Be Who You Want to Be

Be Who you Want to Be*

"Be Who You Want to Be" is good advice, I think.  It's too hard trying to be someone you're not, and life is much too short to force yourself into someone else's mold of what they expect you to be.  The trick in following the advice is to first determine who it is you want to be, and then actually take the steps necessary to become that person.

OK.  Here's (one of) mine: I want to be a writer.

It seems like it only takes one step:  I need to write. 

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Yes... But there's a little bit more to it.  For one thing, there are varying degrees of "writer" -- I could fill boxes and boxes with random gibberish scratched on notebook pages and store them in my basement, and technically I'd be a "writer."

But that's really not what I want.  So I need to be a little more specific:  I want to be a writer whose work is read and appreciated by others.

Now it gets a little more complicated.  I not only have to write, but I have to write things that readers will enjoy and appreciate AND I have to find a way to attract readers and get my work to them.

Well, the good news is that I'm writing.  And I think I'm writing things that (given enough editing) might be enjoyed and appreciated.  However, that last thing is really the tricky part -- attracting readers and getting my work to them.  This is basically the whole publishing world in a nutshell.

Plus, I realize -- "attracting readers" is also one of the main reasons I fisrt started blogging. Having an online presence is needed to help readers discover your work, and to interact with them once they have.

So writing alone is not enough, and while I am definitely going to keep that going, I also think I need to return to a much more active presence my neglected blog. Heck -- even posting on a consistent once-a-week basis would be an improvement.  So, beginning today I'm going to shoot for that.

And to start it out, I'll offer a quick bit of writing and a musical piece that completely fits this post.

Writing

In the interest of brevity, how about some of my recent off-the-cuff submissions to the fun writing prompt site TypeTrigger.com?

Because I'm working on so many other things, I'm not spending a lot of time on the TypeTrigger site -- it's just a fun way to stoke the creative juices before moving on to other things.

I've discovered I like the 5-7-5-ish syllable Haiku-esque approach, and it's kind of surprising to see what comes out of my subconscious when I go off of a given prompt.  Sometimes it's humorous, and sometimes it's a little darker, and it's often-times not something I expected.

You can visit My Page on the TypeTrigger site to read all of my stuff, but here are a couple of ones I did recently that I particularly liked (the titles are the site-generated prompt words):

"actions speak"

Although actions speak,
Newton's Third Law tells us that
reactions speak too.

"tile floor"

Your Scrabble tantrum
subsides -- but our shag carpet 
is now a tile floor.

Music

Be Who You Want to Be is also the name of a jam I uploaded to wikiloops.com back in March.  Click on the link under the title or on the picture to the left to check it out.

It's an older piece, but one that I really like. It was built on an awesome track with drums by "MrAdamOnDrums," very cool bass from wikiloops founder "Dick", and vocals by the wonderful "Shi". I added a funky rhythm guitar and several multi-tracked lead guitars to it. 

I love the way this jam came together -- Shi's great singing gives it a very cohesive structure, and the "da-dat-dah" vocal breakdowns over Dick's bass line adds for a lot of interest.  I wanted to do what I could to have my guitar parts add to the song instead of overwhelming everything. I tried hard to stay out of the way of Shi's voice, and worked to double (and harmonize) the breakdown line rather than riff all over it.  The leads are a little looser, but even then, I tried to give them a structure that hopefully embellished the jam instead of just flailing away on "hey, lookit me!" solos.

Thank you for reading and listening! I hope you enjoyed my writing and music -- feel free to comment, even if you didn't.




*Image from DayToBeYou.com

Update: Upbeat about the Upswing

Writing Again...*

Wow -- it's been a while since my last post, hasn't it?  As happens far too frequently, I've once again left this blog to gather dust while I've been off doing other things.  But since this is a blog that is supposed to highlight my creative output, I suppose I should... um, highlight something or other.  Or at least give an update on what I've been up to lately -- if you're up for it.  So let me touch on my writing and musical activities lately:

Writing

The good news is that I'm writing again -- pretty regularly.  I'm quite happy about the upswing in the amount of words I've been getting onto the page lately. For one thing, I've revisited an older, oft-rejected short story, and have had some insights on ways to breathe new life into it.  I'm radically restructuring it, altering the story arc, and hopefully increasing the tension and conflict.  I'm also trying to give it more of a self-contained story feel.  While it could still serve as the introduction to what could perhaps become a much-larger science-fiction novel, I'm optimistic that this finished version will be better able to stand on its own as a short story.

I've also been busy heavily researching a detective mystery set in the 1940's Detroit area.  This is actually using an old serial piece I once wrote for the now-defunct Creative Copy Challenge website as its inspiration, but altering the timeline (1940s instead of 1950s), tweaking the characters, altering the plot, and expanding the story for a novel.  I have the basic story already set in my head and roughly outlined, and I'm eager to see it come together.  I've had two other novels that fizzled out before they were finished -- I consider them part of the necessary process of honing my writing skills. the time spent on both was extremely beneficial in helping me learn how to structure a novel and improve my writing, but I think my writing ultimately outgrew both stories before they were finished.  Someday, I may revisit them, but for now, I think of the many incomplete revisions of both to be like the stepping stones needed to get to this book. This novel could also serve as a launching point for what might very easily become a series of books, with a captivating character and a setting of the drama-filled time of WWII and the 1950s, in a city that was "The Arsenal of Democracy" and one of the most segregated areas in the country.

And I've also signed up for an online critique group with my good friend DL Hammons, whose WRiTE Club 2014 kicks off next week.  I'm excited to see how this group evolves -- I'm also hopeful that it will help keep my nose to the grindstone writing-wise.  I don't want to be the weak link of the group who never has anything to offer.  And by the way -- in case if anyone was wondering -- while I'm definitely looking forward to another fun year of WRiTE Club, I have not submitted anything myself.

Plus, I've found a site that is geared towards a quick dose of inspiration and a short burst of output -- the site Type Trigger.  It's evidently been around a while and appears to not be too heavily maintained, but it's a fun place to spew out some impromptu morsels of writing.  I'm posting there under the name of StratPlayer.  You can use the link to see what I've written so far.  It's kind of fun -- Each short prompt allows you up to 300 words, and the prompts come and go several times a day.  but once you submit, there's no going back.  You can't edit it.  I've missed typing in some words in a few prompts I've posted, and now they're stuck.  But still, the concept appeals to me.  It reminds me of what Bill Evans wrote in the liner notes to the all-time classic Jazz album Kind of Blue by Miles Davis:

"There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist is forced to be spontaneous. He must paint on a thin stretched parchment with a special brush and black water paint in such a way that an unnatural or interrupted stroke will destroy the line or break through the parchment. Erasures or changes are impossible. These artists must practice a particular discipline, that of allowing the idea to express itself in communication with their hands in such a direct way that deliberation cannot interfere.

The resulting pictures lack the complex composition and textures of ordinary painting, but it is said that those who see well find something captured that escapes explanation."

Each prompt has a short life of a few hours:  You're faced with a limited amount of time to be creative on any given prompt.  Then what gets posted is locked -- erasures or changes are impossible. It find that it forces me to be in the moment as a writer (although I evidently need to hone my proofreading skills).   I'm not exactly sure why, but I've found that it somehow inspires me to dabble in Haiku-like responses, with variations of 5-7-5 syllable structures. Probably because others do it too, plus there's also that association with the "Japanese visual art" Bill Evans mentions...

Music

Yes, I realize that it does take a certain amount of chutzpah to transition from a mention of Kind of Blue to my own music, and I certainly don't mean to suggest that my hobbyist recordings are on a level with Miles, but I would be remiss in not including some mention of my musical activities as part of a "creative output" update.

I haven't done much jamming at wikiloops lately, but I'm working on finishing up another piece in my "Forgotten Radio" collection, like Streak of Moonlight, which I posted here back in April.  However, it's not quite done yet.  I've also played in the worship team at church three out of the last four weeks, and that took a chunk of my musical efforts (practice Thursday, run-through and service on Saturday, and then run-through and three services on Sunday). Plus, this current piece I'm working on has undergone kind of a weird transformation -- several edits and revisions, and at one point, I nearly scrapped it.  But now, I'm liking it. We'll see how the finished piece turns out and how I feel about it then -- I'll post it as soon as it's done.

But I can't let you go without at least offering you something to listen to, now can I?

So here's a piece from several months ago that I call "Drone."


This was a quick piece I threw together back when I was just starting to mess around with my new bass.  The drums are just a basic beat loop, and the chord progression is just a simple two-chord drone.  But I like how the first guitar morphs into the rhythm and I think the distorted lead guitar worked out surprisingly well.  For much of the same reasons as I like the idea behind TypeTrigger, I like this -- it was done off-the-cuff, with no editing, erasing, or changing.  I hope you enjoy it also.

Thanks for reading and for listening!

*(Original image from Wikimedia Commons -- modified by Chris J. Fries)

WRiTE Club 2014 is Accepting Entries!

In case you didn't catch it, there was a recent returnee to the blogosphere:

After a hiatus to finish the draft of his latest novel, my good friend DL Hammons is back in the blogging world with a newly designed website.  No longer "Cruising Altitude 2.0", his blogging home is now dlhammons.com -- effectively, but unimaginatively, named after his own name. But luckily, if you're still attached to the high-flying previous name, any links to that site name should still take you to his new one.

DL was one of the first online fellow writers I connected with when I started toying with the idea of becoming a writer myself, almost seven (!) years ago, give or take.  While my writing accomplishments over those years have not gotten much past that initial 'dabbling' stage, Don and I have stayed connected and I've seen his blog grow into a much-loved stop on many a writer's blog roll.

In late 2011, DL rolled out his WRiTE Club -- a writing contest featuring head-to-head bouts between anonymous writers. It was a tremendous amount of fun, and that first contest stretched into March, 2012 with a culminating win by Tiana Smith over Julie Dao.

DL expanded the competition in 2012 and took in 72 entries.  That year, I entered it myself and my anonymous writing samples under the pen-name "RavenClaw" managed to survive a marathon that ran from July to December, and included a win in one of 36 preliminary bouts; then one of 18 playoff bouts; one of 10 round-2 bouts with edited submissions; one of 6 round-3 bouts with second entries; one of 3 round-4 bouts; and then one of 2 semifinal bouts with edited second entries before battling Mark Hough in the finals. I lost 6-4 to him but never really felt bad about it -- his work was simply fabulous (and Mark, if you happen to read this -- I'm STILL waiting for the chance to read more of your excellent writing! But, no pressure -- at least the world gets to partake of your incredible hand-made violins.).

Lat year, DL honed the format and presented a tightly-fought series of competitions between 32 excellent, pre-selected entries. This competition ran from July through October and resulted in a final battle win by Tex Thompson over Jane Lebak.

Well, guess what? 

DL is once again hosting WRiTE Club -- the 2014 edition!  If you're interested, it just takes an anonymous entry of a 500-word writing sample.  I would encourage you to visit DL's site and check out the entry info HERE.

But even if you don't enter, be sure to visit DL's blog beginning in June to watch the battles unfold and to take part in the voting!

Summertime Smile

Summertime Smile*

It's been very busy lately (so what else is new, lol).  But I'm afraid that I've not had much time to make music or write.  But I've still been playing when I can, helping a very good friend with some chapter critiques, and have actually generated some new story ideas that I hope -- someday -- might actually get written.

Also, I did get a little free time over the last week or so, and I managed to put together another Wikiloops jam.  I found a track from last September with a very cool keyboard progression by wikiloops jammer Neddings, with some vocal percussion added by member Calle.  I really liked the mix of the electronic keys with the organic vocal percussive effects, and thought it would make a great template to jam over.

I added a bass track, and then several guitars, and the overall feel to me was of one of fun, warmth, a sense of a happy day in the summer, so I called the finished piece "Summertime Smile."

I invite you to take a listen by clicking on the link HERE.

If you've listened to some of my previous work, you know that there are times I like blending a lot of guitars into a piece.  I did that again here, but I tried to avoid cluttering up any individual section with a lot of conflicting lines.  This jam has a beginning section with a fixed melody line, and the overall structure is that of a jazz jam -- play that "head" melody line, trade solos over the middle, and then play the head again at the end.  I also tried to vary textures.  For example, there's a chunky rhythm guitar that drops out at the part where the delay-heavy, spacey guitar lead comes in.  For at least the first time through the progression in that part, the only guitar is that one, and only the original keys and vocal percussion along with my bass are in the background.

The original template track also had that cool bridge section with the chord changes and I think that really helps to add interest and change.  So while this is still a "jam" in that it has a fun, 'in-the-moment' sense, with the general "play-it-and-don't-worry-about-making-it-perfect" feel of a jam, I also tried to add enough structure to give it a 'finished' sense, too.  There were several harmony guitars added, doubling and contrasting lines played by earlier guitars.  The "head" melody has three guitars playing together, and I hope it adds texture without too much clutter.

Thank you very much for listening.  I hope you enjoy it.  Feel free to let me know your thoughts, suggestions, and feedback -- I'm always interested in your opinion.


*Photo by Chris Fries

"The Sound of Forgetting" is Published!

"The Sound of Forgetting"*

My 50-word bit of micro-flash-fiction "The Sound of Forgetting" has been published at Fifty-Word Stories.

I invite you to check it out by clicking on the link:  "The Sound of Forgetting" By Chris J. Fries.

For anyone who may not know, a 50-word story is a bit of micro-flash fiction using exactly 50 words.  I find it a fun challenge to my normal long-winded writing style to pare a "story" down to only 50 words.  The website is run by Tim Sevenhuysen and I've been lucky enough to have had a few stories published there before. 

And as a side note -- Tim is currently seeking submissions of 50-word stories for a Spring Story Contest.  If you feel like writing some 50-word stories of your own, now is great time to give it a shot.

Thank you for reading my story -- I hope you enjoyed it!



*Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Streak of Moonlight

(image from wikimedia commons)

What do you know? It's been less than a month between my posts!  :)

Today I want to share with you my most recent solo, non-wikiloops, musical piece.  I call it "Streak of Moonlight".  I've uploaded it to my SoundCloud page and you can also listen to it right from this blog by clicking on the embedded link below.  I hope you like it -- you can read more about it below the link...



This piece is all me -- I put together the drum tracks from editing and combining some MIDI drum loops that I found, then I added some simple keyboards, bass, rhythm guitar, more keys, lead guitars, a smattering of ambient background guitars.

But there's something else about this piece that was a new experiment for me -- hear the voices?  I've realized that the human voice can add a tremendous amount of emotion and focus to a piece. But I don't sing -- trust me on this.  So what to do?  Well, I don't want to sample vocals from another musician, and I don't want to deal with copyright infringement, and I'm not going to spend money on what's basically a hobby, and I'm still  a little too insecure about my own pieces to try and get any singers I might know to record something for me, so my choices are pretty slim...

Enter the wonder of recordings of old, forgotten radio programs -- I'll stay away from any of the well-known classics.  So hopefully in the case of the things I use, the artists involved are long gone and if there were copyrights, they've likely either expired or been shuffled through so many hands that they've essentially been lost.  Plus, at this point, what I'm doing is not a commercial endeavor -- I'm not making any money off of this.  I'm giving it away for free.  So if there were still a valid and tracked copyright that I've unintentionally infringed on by using short samples of radio broadcasts from 70 or more years ago, there are certainly little if any damages, and I will gladly give full and proper attribution or comply with any 'cease and desist' orders should they ever come my way.

So -- there you go.

This piece is called "Streak of Moonlight" because the vocal samples come from a episode of a 1936 radio romance which was entitled -- you guessed it --"Streak of Moonlight."  The snippet of strings is also from that recording.

I took my time putting together this piece.  Each layer assembled was done slowly, and I like how this turned out.  There's still some of that 'jam' feel to it (especially in the double guitars during the third lead break), but it has some nice structure to it, too, I think.  It also has a bit of a "chill" feel with some ambient, delay-heavy guitars in the background and my simplistic keyboard drones mixed in.

I really hope you enjoy this, and I'd love to know what you think.  Feel free to comment and let me know...

Thanks for listening!

Keep It Short...

 

Wow -- it's been a month since my last blog post update!?!?  I'm really sorry about that.  Clearly I was right in pulling back as I mentioned in my last posts...

But I also do want to keep this blog alive, so in the interest of quickly interjecting some new content, I will post a couple of short offerings.  One writing and one musical.  I will also promise to try and get a little more content on here, on a little more regular basis. 

But in the meantime, here's this:


A Short Writing Snippet:

I've recently made another submission to 50-Word Stories, and I'm optimistic that the owner of the site Tim Sevenhuysen will like it and that it'll get published on the site.  But who knows?  So rather than wait, I'm also going to go ahead and share it here, too.  To refresh your memory, a 50-word story has -- you guessed it -- 50 words.  Not one word more; not one word less.  It's fun to try and get as much emotional impact and story 'arc' as you can into only 50 words.

I hope you like this one. I call this micro-flash story, "The Sound of Forgetting:"

=====
 
The Sound of Forgetting
 
I heard your old rocker creak and for a moment, I forgot.

It might have been a stray breeze, or maybe just the cat brushing against it -- a remnant from all the years he rubbed contentedly against your legs.

But in my heart it was you, home once again.

=====


A Short Musical Interlude:

At Wikiloops, I continue to periodically add new tracks to all the great stuff that's there.  One recent thing I did was add a couple of quick guitars to a short, moody keyboard piece ("Through the Eyes of the Defeated") by a user named "GhostFish".  I thought the feel was very cool with an epic build, and so I added a couple of quick guitar tracks.  I started with mellower clean guitar, and then switched to a more raucous, screamin' lead as the track intensity climbs.  This is one of those short, off-the-cuff things that I ended up liking how it turned out.  I wish I could embed it here, but unless I upload it to SoundCloud, I can't.  So please click below and see what you think of this short musical piece:

Before The Storm

Also, feel free to check out the "My Tracks" tab of My Wikiloops Profile page if you're interested in hearing any of the other stuff I've uploaded there.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read and listen!  I hope you thought it it was a short time spent well...