The Insecure Writer's Support Group
Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog.
The co-hosts for the December 2 posting of the IWSG are Pat Garcia, Sylvia Ney, Liesbet @ Roaming About Cathrina Constantine, and Natalie Aguirre
December 2 question - Are there months or times of the year that you are more productive with your writing than other months, and why?
Presently this question is rather moot for me since I haven't been doing much writing other than my blog posts. Same as last year and the year before.
Thinking to past times of my life, my writing times were circumstantial. For several years running, in the span after Christmas and before New Year's Eve, I would write an epic poem about the previous year of my life. Spring time of some years seemed to inspire certain fluxes of writing.
The influence of certain environmental factors usually prods me to take up the pen--or these days get on my computer. Maybe it's a period of writing inspired by rain, not so much since I've been in California, but years ago when I lived in Tennessee.
Or like when I was still in high school. For some reason I started watching westerns on television. In the sixties my selection was extremely limited and yet there seemed to be a number of westerns that I watched. I found these western movies very compelling and apparently something kicked in my writing mind.
My imagination fueled I started writing not westerns, but stories and songs that somehow were inspired by western movies. I could have watched those shows at any time of the year I suppose and it would have been what I was doing and not where I was in time or even place.
And like I said, the question is moot for me. I'm retired and I'm in California. I should be writing more but I'm not. It could be any time of year for me I suppose.
Western Movies
This Battle is between two different artists performing two different songs with a western movie theme. Please take a listen to discern your favorite of the two.
David Crosby "Cowboy Movie" (1971)
Mountain "Theme from an Imaginary Western" (1970)
Time to Vote!
You've witnessed the showdown so now you be the judge. The boys are waiting for your answer. You've got til sundown, but why not vote now? Which version do you prefer? Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind. You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.
Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.
Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:
StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands
‘Storms and Stardust’
'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'
'Curious as a Cathy'
Sound of One Hand Typing
The Doglady's Den
Angel's Bark
Jingle, Jangle, Jungle
Cherdo on the Flipside
A I Love Music
Winner of this Battle Announced on Tuesday December 8th
David Crosby "Cowboy Movie" (1971)
Mountain "Theme from an Imaginary Western" (1970)
Time to Vote!
You've witnessed the showdown so now you be the judge. The boys are waiting for your answer. You've got til sundown, but why not vote now? Which version do you prefer? Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind. You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.
Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.
Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:
StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands
‘Storms and Stardust’
'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'
'Curious as a Cathy'
Sound of One Hand Typing
The Doglady's Den
Angel's Bark
Jingle, Jangle, Jungle
Cherdo on the Flipside
A I Love Music
Winner of this Battle Announced on Tuesday December 8th
What more can I say? And I might not say that much on that post other than who won. I feel like I'm in a waiting room with Marley's Ghosts of Christmases. Actually, this year has been like going through a series of waiting rooms and I've been waiting so long that I've forgotten what I'm supposed to be waiting on.
Neither appealed but then you know I don't like anything country. Even though Mountain rambled I'd give it to them.
ReplyDeleteAlex, anything country? I don't hear any resemblance to country music in these. Or maybe it's just the "cowboy" and "Western" in the titles?
DeleteA reluctant vote for Mountain.
Lee
David Crosby gets my vote!
ReplyDeleteMike, thank you for your vote for...
DeleteDavid Crosby.
Lee
I prefer David Croscby out of the two Lee.
ReplyDeleteHave a good December.
Yvonne.
Yvonne, preference noted. You have a wonderful December as well.
DeleteA vote for David Crosby.
Lee
I'll go with Mountain here. I've always liked Leslie West.
ReplyDeleteJohn H., Leslie West was quite a player.
DeleteA vote for Mountain.
Lee
Crosby gets my vote. He has had a good run, and I love his voice.
ReplyDeleteSusan K, Crosby has had a long career. Sometimes it's a wonder he survived.
DeleteA vote for David Crosby.
Lee
I vote Crosby all the way. I actually have this album. Cassette tape, actually.
ReplyDeleteI learned to ski at Squaw Valley by Lake Tahoe in 1973. A bunch of older college friends and I rented a condo and spent the week after Christmas and thru New Years Eve skiing. While there I found a good record store and a friend told my "If I Could Only Remember My Name" would be a good cassette to buy to play in my car on the drive back to San Diego. At first I hated it, but eventually the Musical Stockholm Syndrome kicked in and I came to really like the twangy CSNY-style long jamming.
6-Gun, if that was in 1973 did you get an 8 track cartridge? That's what we were still listening to back then. I got the album on vinyl--still have it in fact--and I liked it from the start. My best friend also had it on 8 track, so between the two sources I listened to the album many many times. Though I haven't listened to the album many times since the seventies, it's pretty much entrenched in my memory.
DeleteLike you, I like that long jamming like those guys used to do.
A vote for David Crosby.
Lee
You're right: I was off here. It was 1974. But it was a cassette tape rather than an 8 track, and I still have the tape. Cassette tapes had been around since the early 1960s (maybe earlier) but were primarily for spoken word. However, they were just starting to come out commercially at that time, as I recall.
DeleteI was into high end audio as a teenager and spent all my money on it. I got an Advent top loading cassette deck in 1973, and I had installed an aftermarket cassette deck in my car, located under the front seat. I think that one was a giant silver Ampex player. Mostly I recorded my own records onto cassettes because I had a long drive daily to school.
My Crosby cassette is certainly old-style, with a wrinkly glued on paper label over a thick black plastic open-ended case.
It was colder than a witch's elbow on that ski trip, with Truckee hitting -17 degrees. We couldn't get our cars started!
6-gun, I do remember cassettes being used back in the sixties, but I didn't see any music on cassettes sold in stores until mid-seventies. Not sure why the industry latched on to the 8 tracks unless it was an early effort to make people repurchase new technology as it came along.
DeleteI recall working a show at the end of the sixties with some older guy who had the music for his act on a cassette. He knew how to load them in his machine and play them, but he seemed confused by the whole thing as well. I think that was my first exposure to the new technology. I never liked those 8 track cartridges especially when songs were split in the middle.
Lee
From my Cousin Tom on Facebook is a vote for...
ReplyDeleteMountain.
Lee
Hi,
ReplyDeleteMaybe you'll get back into your writing. Sometimes we step away but it doesn't mean we're finished.
I chose David Crosby. The other song reminded me too much of A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum.
Have a Merry Christmas and a safe passage into 2021.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
Pat, I'm not finished with writing, but I guess I've gotten kind of lazy in regard to putting pen to paper. Guess I need to push myself or let the inspiration just come as it will.
DeleteMountain does fit in a similar genre as Procol Harum I think.
Merry Christmas to you as well.
A vote for David Crosby.
Lee
I'm so surprised that I like the Mountain version better. Still trying to figure out why I don't remember either version from back in the day, but then again I lose my pen every five minutes.
ReplyDeleteHappy December to you, wishing you a Merry Christmas!
Doreen, so much music over the years that it's been easy to miss some of it. In the past decade I've discovered so much music from the seventies that I'm surprised that I'd missed at the time it came out.
DeleteA vote for Mountain.
Lee
Ha! After reading the other comments, I get why I chose Mountain. One of my favorites is a Whiter Shade of Pale and Procol Harum!
ReplyDeleteMountain for me also. And that's the fun and mystery of writing...it comes when it wants to.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, all life is fun and filled with mysteries waiting to be uncovered. Writing is a special endeavor, but it does take a lot of initiative to be successful at it--even mildly successful.
DeleteA vote for Mountain.
Lee
Hi. It's the other Lee checking in. I love westerns, especially the old ones with guns and corrals and handsome men in big hats. I should order up some of those and have a nostalgic afternoon with popcorn. Here's to more westerns and writing whenever the mood strikes.
ReplyDeleteC.Lee, I've gone in and out of my western phases throughout the years. Haven't watched any lately, but I still enjoy a good story about the Old West. The more true to life, the better I like them.
DeleteLee
David Crosby gets my vote.
ReplyDeleteMy parents loved westerns, though they were never much my thing. Do you think if you travelled more, you'd be more inspired to write stories beyond your blog posts?
Loni, travel probably would hinder my writing and I don't know how much inspiration I would derive from travel. I love traveling when it comes to road trips, but until this COVID nonsense goes away I don't see me doing much travel.
DeleteA vote for David Crosby.
Lee
First, I will go with Mountain because I love the guitar playing more and the voice. I think writing happens when you feel the itch regardless of the season but everyone is different and the time of year can have a great effect on people. I am going to enjoy Christmas regardless even though this will be the first time my brother and I will not be together. I will still make a nice dinner and send some his way. I will still enjoy the season.
ReplyDeleteBirgit, my wife informed me this morning that she wanted me to drag our artificial tree out of the garage so she could decorate for Christmas. I'm not feeling it, but it that makes her happy then that's what she will get.
DeleteA vote for Mountain.
Lee
When I saw the title “Western Movies” the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” by the Danish National Symphony came to mind, and nearly blew these two contenders out of the park. But, after giving both a listen anyway, I’ll give my vote to David Crosby. I like his voice.
ReplyDeleteI’ve not been writing near as much as I’d planned this fall. Just too distracted, I guess. I’m sure my muse will return once things get straightened back around. When all else fails, have faith. Right?
Be well, and have a very Merry Christmas, Lee!
Diedre, funny to have distractions when the current situation of limitations seems like there would be less to distract us. I can always find distractions though.
DeleteA vote for David Crosby.
Lee
I made the mistake of finding the Western movies channel on our Roku. Hubs watches old westerns all the time...if I let him. LOL Not my cup of tea. Good luck with the writing, no matter when you do it.
ReplyDeleteDiane, generally I'm not a big fan of Westerns, but then I'll get in that mood and start watching them. It's part of my affinity for time travel perhaps.
DeleteLee
LEE ~
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, neither song really wowed me. But because Crosby's song seemed to kind of meander around, while MOUNTAIN's tune seemed more... uh... tuneful... I'll cast my BOTB bote for the Mississippi Queens. (Hmmm.... That didn't come out quite like I meant it to. ;^)
~ D-FensDogG
Doggtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
STMcC, these songs came at an interesting musical era for me. I was in college at the time and immersing myself in so much music like this. I guess you would have been a kid when this was out. A lot of music meandered back in those days, but such were our lives.
DeleteA vote for Mountain.
Lee
"Theme from an Imaginary Western" was written by Jack Bruce, formerly of the British Blues Rock Band called Cream. The Mountain recording was sung by bassist Felix Pappalardi. Felix would remain active in the music business until his death in 1983.
ReplyDeleteA vote for Mountain
Michael, listened to a lot of all of these back in the seventies. Still enjoy hearing any of this music. In 1975 I went to see a concert of Leslie West, Carlos Santana, and Eric Clapton each doing their own sets. It was pretty epic.
DeleteA vote for Mountain.
Lee
Lee,
ReplyDeleteI'm finally here to vote. Whew, this week has been quite full for me! First off, thanks for introducing both songs. I enjoyed both of them but the sound of Mountain at least on this tune really spoke to me this afternoon. I love how you found inspiration from IWSG prompt to build your battle this round and yes, I didn't join the group yet again. Darn! Oh well...maybe in the new year, right? Have a good week, my friend!
Cathy, just in time! Maybe in January you can join in on the IWSG fun or therapy or whatever you want it to be.
DeleteA vote for Mountain.
Lee