I’m not a country music fan. In fact, if I had any ‘metal creed’, I wouldn’t own up to liking this song at all. My playlist is filled mostly with *peeks*…not this kind of music.
But a couple of years ago I stumbled on a music video of ‘Teardrops on My Guitar’ by Taylor Swift. It was so perfect to the story living in my head that I may or may not ever write, that I fell in love with it. Say what you will or won’t about the artist, I still love the song.
So when someone mentioned ‘Mean’ on Twitter, I had to add it to my playlist.
It’s my inspiration now whenever I get negative feedback. I’m not talking about constructive feedback. I’ve gotten much better (though I’m not perfect yet) at seeing the value in “this isn’t working, and it may keep people from reading further. Considering making a change”.
I’m still horrible at accepting “How could you have guns and gods in the same story? You’re stupid.” (That’s actually a quote. I fumed for days about it.)
So, when I think my work isn’t good enough, and people I don’t know are telling me I suck even when my friends/critique partners/beta readers say otherwise (fortunately I have *never* had a cp tell me I suck…though they have said parts of my stories need to go), I like this song. It’s a good message. And while I may never be living in a big ‘ol city (again), and there’s even a possibility I’ll never get pu…*can’t say it*…at least I gave it my all, right?
Any songs that inspire you when you’re feeling less than optimistic?
I shouldn’t admit this, but the songs that make me feel better when I’m depressed or frightened are all songs I can’t play with my kids in the car. Like maybe some of them are by Kid Rock. Something about the (in real life, unhelpful) defiance of it tends to make me perkier.
I’m sure others will echo this, but since you’re writing fiction I’m pretty sure you can have guns, gods, the Boston Pops, and King Henry V all cavorting together during a parade through Moscow without being stupid. (That would be bizzaro maybe, but not stupid.)
Love this song. I don’t consider myself a country fan either, but I make an exception for Taylor Swift.
When I’m feeling down I like to just wallow in it for a while, so I drag out all my old goth music and indulge in a medley of The Smiths, Bauhau, Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division and other gloomy stuff. Then I usually toss in a bit of Birthday Party and early Einsturzende Neubauten to let the anger kick in.
Once I’ve gotten through the anger part, I’m usually okay to go back to regular scheduled programming….