in search of a lost chord

It has been a tough few months (and last few weeks especially) for me health wise and tomorrow I will be in hospital for the third time in as many months, though this time the doctors are taking a surgical route to try and sort out the source of my pain. There'll be another biopsy taken and, fingers crossed, the source has not gone nuclear just yet.

I have to confess that the pain and pain killers have had an interesting side-effect on my writing task. My mind and body seems to alternate between being numb and highly charged , the former delivering trance like prose and the latter offering a feast of intense dreamscape fodder that might just inspire the next three decades of story telling from me. I almost understand how substance abuse might become an integral part of some writers' creative process though I doubt it will lead me down such a path given my predisposition for letting my body and mind take me where it chooses to take me naturally. Above all it is far too strange to type when you cannot feel your fingers on the keyboard!

I have been gunning along editing the second novel to incorporate the feedback I have received on the first draft, well on track despite the above circumstance to complete the first editing loop before Christmas. I don't have too much to say about this stage of the editing process as it is basically an exercise in checking the document for things like timeline consistency and character development. I am reworking the early storyline in particular to retrofit developments later in the story, the plot lines that emerged as part of the evolution of the characters through the story.

This is all fairly mechanical so I will return to the topic of the music that inspired me through a tough period in my life several years ago (see blog entry "procrastination moment number ninety nine"). The title of this blog entry, "in search of a lost chord" is a reference to an album title by the band the Moody Blues whose lead singer, Justin Haywood, had one of the finest voices I have ever heard. Beautiful lyrics sung to soothe any fragile mind and an album worth listening to in its own right given the strong orchestral overlay in the music.

Beyond listening to Justin's voice (and another staple seminal album by Pink Floyd, "the dark side of the moon" - arguably a listening must for any fog ridden person), I burned three CDs at that time that thematically compiled songs associated with death (volume 1), loss experienced as part of relationships (volume 2), and the bitter sweet hope that comes after both of those things (volume 3). For the record, the track list is as follows:

Volume 1:
- old friends, bookends theme - simon and garfunkel
- here comes the flood - peter gabriel
- wish you were here - pink floyd
- almost with you - the church
- mad world - tears for fears
- state of graceful mourning - died pretty
- ghost of love returned - the clouds
- lightning crashes - live
- local boy in a photograph - the stereophonics
- philadelphia - neil young
- one headlight - the wallflowers
- last stop this town - the eels
- touched - vast
- hear you me - jimmy eat world
- world i know - collective soul
- end of the world as we know it and i feel fine - REM

Volume 2:
- strong enough - sheryl crow
- letting the cables sleep - bush
- piece by piece - feeder
- chemical heart - grinspoon
- home away from you - jakatta
- writing to reach you - travis
- your sweet voice - the reindeer section
- free falling - tom petty
- brittle then broken - pollyanna
- don't believe anymore - icehouse
- colorblind - counting crows
- in between days - the cure
- feeling oblivion - turin brakes
- under the milky way - the church
- time of your life - green day
- times like these - the foo fighters
- drift away - dobie gray

Volume 3:
- island in the sun - weezer
- in your eyes - peter gabriel
- i melt with you - broken english
- now we're getting somewhere - crowded house
- to look at you - inxs
- shimmer - fuel
- venus - the feelers
- black the sun - alex lloyd
- least complicated - indigo girls
- semi charmed life - third eye blind
- let there be love - simple minds
- dream on - depeche mode
- wicked game - chris isaak
- yellow - coldplay
- c'mon people (we're making it now) - richard ashcroft
- collapse on me - oblivia
- wonderwall - oasis

It is not apparently obvious my taste in music leans towards the alternative end of the spectrum though most of these pieces can be found on YouTube. I have a whole bunch of songs that have inspired me since the circa pre-2004 offerings listed though the playlist above is one that I still dip into every now and then when I feel a little helpless. The next three days will deliver some air time.