Friday Favourites

Happy Friday everyone! Today is a particularly lovely Friday in my part of the world. This what I found on my way to the gym this morning:

So with some lovely sunshine, after what has felt like a very grey and miserable winter, it's time for uplifting, Spring-like music. Anthems. Songs about feeling good. Songs that make you feel good.

One of my favourites is Mr E's Beautiful Blues by The Eels, which despite its name -- and the band's usual sombre repertoire -- is incredibly cheerful. It never fails to make me smile.

Another favourite is You Are My Joy by The Reindeer Section -- and it has a rather sweet and uplifting video that I've only just discovered by posting it here for you. This Scottish band was formed by members of lots of other famous Scottish bands like some of my favourites - Belle and Sebastian and Teenage Fanclub. (And also some band called Snow Patrol - no idea what happened to them... ;))

But the winning song for me today, mostly because it's new to me (I was late to the party on this one) is Elbow's One Day Like This. It's definitely a day to "throw the curtains wide". And this is an awesome, live version of the song. Enjoy! And, if you feel like staying in front of your computer long enough, leave me a comment and tell me your favourite uplifting anthem.

Making my brain play nicely

As an unpublished author I never really thought too much about juggling stories. I tended to write a story, revise it, type 'the end' and then move on to the next one. But now that I have proper deadlines to meet I'm finding myself in the situation with three books on the go -- a new one just started, the next book for SuperRomance which I'm in the midst of writing, and another that I've finished but not revised. It means having three sets of characters and their conversations in my head. It's a little noisy in there, to be honest.

It makes the soundtrack I play in my office all the more critical. What I'm listening to -- even when I'm so subsumed by my story that a truck could hit the building and I wouldn't notice -- seems to make a big difference to me. Even just subliminally, I guess the tone, lyrics and 'heart' of a song make their impact on the melting pot inside me.

This past week or so, I've been playing British Band Elbow on high rotation. (You must have a play on their website home page with the twinkly little noises the letters make when you scroll over them.) I've also been listening a lot to Aussie band Seeker Lover Keeper who have this awesome song, Even Though I'm a Woman:

Hope you enjoy! Do you find music inspiring or do you need silence to concentrate? Let me know!