The whole business started with hymns — or, more accurately, without them. When you work at one church and attend another Sunday mornings, inevitably, you start to draw comparisons between the two, and in my case, those comparisons mostly took the form of frustration with the lack of hymns at the church I attend. I knew that the worship, like everything else, was meant to cater to a contemporary crowd, but surely we could fit "Be Thou My Vision" or "A Mighty Fortress" in somewhere? Eventually, my frustration expanded into noticing something else: that we seemed to repeat the same songs with astonishing frequency, sometimes to the point where it seemed that the same songs reappeared every week or two. Meanwhile, the church were I work had hymns every week and, aside from the Choral Introit, seemed to repeat songs perhaps once every two or three months at most.

As I thought about (and grumbled about) this more, I began to wonder if the two things were connected. Was it possible that churches with more traditional worship styles — focusing mostly on hymns, possibly using hymnals, and led by a choir or a single instrument — tended to repeat songs less frequently than churches with a more modern worship style — marked by a focus on contemporary worship songs and led by a full band? There seemed to be only one way to find out.

It was time to do some statistics.

I've Heard This One Before: A Study in Church Music Repetition

Methods

Before I could do statistics, of course, I had to collect data to work with. Over a period from March 31, 2023 to March 31, 2024, I kept track of the music played at eight churches, plus the Bible study my family attends (which opens with worship like a church would). These churches included a Baptist church, a Lutheran church, two United Methodist churches, and four non-denominational churches, plus, again, the Bible study. The churches were chosen for a variety of reasons, mostly based on familiarity, location (I mostly chose churches located close to me), and whether or not they posted their bulletins on their websites or offered a livestream of their Sunday services. I also assigned each church a "modernity rating" on a scale of 1–5, with the levels as follows:

1. Highly Traditional (primarily uses hymns, led by a single instrument or choir)
2. Semi-Traditional (mixed hymns and contemporary songs, led by a single instrument or choir)
3. Neutral (mixed hymns and contemporary songs, led by an acoustic band)
4. Semi-Modern (mixed hymns and contemporary songs, led by a full band)
5. Highly Modern (primarily uses contemporary songs, led by a full band)

Each week, I recorded which songs each church had sung, either as a repeat of a past song or as a new entry on the list. I did miss a few weeks at some churches, either because the church didn't meet or because it didn't post a livestream or bulletin. I also didn't include midweek services, only Sunday services, and I treated identical services (such as Christmas Eve services offered at multiple times) as a single event.

Caveats

I will say before I get any further that this was a limited study with a small sample size. In order to do this really scientifically, I should have surveyed a larger group of churches and made sure to include multiple of every denomination. However, as this was a spare-time project and I am only human, nine churches was pretty much the limit of what I could track.

Also possibly skewing the data a little bit is the fact that some people in the Bible study found out about this survey midway through. Due to how the Bible study does worship (with songs being chosen during worship at the request of the participants), knowledge of my survey may have slightly affected how some people selected songs. However, I do not think enough people were aware of this for it to have a major impact on the chosen songs.

Now, with those grains of salt in mind, let's move on to my findings.

Data & Results

Because this is a blog post and not a full scientific report, I'm going to sum up the relevant data in the following chart. I've also created an Excel file of all my data, which you can get by clicking here, in case that interests you.

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Just from the chart, some trends should be noticeable. Notably, the church with the highest modernity rating has the lowest number of songs and the second-highest average repetition and probability of repetition, while the churches with the lowest modernity rating have higher numbers of individual songs and lower rates of repetition. (An additional fun fact: the church with the lowest average repetition and probability of repetition is the one where I work — is it any surprise that I felt like the church where I attend repeats a lot in comparison?)

However, a graphic is worth a thousand words (as the saying almost goes), and it's not statistics if you don't have a chart or two to compare some variables. I started out by comparing the churches' modernity ratings with the number of individual songs sung at each one.

As you can see, the number of individual songs generally decreases the higher the church's modernity rating is. The trendline isn't a perfect fit, but it's generally pretty close, and even the main outlier fits the overall trend.

Next, I compared the modernity rating to the average repetition. For purposes of this chart, "average" refers to the mean, rather than the median or mode.

Here, we see that as the church's modernity rating goes up, so does the average repetition. The most traditional churches all have an average repetition of less than twice in fifty or fifty-two services, while the most modern church has an average repetition of 3.08, the second-highest here. Again, it's not a perfect fit — the highest average repetition actually goes to a Neutral-rated church — but the hypothesis generally holds.

Finally, just for fun, I compared the churches' modernity rating to the probability that any given song will be repeated.

This one looks a lot like the chart showing the average repetition, though here the numbers are a lot more spread out. Notably, there's a much greater difference between the probability of repetition at the most traditional churches, with two up in the area of 42% or 46% chance of repetition and one all the way down at a 1% chance of repetition (the lowest on the chart). Why? For one thing, Baptist A and Lutheran A (the two very traditional churches with a high probability of repetition) both have a much higher total number of songs sung (228 and 327, respectively) in comparison with the number of individual songs they sing. Additionally, both churches seem to have specific songs that they sing a lot at certain times of year or during particular parts of the service, which raises the overall probability that songs will be repeated.

It's also notable that the two Methodist churches have both the lowest average repetition and the lowest probability of repetition. Apparently, if you don't want to sing the same songs over and over, you should become a Methodist . . .

Also, just for fun, here's the most repeated song from each church.

• Baptist A: "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" (7 times)
• Bible Study: "The River" (11 times)
• Lutheran A: "Lamb of God" (35 times — but they rarely repeated songs otherwise!)
• Non-Denominational A: "Glorious Ruins" and "Rest on Us" (10 times)
• Non-Denominational B: "Holy Forever" (7 times)
• Non-Denominational C: "Be Glad" and "I've Witnessed It" (8 times)
• Non-Denominational D: "Holy Forever" and "King of Glory" (8 times)
• UMC A: "Holy, Holy, Holy" (6 times)
• UMC B: "Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed" (3 times)

Potential Further Studies

While my comment about becoming a Methodist to avoid repeating songs was mostly a joke, it would be interesting to do a larger version of this study and see how denominational differences affect how often songs are repeated. Do all Methodist churches have a low average song repetition, or is it just the two that I happen to have chosen? Would other Baptist and Lutheran churches behave similarly to the ones I studied, or are those two actually outliers?

Additionally, my study didn't really get into why more traditional churches repeat songs less and why more modern churches repeat more. (That's not a question statistics can answer.) I have some guesses about why the two correlate — including the churches' goals of worship, observation of the liturgical calendar, and financial reasons — but nothing solid. (If any church worship leaders happen to be reading this and want to offer insight in the comments, feel free!)

Both of these would be interesting to pursue in future, but neither is a high priority for me at the moment.

Final Conclusions

The goal of this study was that I would either debunk my frustrations with the church I attend or prove myself justified in those frustrations. I ended up doing the latter; the data suggest that more modern churches often (though not always) draw from a smaller pool of songs and tend to repeat songs more. That said, the repetition isn't nearly as much as I thought when I started doing the study — at the most, songs typically appear once every month and a half or two months, not every other week.

What are your thoughts on this study? Do you have any insights of your own to add? Please feel free to share them in the comments.
Thanks for reading!

August 2018 Doings!

Hello, everyone! August has been over for a week now, so I think it's high time that I post my Doings! On a side note, do you like this format for my monthly update posts? Do you think there's a good balance of topics in here? Sometimes I feel like I'm sort of just talking into the void with these posts, and that's fine, but if there's a way I can improve, I'd like to do that.

Writing!

• So, yes! If you missed it, I'm publishing Blood in the Snow as part of the Magic Mirrors group release! It comes out October 26, and I'm quite excited. Also nervous, because this is a big step, but mostly I'm excited.
• The first half of the month, I kept busy finishing up Mechanical Heart. I had to change the ending pretty substantially in order to be satisfied with it, but I think I got it figured out. That's not to say that the rest of the story won't need another hefty rewrite in some areas, but it is what it is . . . at least it's on the computer now, which means it's easier to cut out certain bits and put in new scenes.
• The other half of the month, I worked on two contemporary short stories for an Actual Writing Job. One is drafted and just needs to be edited. The other one . . . I've been working on it, but I'm struggling. I think I got the pacing wrong or something? It's going to need another serious rewrite.
• Other than that, I spent a good bit of time working on formatting for Blood in the Snow, only to discover that InDesign doesn't work half as well for formatting eBooks as I expected. Honestly, I think I would've been just as well off to do it in Word, and I honestly might do that going forward . . . At least I have an idea what I'm doing for the paperback. That's something.

Reading!

• GUYS. OBSIDIO. I HAVE NO WORDS.
• I love it, ok? Abso-storming-lutely love it. I saw next to none of the plot twists coming. The characters were awesome as ever. The relationships were great. (I especially love Nik and Ella — we need more fabulous siblings — and how Isaac tries to parent everyone — spec fic needs more parentals like Isaac, ok?) The ending — THE ENDING. The ending was amazing. Waaaaay less depressing than I expected. And AIDAN . . . AIDAN is something. I still don't know how I feel about him, but he's a thing, and I think the author handled him well.
• In other news, The Worth of a King is still amazing, and I love it, but if you were paying attention to the blog tour, you knew that already. I mean, I certainly screamed about it a lot. (Not enough. I cannot scream about Worth enough. Y'all should buy it and read it because it's amazing and Delaney is the actual best.)
• Isle of Blood and Stone was another good book, though not as good as Obsidio and Worth. It was less high-seas adventure and more mystery than I expected, but y'know what? I'm definitely not complaining. I'm always down for a good fantasy-mystery, and this one totally qualified. The main character was ok; the side characters were fascinating; and the villain was . . . not who I expected. Let's say that. I have a couple small quibbles with the book (like one particular aspect of the ending), but I'm not complaining.
• I read two anthologies this month. The first is Tales of Ever After; the second, The Madman of Elkriahl and Other Stories. Ever After is the latest Fellowship of Fantasy anthology and contained the usual mix of excellent, average, and meh. Madman is by my friend Emmarayn Redding and contains stories that feel very much like original Grimm fairy tales (including some darker elements). I'd recommend both books.
• And, as you may notice, I've picked up the Harry Potter series again. I'm no longer reading it at the same time as the roomie (because that failed last year), so I should be able to make it through the rest of the series this semester, even with review books and everything else I need to do. Anyway, Goblet of Fire was definitely the best yet, and I enjoyed the storyline . . . even if certain things do make me sad.
• And now for a few good-but-not-amazing books: The Spirit Well is the third Bright Empires book and involves my usual quibbles with the series . . . but did feature more Wilhemina than other books, which I was very happy about. Eliza and Her Monsters was good and featured delightful online friendships, but I found myself unable to understand why Eliza made the choices she did as often as not. And Spice Bringer was interesting, but I also had concerns about certain elements of the story and worldbuilding.

Watching & Listening

• So, I finally finished the Grand Magic Games arc. Finally. Pro tip: don't stop an anime arc five episodes before it ends and then pick it up again two months later. You'll get there and realize that you remember unfortunately little about what happened last. And then the first two episodes you watch will be super depressing and you'll be internally screaming and your texts to your roommate will look something like this:

• So, yeah. That happened. And no, I don't normally send my roommate long text strings like that, but this was a special circumstance. The rest of the arc was good, though! And now we're watching the Eclipse Spirits arc, and . . . well, at least I don't think it's another save-the-world story? It's more personal, which is nice. But I'm very upset about things all the same.

• I also finally watched Thor: Ragnarok! It wasn't quite as amazing as the internet claimed, but it was still pretty awesome. I love a good sibling story, and Thor is probably one of the most sensible characterss in the MCU at the moment. So that was pleasant. Valkyrie's pretty fabulous too. And the final battle? 100% just as good as everyone on the internet said it was. I literally had to go look it up on YouTube about a week ago just so I could watch it again.

• And my family watched Mary Poppins the weekend before I went back to Cedarville, and oh storms I had forgotten how much I enjoy that movie. Pretty sure it used to be my favorite Disney movie, or at least in my top five, and it's definitely back up there again. But it seems to have gone out of fashion with a lot of the internet since I never see anyone talking about it except for "Mary Poppins was secretly a _____" crossover headcanons with other fandoms. And that's sad, because, yes, it's a fun movie, but it also has a message that I think we need more than ever now, and I'm not talking about the bit about cheerfulness. Because, yes, Mary Poppins has a lot to say about that, but the truer message is the need for families to support each other, to come together. Mary Poppins didn't come to the Banks family just to sing a song or two about cheerfulness and ridiculous words and spoonfuls of sugar. She came to make the family start acting like a family; to cease being wrapped up in their own worlds and to recognize the need to help and support one another — all of them! And that's a message always worth hearing.
• (And, as pointed out by the closest thing this movie has to an antagonist, "While stand the Banks of England, England stands. When fall the Banks of England, England falls!" True, he was talking about the institution, but it's by the Bankses, the ordinary families, that England and any other county stand or fall.)

Doings!

• The main event of the month was the return to college, of course. I've been back since the 17th and so far everything's going smoothly. I'm enjoying most of my classes, even the ones I was stressed about. 2D Design doesn't involve nearly as much actual drawing as I expected — thank God for that! The first few projects are all fairly abstract, which I can definitely handle. I mean, the objective is to make things that don't look like real things. That's not a problem. The problem is when I have to draw realistic things.
• I will admit that Instructional Design (the class I was most excited for before the start of the semester) isn't quite as awesome as I hoped. Right now, it's a lot of theory and process and not a lot of actual writing and design, so . . . yeah. That's a bit annoying. I'm trying to reserve judgment, though, because it's a two-part class, and I think that the stuff I'm excited for is mostly in the second half.
• The rest of my classes are good, though!
• I'm also the secretary for the Honors Org, which is interesting. So far, the most challenging thing has been figuring out lists on MailChimp (because I royally messed up several times and had to make whole new lists twice). But I have it worked out now! And the rest of what I do isn't terribly difficult; it's mostly emails and meeting notes and updating member lists, all of which are quite manageable.
• And that's a good thing because Cedarville has gone from no creative orgs to all the creative orgs. And because none of them require dues or extremely consistent attendance, I've basically joined all of them. There's The Studio (art and design; their sketch nights are delightful), The Inklings (creative writing; no points for guessing where they got the name), Photography Club (I couldn't make it to the first meeting, but I'm excited!), and C3 (Creative, Collaborative, Community; basically an org for all creatives, no matter their medium). With those, Honors, my hall, and whatever exercise stuff I decide to do, my evenings are going to be pretty full . . . but I'm not complaining. Honors is the only org that I can't skip if necessary, and I think the other orgs are going to be super helpful for staying motivated with various creative things.
• Oh, and there have been excursions! Our first full weekend back, my roommate, her parents, a few friends from the hall, and I all went to King's Island, where I discovered that wooden roller coasters are the actual best. (I went on three — three! And I would've gladly ridden any of them again.) I also went on my first looping/upside-down rollercoaster, the Firehawk, and have decided to never repeat the experience. I mean, in hindsight, I'm glad I did it the once, and I hope to draw on the experience as story research — the roller coaster's thing is that you're basically on your stomach, facing the ground, the whole time, so you feel like you're flying Superman-style — but it was also terrifying and I screamed the entire time. So, yeah.

• My roommate, a different hall friend group, and I also went to the Rennaissance Faire again this year! Several of us actually dressed up, which was exciting. Unfortunately, it was a lot hotter and sunnier than last year, which meant we all kind of died of heatstroke and dehydration. (But we lived! So it's fine!) We ended up spending much more time watching shows and much less time wandering through shops than we did last year, which I was a little disappointed about? But it was still fun. And the joust was fabulous. (There was a female knight. She wasn't the knight for our side of the field, which meant I wasn't supposed to cheer for her, but I did anyway. And she won in the end, and I'm not disappointed.)
• I'm sure that something happened before I went back to Cedarville? But honestly, I don't remember much about it. I know I got a hammock, which is exciting. And I did more work for my internship, which was interesting. And my family and I did stuff.
• Also, I made myself a new skirt. It has pockets. I'm very happy about it, even though I haven't worn it yet. (It's too heavy for the current weather.)

September Plans!

• Obviously, most of my time will be taken up by classes, because college. I'm still trying to really find the rhythm of classes and homework and social time and everything else. In particular, I'm trying to figure out which orgs and activities (other than TDK) I'm going to do regularly and which ones I'm doing irregularly and which ones I'm not doing at all. It's a challenge; everything sounds fun but I don't have time to do it all.
• Besides that, I'm still working part-time at my internship, though that's slowed down quite a bit. I also plan to start reviewing books for the college newspaper again soon, which should be fun! I'm really excited for the lineup of books I have planned; I just hope that my editor likes my suggestions.
• And, of course, most of my time will be taken up by working on formatting and Blood in the Snow and putting together all the extra, non-story bits that go into a book. I do hope to work a bit on Mechanical Heart as well, and, of course, I have my short stories for my writing job to edit. Those will be interesting . . . one of them definitely needs a serious rewrite before I can send it in.
• So, yeah. That pretty much sums up my plans. September should be a quiet month, but hopefully it'll be a good one.

How was your August? Have any fun plans for September? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

July 2018 Doings!

So, I'm currently very confused, because I felt like I literally just did one of these? But, no, it actually has been a month. What the actual pumpernickel. Time is weird. And y'all sort of get this rant every few months, but  . . . yeah. Sorry. Sorry-ish, anyway. I also feel like this month has been more defined by what I didn't do than what I did, but oh well. Let's get to it anyway.

Writing!

• Yup, Camp NaNoWriMo as usual! This month's project was a first edit/rewrite of Mechanical Heart, my steampunk Rapunzel retelling. My goal was 20,000 words edited, which I knew would get me most of the way through the novella. I hit that literally two days before the event ended, so . . . yeah. I think that's the closest I've cut a NaNo win in a while.
• Snippets, 'cause I can. First, one from Breen's first chapter:

The clock struck two just as she reached the level she’d been working on. She couldn’t hear the strike anymore. She couldn’t hear much of anything anymore. But the sound made the floor vibrate beneath her feet, and all the gems on the gears flashed like sudden stars, and Breen stood still and savored the moment.

• Next, Josiah and his friend Luis (who honestly doesn't get half as much page time as I'd like him to, but I haven't figured out how to work him in more yet):

“No. And do you know why?” Josiah started pacing again, hands behind his back. “Because, despite the fact that the towers are government property, and the royal family is theoretically still a part of the government, I’m as unable to enter the clock tower as this young woman should have been! Ten separate people I asked! The ten most likely to have keys! And what did they say?”
Luis sighed and tried to turn one of the gears on the device. When it wouldn’t turn, he picked up his screwdriver again, this time to loosen some screws. “Since you’re ranting in my workshop, I imagine they said no.”

• That basically describes Josiah's relationship with a lot of people, for the record. He rants and paces. They work and let him talk until he hits a climax or expects a response. Everyone's happy.
• Finally, a piece from Josiah and Breen's first meeting:

The young man grabbed the edge of the floor just in time as the lift fell away beneath him. Breen scrambled back and grabbed a wrench from her toolbelt. She lifted it uncertainly, staring at the hole in the floor as the man struggled to pull himself up. Never before had there been an intruder in her tower— especially not a male one.

• (And, if you can't tell . . . yes, their first meeting does involve Breen almost dropping Josiah down a lift shaft and then threatening him with a wrench. It's lovely. I think it is, anyway.)
• In non-NaNo-news, I completed what I hope will be my final edit on Blood in the Snow. Of course, I hoped the last edit would be final too, but this one has higher chances of being actually final. And now I need to start sorting out other things. Which I probably should've been sorting out all month, but I've been busy.
• Also, one of the writing jobs I applied to back in February-ish got back to me with an assignment! It's realistic fiction, which isn't my favorite, but I like most of my storyline ideas, and it pays pretty well. So, yeah, I'm happy about that.

Reading!

• Though I was pretty busy for most of July, I still managed to do a decent bit of reading, including some books I was really looking forward to. I feel like it was a bit more of a mixed bag than past months have been? But in general, I'm pleased with how the month turned out.
• I read an uncommon number of short stories this month: three anthologies (Tales from Earthsea, Fantastic Creatures, and Mythical Doorways) and one standalone (Feather and Nettle). Of those, Fantastic Creatures was probably my favorite, with Mythical Doorways a close second. Both were free Fellowship of Fantasy anthologies, so I'm pretty happy about that. Tales from Earthsea didn't impress me quite as much as I would've liked, though it was still a good book in general.
• On that topic, I'm officially finished with the Earthsea Cycle. The Other Wind was a satisfying ending and a good book, though I don't know if I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Most of it was solid, but there were certain themes and ideas that seem . . . off? I'm going to have to think about them more before I go recommending the series to everyone.
• The Last Magician was another book I've been looking forward to for a while, but I'm sad to say that it wasn't as good as I hoped. All the elements of good were there: heists, conspiracy, time-manipulation powers, interesting characters, tragic backstories . . . but the character dynamics frustrated me to no end, and I didn't understand most of the magic system until the last quarter of the book or later. I think I've been spoiled by Mistborn, honestly, because that's what I kept mentally comparing it to.
• On a happier note, Gemina was an excellent sequel to Illuminae: same excellent writing style, but more action-y; more great characters; fabulous snark; awesome twists . . . yeah. My only complaints are that the author killed off a certain character and sank one of my ships. (I'm low-key still upset about that, because I don't ship the remaining couple half as much as I did the original pairing. But it's fine.)
• Also, The Master Magician was a wonderful conclusion to Ceony's story (even if she does get away with far too much at times). And the ending? Absolutely awesome. Then I read The Plastic Magician, which is arguably even better. Alvie is an interesting lead, she's less prone to getting into trouble than Ceony (she has a more practical head on her shoulders, to start with), and she's surprisingly relatable. 10/10, would befriend given the chance.
• Other fun thing: I finally reorganized my bookshelves, so now I have all my classics and nonfiction on one bookshelf, all my epic fantasy on another bookshelf (Bryan Davis and Brandon Sanderson each have a shelf mostly to themselves now! With room for all the new books they're going to write!), and a third bookshelf full of miscellaneous fantasy (and one shelf with historical, contemporary, and dystopian fiction). This makes me very happy.

Watching & Listening!

• I almost didn't watch anything this month. But then my family decided to watch The Parent Trap, because they wanted to watch a movie and I wanted to edit and then go to bed, so they were looking for something I didn't like. That backfired quite a bit, since The Parent Trap used to be one of my favorite movies, and I still like it quite a bit. But I enjoyed the movie, and I managed to get my editing in for the day anyway (though I'm pretty sure I stayed up way too late in the process), so it worked out.
• I also haven't listened to more podcasts, unfortunately. They take too much attention for me to listen to them while I'm working, and I haven't been walking as much as I should've been.
• I haven listened to Owl City's Cinematic album a ridiculous number of times, though, as well as Twenty One Pilots' "Nico and the Niners". So there's that? And I recently discovered Rachel Rose Mitchell, who does creepy-ish fairy tale/folk tale-inspired music, and I don't love all her songs, but I'm low-key obsessed with a few of them. This is the one that hooked me:

• Yeah. I really enjoy stories that deal with what life is like after you get back from "Wonderland" and the lingering desire to return. (I mean, I wrote a whole novel centered on that topic, so . . .) If you like that song, I also recommend "Something You Don't Know", "Glow in the Dark", and "The Ticketman," two of which are fascinating and emotional story fodder and one of which is just gleefully creepy.
• (I blame Elsewhere University for my current semi-obsession with mildly creepy folk tale-based everything, for the record. That and the number of times I read the Spiderwick Chronicles when I was young.)

Life!

• Mostly the month has just been work as usual. I'm nearly done with my internship requirements for it to count academically, so that's good. What's better is that my employer invited me to keep working part-time during the school year, which is like . . . yes please. I really enjoy the work I'm doing, and I'd love to keep doing it, especially if that also means I have a slightly more regular source of income than book reviews for the college newspaper.
• Seriously, I'm still low-key in awe that I actually get to do some of this stuff and get paid for it. The writing, not so much; I've always planned to get people to pay me for that, in some form or another. But design? That was my hobby until shortly before college, something I did just for fun, not because I thought I'd make a career out of it. And now someone's paying me to sit down with Illustrator and make things, which is still fun. I mean, there's more to my job than that, and there are still bad days sometimes, but in general? I really, really like it. Honestly, sometimes it's almost as good as getting paid to read.
• Anyway, yeah. I'm excited about that. I am having to rework stuff with my schedule, though, since I seem to have ended up with a lot of commitments and opportunities this semester that I want to take advantage of. I emailed my advisor a couple weeks ago, asking if he would approve a particular schedule change, and he still hasn't gotten back to me, so . . . That's stressful.
• Another benefit of the internship: I actually had money to buy a tablet! I've been thinking about getting one for several months now, since so many of my classes involve doing stuff on the computer, but don't involve enough of that stuff to justify dragging my laptop around all day. And then Best Buy had a sale, so . . .

• This is the Perpendicularity (named for the connections between worlds in the Cosmere universe). I actually went all-out and got the version with the S-Pen and a case with a keyboard, so it's almost like a mini-laptop, which is super nice. Most of my family members have iPads, so I did very briefly consider getting one of those. But the iPad in the size I want was twice as much as even the nicest Android tablet I found and the accessories for that tablet. Also, I like being different. That . . . may or may not have also been a significant factor in my decision.
• Much like last month, I spent a decent portion of July minus a sister, this time because she was volunteering at White Sulphur Springs. We drove up to visit her midway through her time there, which was nice (and which gave me a chance to do some solid editing on Blood in the Snow). Honestly, not having her home isn't half as weird as I thought it would be. So that's helpful.
• I also discovered that the church we're going to now has a college-age youth group type thing, which I've been going to. I think I might be slowly making friends? Everyone's very friendly, and I feel like people would notice if I was gone (which is more than I can say for some youth groups I've gone to), but it'll take time to find a place when so many of the people already know each other pretty well. Still, it's nice to hang out with people my own age; that's one of the only things I don't like about being home.

August Plans!

• Of course, next month (technically this month), I'll have plenty of time to spend with people my age, because it's back to college midway through! I'm excited; I'm already friends with half my hall, I have some pretty interesting classes (even if I'm stressed about rearranging my schedule), and I'm going to be the secretary for the Honors club. So . . . yeah. I'm going to be busy, with classes and an internship and friends and an official position and my writing and everything else, but it should be good.
• Before then, however, as I mentioned before, I need to start looking into the best ways to format both print and eBooks . . . I've been informed that KDP has a guide or guidelines or something, so I'm planning to start there, but I want to know how to do more than upload a Word Doc to KDP. (And you never know; if I like designing book layouts as much as I enjoy designing other graphics and print materials, maybe someone will pay me to do that too?)
• As far as writing goes, my plan is to finish up edits on Mechanical Heart, write my first two paid stories, and then spend the rest of the month taking a rest and just working on Dust of Silver enough to keep up with 100-4-100. Come September, or maybe sooner, I'll start another edit on Mechanical Heart, so I want a bit of a break between the two of those.

How was your July? What plans do you have for August? Please tell me in the comments!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Discovery in River City

It's often said among writers, readers, and story critics that there's only seven (or possibly three, or six, or some other number) basic plots in existence and all books, films, and other types of story available to us are just modifications of these seven (or six, or three, or perhaps thirty-six) plots. I'm not sure about the seven (or whatever other number), but I'm quite ready to believe that there's no such thing as a completely and totally original story. After all, I can readily list off at least three highly significant influences on any of my own novels, and given enough time, I could probably trace almost every element of those stories back to some other story or life experience or random picture I saw somewhere. I highly doubt that even professional authors are much different.

All that said, ideas sometimes come from strange places- places so far removed from a particular story that I never would've expected them to influence any area of my life anymore.

And that brings me to The Music Man.

 The first time I saw this musical, I was ten, maybe eleven. I watched the first half of the film version while my parents were having Bible Study, then saw the full movie a few months later because my family got it out from the library. We also got out the soundtrack- well, I got out the soundtrack, and though I only managed to watch The Music Man another time and a half, maybe a few halves, I listened to the soundtrack obsessively until the library forced me to give it back. They then proceeded to lose the cd, and so time went on and I more or less forgot about the show (even though I could still sing "Trouble in River City" and "Shipoopi" and, somewhat to my embarrassment, "The Sadder But Wiser Girl For Me" more or less word for word, if you gave me a reason to- though, generally, no one did).

Then I came to college, and lo and behold: the winter musical this year is my old favorite! So, last weekend, despite a developing sore throat, I ushered at the 2:00 performance. It was an easy job- all I had to do was stand at my assigned spot and say "Can I help you find your seat?" and occasionally "Your seat is right there," and then help clean up brochures and confetti after the show- and in return, I got to watch for free. Which, you have to admit, is a pretty good deal.

And, can I just say- we have an awesome theater department? Once I got past the fact that the actual theater version of The Music Man is slightly different in both order of events and exact lyrics of songs than the movie version I'm used to, I really enjoyed the show. Casting, costumes, scenery, and- of course- the music were all spot-on (which is saying something, because I get touchy when I think someone's messed up one of my favorite things).

As the show moved on to the second act, though, I realized something. Something seemed familiar about the characters, about the ideas in the songs, more than just a childhood obsession. It almost seemed- but no, that was impossible, wasn't it?

But there it was all the same. See, there's a particular character-development/romance archetype that I absolutely love. It's played out by Flynn and Rapunzel in Tangled, by Han Solo and Leia in Star Wars, by Thorne and Cress in The Lunar Chronicles, by Moist van Lipwig and his ladylove in Discworld, to a degree by Howl Pendragon and Sophie Hatter. It's the lovable rogue- a character who's guaranteed to be a favorite even without the second half of the archetype- who falls in love and ends up becoming a hero. I enjoy the archetype (and the lovable rogue/rogue with a heart of gold part specifically) that I try to work it into my stories wherever it'll fit.  In fact, one of my favorite character couples in all my stories fits the archetype perfectly- or will, when I'm done.

And The Music Man- that's where I first discovered it. Not Star Wars or Tangled like I thought originally. In The Music Man. In Harold Hill and Marian Paroo. A musical I watched when I was ten still influences stories I started long after I thought I'd forgotten the show altogether.

Aren't ideas funny things?

Where are some of the most unexpected things that've influenced your stories? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)   

Don't Say Goodbye

Things are changing.

I don't talk about my personal life, particularly the sad bits, a whole lot on this blog. Usually that's because there's not much to say about them. But sometimes there are.


My parents told me the news four months ago: we're moving. Not just to a new house, to a new state, almost eight hours away. Since then, life has been successively growing in craziness as we try to get ready to leave. Even so, I don't think the reality of our move fully hit- until this week, when suddenly Skillet's "Say Goodbye" has become the theme song of my life.

It seems strange and
I need to figure this out.

I've lived in the same house for nearly twelve years. To some of you, those who've lived in the same house or at least the same town all your lives, that may seem unsurprising. But for my family and me, it's a not-so-small miracle; by all rights, we probably should've moved at least once already by this time. But we haven't. We've been allowed to stay.

So why do we have to leave now?

 You got your life,
I got mine,
But you're all I cared about.

 I'm an introvert. That may surprise some of you; I'm a lot more outgoing online than I am offline. Online, talking to people, even strangers, is easy. Sharing my thoughts and feelings is easy. Offline, both things are a lot harder, and I tend to spend a lot of time by myself. However, being an introvert also means that I'm very attached to the friends I do have. They mean the world to me, and I look forward to every chance I get to spend time with them.

And now I'm leaving them behind.

Yesterday we were laughing.
Today I'm left here asking,
Where has all the time gone now?
I'm left alone somehow.
Growing up and getting older;
I don't want to believe it's over. 

As I said earlier, despite the craziness of moving preparations, the reality of our upcoming departure didn't really hit me until this week, my last full week here. Next weekend I leave for Support Staff at White Sulpher Springs, and once that's done, I officially move. So, this weekend has been filled with lasts: last Bible Study on Friday, last game night on Saturday, last church service and youth group on Sunday. My community, my friends, are slipping away.

 Don't say goodbye
'Cause I don't want to hear those words tonight.
'Cause maybe it's not the end for you and I.

 I don't want to believe those friendships are over. I want to believe that this isn't goodbye; it's only "see you later." I want to believe we'll keep in touch through email and letters and text messages until I can come back home. But enough other friends have moved or otherwise dropped out of my life that I'm afraid this is the end. That these goodbyes are the end.

I don't want the end to be now.

And although we knew
This time would come for me and you
Don't say anything tonight
If you're going to say goodbye.

Today is, effectively, one of my last full days in my home. I'll be spending the next two weeks volunteering at White Sulpher Springs as part of their Support Staff (which both excites me and terrifies me at the same time), and the movers come to pack up the house shortly after I return. Because of that, I almost feel like I'm already gone- like my home has said goodbye to me already, even though I haven't really said goodbye to it.
But "Say Goodbye" isn't the only song playing in my life.

I know who goes before me.
I know who stands behind.

I don't understand why I have to move. But I know God has a reason for it, that he planned it for us. He even gave me warning of it: in February, during a youth group lesson on words of knowledge, one of my youth leaders- one of the people I'll miss the most after I move- said God had given her a vision of a tornado while she was praying over me. We both thought it was weird but didn't recognize what it meant until later, until I found out about the move and realized this is it. That a tornado is a storm that picks things up and moves them other places, just as the move would uproot my family and me and move us to a new state.

The God of angel armies
Is always by my side.

In some ways, I feel like this move is a test, as if God's saying "When your life was easy, you called me your Great Author and thanked Me for my promise that I know the plans I have for you. Now that My plans are different than Yours, will you still thank me?" And I'm doing my best to do just that- to acknowledge that, yes, He does have a plan, and even if I don't understand, His plan is better than mine- even as I ask Him, why, why, why do we have to go?

The One who reigns forever,
He is a friend of mine.

I'm trying to look on the bright side of the move. The location is far from ideal- but it's also far from the worst it can be. The area, after all, is quite pretty (when it's not raining), and I'll have plenty of places to go take pictures and a backyard big enough to shoot my bow and arrows, and maybe I'll get to meet an online friend or two. I even used to daydream about living there when I was younger, opening my own bookstore- "Ye Olde Bookshoppe", named after a bookstore in one of my then-favorite books- which makes me wonder if, in the midst of this move, God's teasing me a bit. Anyway, we're only supposed to be there a few years, and then we can move.

The God of angel armies
Is always by my side.

 

God is sending us on this move for a reason. I keep reminding myself of that. And I keep reminding myself, as do others, that this'll be an adventure. Occasionally, if I'm in a good mood, I'll jokingly add "All those books about people going to other worlds seem to start with the people moving somewhere new. Maybe this is your chance!" But sometimes, my reaction to the thought of an adventure is the same as Bilbo's reaction to Gandalf's invitation: "Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! I can't think what anybody sees in them!" On those days, my spirit's still singing:

Don't say anything tonight
If you're going to say goodbye.

 

Lyrics from: "Say Goodbye" by Skillet and "Whom Shall I Fear" by Chris Tomlin.

Christmas Music!

Christmas is almost here- there's less than a week left to wait! To make the time go faster, I thought I'd share about one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season: the music. I'd happily listen to Christmas music all year round, except that then it wouldn't be Christmas music anymore. (Also, my family holds to the "no Christmas music before Thanksgiving" thing.) Anyway, for your enjoyment, here are seven of my favorite Christmas songs!

1. "The Promise" by Michael Card

If any Christmas music could be given the title of "epic", I think it would be this song. It's beautiful and, in a way, powerful. I just love everything about it: the melody, the lyrics- especially the chorus- and the whole feel of it. It also sounds like something that could be sung by one or two of my favorite novel characters, which is a bonus- not many Christmas songs have that distinction.

2. "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" by PureNRG

I don't think a lot of people have heard of this song, which is sad, because it's really awesome. I love how triumphant it sounds, particularly the last verse.

3. "Joy to the World" 

This is actually one of the first Christmas songs I remember learning. When I was a really little girl- maybe four or five years old- my Sunday school class (and maybe the class above mine as well) learned four Christmas songs to sing in front of the church. This is the one that's stuck with me the most. My favorite part is the third verse, though it seems to be left out a lot (at least in my experience). It's a great reminder that, even if the world is messed up, it won't be forever.

4. "Merry Christmas" by Third Day

This is just a really sweet song. It and two other similarly themed songs- "All I Really Want" by Steven Curtis Chapman and "This Christmas" by TobyMac- are some of my favorite modern Christmas songs just because they're so touching. They also remind me of some of my novel characters, coincidentally. (Though, as I think the songs came first, maybe the songs influenced my creation of the characters and I just didn't realize it . . .)

5. "Christmas Ceilidh" by Celtic Christmas

I discovered Celtic Christmas music about two years ago, and it- like most Celtic music- is lovely. This is the only song I could find on YouTube from my favorite Celtic Christmas album. (This one, by the way. It's super cheap to download it digitally; I definitely recommend it.) Thankfully, it happens to be one of my favorites from the album. I love the pictures it creates in my mind of the friends gathered for their Christmas celebration, their singing and enjoyment of one another.

6. "Carol of the Bells" by BarlowGirl

To me, this song sounds really eerie for a Christmas song, but that's why I love it. It gives me this image in my head- almost a story, but I can't quite turn it into words yet. I imagine the darkness gathering, trying to snuff out the light- but it's stopped by the bells and their reminder of the Light. Or something like that. Eventually I'll figure it out- I hope.

7. "Christmas is Coming"- traditional

  I like the Danny Byram version best, but it's not on YouTube. This one is pretty good, though. It's just a fun little song, and I can imagine it echoing from one corner to another of a busy village square in some English town of a hundred-odd years ago. (It'll also get stuck in your head, and you'll likely be humming it the rest of the day. You're welcome.)

What are your favorite Christmas songs? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)  

Writing Music

Hello, everyone! I don't know about you, but for me, music is very important when I'm writing. In fact, I struggle to write without some kind of music in the background, and what the music is can make or break my writing session. Since NaNoWriMo is starting tomorrow (EEP!), I thought I'd share some of my favorite writing music.

The Lord of the Rings soundtrack

This is usually my go-to playlist when I'm settling in for a long writing session, particularly if I'm away from the computer. The Lord of the Rings soundtrack pretty much defines epic music, and it can work with almost any story and scene. It's also really good for long stretches, since it's almost guaranteed to outlast any writing session.

Narnia soundtracks.

Before I discovered The Lord of the Rings soundtracks and Celtic music, the Narnia soundtracks, specifically those for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, were my main writing music. Now I mostly listen to them when I need something different, but I still really like them. My favorite track is Evacuating London, but I also really like The Blitz and A Narnian Lullaby.

Celtic Music
There are several different Celtic artists whose music is great for writing, and which I listen to depends mostly on my mood and whether or not I have access to YouTube. Here are three of my favorites.

Riverdance

This is probably my favorite Celtic music in the world: the Riverdance soundtrack. It's less versatile than some other music- I certainly wouldn't listen to it while writing a battle scene, for example- but it's still good for most instances. My favorite track is Shivna, though I'm often too caught up in the words to actually write during that particular song!

Adrian von Ziegler

I mentioned Adrian von Ziegler and his 2 Hours of Celtic Music last year during NaNoWriMo. At the time, it was my go-to music for word wars and just writing at the computer. I've branched out into other artists since then (one of whom I'll mention in a moment), but I'm sure I'll still listen to his music quite a bit next month. In addition to his Celtic music, I also like his 2 Hours of Fantasy Music.

Brunuhville

I just discovered Brunuhville this past summer, but his music quickly jumped onto my favorites list. Like Adrian von Ziegler, he composes Celtic and fantasy music. In some ways, I actually like Brunuhville's music better than Adrian von Ziegler's, though I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe it's the feel of the music, as Brunuhville's songs tend to be lighter than those written by Adrian von Ziegler.

Lindsey Stirling

Lindsey Stirling's music is awesome. Her earlier songs are bright and beautiful; her latest album is more dramatic but still amazing. Her music videos are also pretty cool, particularly her latest ones- admittedly, they can distract from my writing, but they're inspirational in their own way. I also love her video game covers and her Mission Impossible cover for when I need something a bit more sneaky or quest-y sounding.

What's your favorite writing music? Please tell me in the comments; I'm always looking for something new to listen to!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Random Fridays: Songs That Inspire Me

http://bookworm716.blogspot.com/

Hullo, everyone! This week's Random Friday is a freebie; I pick the topic. As you can see, I chose songs that inspire me. But when I say inspiring, I don't mean the encouraging-make-a-bad-day-good kind of songs (though some of these are that kind of songs, at least for me). I mean the kind of songs that give me an idea for a story, a character, or a scene . . . and believe me, there are a lot of those. (As in, if I had a dime for every time a song affected a character or story, I'd probably have a few thousand dollars.) These are a few of my favorites.

1. "The Invitation" and "Welcome to the Masquerade" by Thousand Foot Krutch

Ok, I've already written a short story based on this. If you're on the Underground, you may have read it. If you haven't, know it involves a mysterious masked bardess (female bard; a position I made up for my novels), a plot to kill a king, creepy so-called Seers, and- of course- a masked ball. I had a lot of fun writing it and hope to write a sequel sometime, maybe this summer.

2.  "Sing Me a Love Song"- BarlowGirl

I'm not sure if this would be original fiction or a Goldstone Wood fanfic. The idea plays a large part in one of my favorite daydreams, but those are half fanfic anyway. I do know the basic premise of the idea, though: She's lost; broken; an outcast. She's given away so much of herself that she can't remember who she is. But one thing reminds her. And no matter how hard she tries, no matter how much she sometimes wants to forget, she always comes back. Always returns to the song.    

3. "Dementia"- Owl City

You'll never guess what this one gives me an idea for: the scene in a Cinderella remake I'm hoping to write when the prince sees Cinderella at the ball. I can't give away too much, but I can say this isn't the first time he's met her . . . he just doesn't remember the others. And once she shows up, strange things start happening . . . but none as strange as her mysterious warning for him. 

4. "Hero"- Skillet

I tried to write a novel based on this song. It was supposed to be a dystopian-superhero story: my main character, Anya, was the youngest child in a family of very rich, influential supers, and she was the only one without powers. That, however, played into the story very little; the main plot was how the government was outlawing Christianity and Anya had to find the courage to speak against the change. Looking back, I wish I'd waited on it, but oh well. Maybe I'll try it again someday.

5. "No Plan B"- Manafest

Does anyone remember the Silver Bullets from my short story, "The First Mission"? Well, that story wasn't the first I'd written about the Silver Bullet group, or about Mikayla and her father. "No Plan B" was a spur-of-the-moment story written after listening to this song a few too many times. It was a fairly simple plot: a team of Silver Bullet agents was sent into a Brotherhood compound to rescue several people. But these people weren't ordinary prisoners . . . and not everyone in the group had the same agenda. Interestingly, were I to write enough Silver Bullet stories to put them all in a book, "No Plan B" would be the final story. If you've read my Underground writing thread, you know why. If you haven't . . . Well, you'll just have to wonder for now.


6. "Not Gonna Die"- Skillet

Would you believe that I haven't even finished book four of the Berstru Tales series and I'm already getting ideas for book five or six? Whether or not I actually use those ideas depends on a lot of things, but this song is pretty much the theme song for two of the major subplots (or possibly main plots) of whichever book it ends up being. Each subplot- one of which is Emma's, the other of which is Jared's- is mainly inspired by one of the first two verses.

7. "Stronger Than You Think"- Fireflight

"I know your intentions. I've seen the way you work. . . . I used to chase you. But now I hate you. I'm safe inside the light, so go on, do your worst." That sounds like the challenge of a hero to me- a hero who's been down a dark path, perhaps even served the villain at one point, but has since been lifted out of that darkness and found the villain for an epic showdown- inspired, of course, by this song.

8. "Shivna"- Riverdance

While the other songs in this post inspire primarily through lyrics, this song inspires more through the rhythm and the feeling it gives me. There are at least two scenes in Danger in the Tower (my Rapunzel/12 Dancing Princesses) remake inspired by this song. It's also my idea of what the music of the Feyling, particularly the dark Feyling, would sound like . . . and a very potent song indeed is that played by the Feyling.

 Do you find inspiration in songs? If so, what are some songs that have inspired you? Please tell me in the comments! Thanks for reading!
 Calo anor na ven!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Want to join in the Random Fridays fun? Feel free to make a post of your own on the week's topic! Please just be sure to use the Random Fridays banner, link back to Awkwordly Emma, and post the link to your post on the Awkwordly Emma blog so other participants can check out your post. For a list of future Random Friday topics, click here.   

Slippery Time and Other Things

Time can be a very slippery thing. You sit down one minute to do a bit of knitting and listen to some of a good book or to enjoy yourself online and the next thing you know, it's two hours later and you've forgotten to do something important. Like schoolwork. Or writing. Funny how that works.

At least if you lose track of time while you're knitting, you're doing something useful. In the past two weeks, I made a new pair of wristers and most of a cute headband that my mom found a pattern for. I would've finished the headband yesterday, but the book I was listening to, Howl's Moving Castle, ended much too soon. You'd think that by this time, I'd be used to it, that the ending wouldn't make me wish so hard that there was more or that the characters were real and I could visit them because I'm not ready to say goodbye. But I'm not, which is why I spent most of today reading the two sequels to Howl's Moving Castle and wishing very much that Howl and Sophie played a bigger part in the other books. I'm strongly tempted to start listening to the book all over again, unless I find something else to listen to that catches my attention more.

In other news, I wrote myself into a corner and can't seem to find my way out of it. Unless Inspiration shows up and rescues me, or at least gives me a secret passage out of the corner, I'll probably scrap the story and start over with something new. Or maybe I'll just work on my WIPs from last year's Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo. That would work too. I just want to write something that's not this particular story and where I have a better idea what I'm doing.

Ok, this blog post is turning into a lot of moping. Time for happier stuff.

• Cress comes out in three day! Three days! I'll have to wait until it comes in at the library before I can read it, but all the same- three days!
• A Draw of Kings also comes out in three days.
• I still need to read Allegiant but I'm kind of scared to. I want to know what's going to happen, but at the same time, I have a feeling it's going to be something heartbreaking. And it's easier to just listen to Howl's Moving Castle, which isn't very sad at all. Actually, it's quite funny and I defy anyone to read or listen to it and not be in a good mood by the time they're done.
• Owl City music can be sad, like 'Lonely Lullaby' (which I'm listening to now), but I love it anyway. Though I generally prefer the happy songs, like 'Hot Air Balloon'.
• There's a short story contest on at my library. I need to pick something to enter. For once, I have plenty of options! (Thank you, TPS Summer Creative Writing class!)
• I love playing Ticket to Ride, but if you and your friends are playing it while your parents are having Bible Study, you really need to start it before snack time. Otherwise, you end up having to stop halfway through so that people can go home and go to bed.
• I love this song:

Well, that's all for today. Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)