Taking Flight -- Part Two

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Taking Flight -- the Playlist

Some songs I hear on the radio or in movies provoke my Muse to respond. Like with Pablo Neruda, it tickles my fancy and suddenly I find myself in front of my computer typing a few lines (or when Lady Luck really likes me, SCENES, people!) or pulling out my phone to jot down some dialogue. While I was writing Taking Flight, a many number of songs gave my Muse all sorts of crazy ideas, hence why I rewrote much of TF one, two, four times over again.

Anyway.

Most of these songs are from the viewpoints (in my mind at least) of either Abram or Cayde. Some are from both. Like with the last playlist, if you hear any songs you like, PLEASE legally download them from the artist. Coming from the live music capitol of the world, it just IRKS me like no other when people pirate someone else's hard work. You may gain a free song (and hopefully a virus or two!) but the artist gains nothing - which defeats the point of putting out his/her art to begin with.

Okay -- I'll step off my soapbox now. (Sorry, but sometimes I just get carried away!)

Updated: with "Alternate Songs" on 2/11/13

Taking Flight - the Playlist

Taking Flight -- Part 1

Huzzah! I've done it! It's taken me a few months, but damn, TAKING FLIGHT is here. First and foremost, I'd like to thank the Academy for their nomination and -- wait. Sorry, wrong speech. Got a little ahead of myself here...
I digress.
TAKING FLIGHT, like CAGED BIRD, was intended to be written as one story, but to save y'alls poor eyeballs, I've broken it up into parts. (At the moment, there are three.) TAKING FLIGHT is not nearly as long as its predecessor, but it packs a more emotional punch. TF flips back and forth between Abram and Cayde, as you will find out shortly, and has plenty of flashbacks, which you guys will need when you see what's coming!
Well, without further ado, here's part one of the sequel to CAGED BIRD:

Taking Flight

This is for Connecticut

I can't put into words how big of a tragedy this is. The massacre at the Colorado theater is still fresh for many of us, as are the shootings at the mall in Washington and elsewhere. Those events were just as tragic as this one without a single doubt. But for me, this tragedy hit home the hardest, as I teach the age group specifically targeted at today's shootings at the daycare where I work in Austin, TX. If a single one of these children I've grown to love over the past few months were to ever be harmed in any fashion, I'd be almost as traumatized as the parents themselves.

For ten hours a day I teach two year old boys and girls colors, numbers, read to them, play with them, and try not to rip my hair out in the process. For ten hours a day I make arts and crafts with after school kids, building caves out of cardboard and helping them with their homework. For ten hours a day, I interact with a many number of coworkers, all of whom I know very personally and consider family. If I lost any of my family to a tragedy as senseless, cruel, and horrifying as this...I don't think I'd ever be the same person. I couldn't be.

Which is why today I hugged "my" kids a little longer before they left for home. Which is why I asked a few coworkers out for coffee on Sunday. Which is why I decided to write a post for my blog. It sounds cheesy, maybe, but this tragedy more than the rest opened my eyes to what could one day be taken from me and honestly, I was terrified.

I refuse to go into politics or write the name of that horrible gunman in this post, as neither of these things have any precedent over those children and faculty who are dead. Their deaths deserve moments of reflection, and that is simply all I want this post to be about.

For those affected personally by this terrible tragedy, my hearts and prayers go out to you.

Sending love from the heart of Texas,
Lily A.

Don't You (forget about me)

Simple Minds said it best.
And truthfully, I haven't forgotten you fans out there. I'm diligently writing, don't worry. The sequel to Caged Bird, titled Taking Flight, is 2/3 of the way finished. Seriously, the conclusion is all I have left, followed by some much needed edits. Seems simple now, but I know better. =)
CB took me 3-4 months to write. TF is getting close to that number, but at least I'm finishing the story - unlike other stories that I cringe to get reminder emails about!
So, please be patient. I haven't forgotten about you. I'm just trying to deliver a full story instead of waiting months (ahem, years) between installments.
I'll keep you guys posted!
Xo,
LA

Tidbits

Why the classics can still inspire is because their words are timeless.

On Batshit Crazy Muses and Poetry

Occasionally, you find something on Tumblr that makes your Muse go batshit crazy with happiness and gives you fuel to write 10+ pages in two days.

For me, it was one of Pablo Neruda's love poems. So without further ado...

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.

Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.

Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day

I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,

your hands the color of a savage harvest,

hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,

I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,

the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,

I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I paced around hungry, sniffing the twilight,

hunting for you, for your hot heart,

like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

Pablo Neruda

Translated by Stephen Tapscott