the choreographed routine, right around the room they moved. Bodies close and intertwined. The touch of hand to hand, skin to skin. Leo's guiding hand in the small of Jess's back or the feel of her breath as she tucked in against his shoulder. Jess leaping into the air with grace and trust that Leo would be there to catch her, bringing her down so close to the ground her blond braid swept along the floor.

The music would stop with them embracing 'center stage' neither one could keep their eyes from the other, their lips almost touching. Then Leo would break away, reset the needle and the dance would start all over again. 

Until, that is, one or the other or both indeed could no longer stand the tension. When the temptation to close the gap was too much, they would collect their things silently and leave to repeat the same routine again the next day.

Unfulfilled passion. The critics saw the connection of course, praised their astounding chemistry. The tabloids spread rumours of them being seen together. The dancers simply never confirmed nor denied any of it, they refused all interviews and would only dance.

That is what would make them the most captivating of dancers to watch. As their bodies moved, in ways only an intimate couple should know each other, that night on stage everyone was enthralled. And the audience couldn't help but hold their collective breath as the curtain fell on their final embrace.

For more prompt loveliness head over to Deb for dimples, Leah and Sabrina for some beautiful poetry.

Three posts from me today catching up on prompts....think I am going to go crash and burn somewhere now ;-) But it has been one fantastic ride, why not try it sometime? Give it a go if you are stuck in a writing rut, power through some writing prompts. Pinterest is a great place to find them, but generally anything will work and set yourself a time limit to write. Go over, write off on a tangent it doesn't really matter JUST WRITE!

Lost in the Music

What is music to you?

I have been thinking about music a lot lately. It has such a key role in my life (like you'd never guess from my posts) that when I had a conversation with my Other Half a few weeks ago and it turns out that music doesn't really affect him that much, it really shocked me. I don't know why it did, I mean obviously not everyone has the same interests but the fact he didn't even have a go to song when he needed a pick me up...I just couldn't comprehend that!

Music means so many different things to me, I can't understand the 'it's just something to listen to' mentality. I'm sorry if you fall into this category, if the lyrics float over your head and never really connect with your emotions or the thumping bass has never caught in your chest making you feel the beat in your core. No truly I am really sorry because to me music is something that can calm me, it can pick me up, it can move me to tears as easily as it can make me smile and if it doesn't affect you in any of these ways I don't know what to say. I'll just try to sum it up as best I can the only way I can.

For me it's the songs that you cried to as a teenager or the anthem you pumped out to make you feel stronger.

My Anthem!

The songs filled with memories; the ones from our wedding, the song that was playing when munchkin number two was born (there were too many drugs involved with munchkin one to be totally sure!)

Munchkin number two's arrival

Lyrics that mark the end of an era and the start of a new one, packed with memories of someone I miss tonnes.

I was exactly where I needed to be!

Would I have made it through last year without a group of amazing friends who helped me when time were tough? Probably not, and you guessed it there is a song for that too. Every time it comes on I think of them and how grateful I am they are in my life, every time one of us is in need we are there for each other...we're not brothers we are sisters but the sentiment is the same!

Because sometimes we need reminding we are not alone!

Then there is the album that will forever be linked to munchkin one and her first rock concert. The moments and the songs that we shared that will be brought back every time those songs are played. The look of awe and amazement on her face, the huge balloons, the shock form those around us that a kid, a girl at that, could like music like this. I'll admit that I was in my 20's before I got to a decent concert and in my 30's before I got the feeling of being shoulder to shoulder bouncing to the beat and getting lost in the music along with those around you. I am glad my children will have had a chance at that sooner, it is one of the best experiences in the world.

Not my favourite on the album but the first song played so special memories!

Finally there is the huge role that music plays in my writing, even my reading to a certain extent - as my writing group can tell you I have been know to attach songs or even playlists to characters or story/books that I have read....I make no apologies for what my brain does in it's spare time! I have said before that I am very visual with writing and pictures lead to inspiration, well the same can be said of music too. Songs and lyrics lead to characters, scenes, plot twists and lines of poetry even at the most inconvenient moment half way down the motorway!

What is music to me? My memories, my characters, my friends, my tears and my escape. I went to a 30 Seconds to Mars concert in November which was great, but I'm telling you because at it Jared Leto dedicated a song at one point to anyone who had ever used music or been to a gig as a way to escape. It will make sense when you listen to this last song that I am going to leave you with, it is one of my favourites of the moment....no matter what Get Back Up!!!

So while you listen to this one, what is music to you?

The colour of sadness

So Deb at Kicking Corners set a challenge this week to create a new colour. In all seriousness she put out there a great writing exercise; giving us all the same set of words, pictures and music she sent us out into the world to see what we could create. The theory being that no two people could create the same thing, even when given the same ingredients. Have you ever noticed that no matter how closely you follow the instructions in a recipe book yours never turns out looking like the picture? 

I digress, here is what I created whilst listening to the celtic/fairytale music and all before the track ended (shhh, don't tell anyone the track is an hour long, sounds better if when you don't know that!)

I have highlighted the 3 words I chose to use and this is the image that stuck in my mind when I cam to write.

link to original here

“I’m not strong enough for this” Delen whispered through her tears, looking down at their intertwined hands.

“Yes you are. You are the strongest person I have ever met.” Bryce replied using his finger to pull her chin up and force her to look him in the eye. “You are the first human in a millennia to be strong enough to find us.”

“That’s different. I’m not strong enough to live without you.”

“You have a life that needs you Delen. I will not let your story end just because ours has reached its conclusion. I need to know that you have lived.”

“But you are the piece that has been missing, why do you have to be taken from me just as I found you? How will I know that this was all real and not a dream.”

“Kira, look up. What do you see?”

“Our stars.”

“Every time you see the stars you will know what we had was real, you will feel me in your heart. And in that way I will live on, inside you always.”

The village horn sounded, the end was near. Bryce stood and pulled Delen into his arms, one final embrace before he would watch her walk away. They looked into each other’s eyes, their lips met for the last time, the taste of salt bitter on their lips. The Delen pulled away, if she didn’t do this now she wouldn’t go.

“I will always remember you Bryce” Delen whispered, their fingers keeping contact as she backed further away. When their arms could stretch no more Bryce pulled his fingers away, Delen felt her heart lurch. She drank in her last view of Bryce; trying to remember every last detail, cataloguing it for future use. And then she turned and began to walk.

As soon as she was clear of the village Delen began to run, run toward the place she would call home but it wouldn’t be...it could never be she had just left her home behind. Sobbing, her chest heaving from running Delen heard a thunderous sound and turned in time to see the village consumed in a tower of wrath, obliterating their existence. But she would know who they had been.

Delen collapsed under the weight of the memories that flooded her with each heaving sob; Bryce teaching her to haggle in the market place, the brilliance of the night stars as from where they lay making shapes by joining them like a giant dot-to-dot, but mostly she would remember the other part of her soul. She suddenly felt blessed to have had the time they did together, short as it was at least their souls were reunited for a time. And would be again...

PS because I forgot yesterday, Happy Valentines Day :-)