Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot more Two Steps From Hell. They have a seriously epic assortment of music, suiting many different moods. Their music has the feel of a good movie soundtrack, emotive and evocative. I enjoy listening to their pieces when I’m studying or writing. One of my recent discoveries in their archives of music is gorgeous piece called My Freedom, from their album, Miracles.

The beginning of this piece reminds me very much of a wild Scottish setting, with a spirited young Scottish girl. However, the song soon builds up into an epic vocal chorus, full of fire and a determination for life. I don’t see this so much as a war cry, but as a personal battle cry, a promise to follow one’s own path and keep ones freedom secure. This piece would suit a fantasy novel, or possibly a historical.

Also, it has been quite the week for significant blogging events. My good friend Katie Grace@A Writer’s Faith is celebrating her first blogoversay. You should definitely hop over and visit her and congratulate her.

My lovely friend Liz Brook@Out of Coffee, Out of Mind is celebrating her first blogoversary as well. And she also giving away a 60^thAnniversary edition of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. You should definitely hop over to congratulate her and enter her giveaway, open internationally.

And finally, my friend Annie Hawthorne from Twitter has just started her own blog @Curious Wren, and she’s having a blog party and an awesome giveaway to celebrate. I’m sure she would really appreciate it if you hopped over and checked out her blog, and maybe enter her giveaway and join in with her blog party.

I’m in the middle of Camp NaNoWriMo at the moment, which means the writer has vanished into the cave of rewriting until the end of the month. But while I’m busy wrangling with stubborn plot points and obstinate characters, I’ve also been enjoying the blog posts of my fellow writerly bloggers. Today I’d like to share a round-up of five awesome bookish posts I’ve enjoyed the most in the month of July so far.

Why Books Should Have Content Ratings Just as Movies Do

Ana@Butterflies of the Imagination

In this post, Ana discusses an interesting question: should books have content ratings like movies do? Whether you agree they should or not, it’s certainly an interesting discussion. Plus there are loads of interesting thoughts down in the comments as well.

A Writer’s Responsibility

Heather@Sometimes I’m a Story

Heather raises an interesting question here. Do writers have a responsibility to publish what they write? Is it their duty, if they have something to say and are reasonably good at writing, to share what they write? Or is it ok for writers to write simply because they enjoy it and not worry about having to publish anything?

Does Author Behaviour Influence Your Opinion of Their Books?

Cait@Paper Fury

I’m sure we’ve all heard of at least one writer who has behaved badly on the internet. Or we know super nice writers that we just want to love. Cait has an interesting discussion wherein she discusses whether that affects her opinion of these writers and their books. Again, there’s a great discussion down in the comments as well.

How to Write a Great First Scene

Stephanie@Go Teen Writers

If you’re anything like me, then you struggle with book beginnings and where to start the book. This is an excellent post that has some simple tips to let you know if you’re starting in the right place, and what should be in the first scenes. It’s a great resource, especially if, like me, you’re rewriting at the moment.

Wherein we see the return of Candice’s brilliant posts where she uses the thesaurus to retitle some famous books. The result is hilariousness itself. If you haven’t read it yet, you definitely need to hop over and check it out. It’s worth it, I promise.

These are just some of the amazing posts I’ve been reading recently. What posts have caught your eye in July? Anything on this list you hadn’t read before? And if you’re taking part in Camp NaNo, how are you getting on? 

What’s better than one piece of writing music? Why, it’s a whole list of them of course. This week I’ve rounded up some of my favourite songs that are just perfect for romantic inspiration of all kinds. You probably recognise most of these musicians by now, and I promise I have some musical variety coming up soon, but these songs are all so beautiful I couldn’t resist gathering them up into one post of romantic awesomeness.

What Are Words

Piano Guys

This song is for the characters who aren’t in love, but would like to be, especially characters who are surrounded by friends who have significant others. Despite this song being a bit of a lament about the single state, it manages to have a very positive feel to it and would, in my opinion, suit a character with a positive outlook on life.

Sometimes romances don’t always go the way you thought they would. This is the theme song of the person left behind at the end of a relationship. This is perfect for inspiration for characters getting over a break-up of any kind. One of the great things about this song though, is that is isn’t over the top with the drama, or full of recriminations. Plus there is an epic typewriter in the music video. I wants one.

These are some of my favourite songs for romantic inspiration. What songs get you in the mood to write a good romance? Any of these songs appeal to you? What are you listening to this week?

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted a Writing Music post. But while it’s been on hiatus, I’ve been busy discovering plenty of new music, as well as many other amazing writing resources too. Today I thought I’d share a song I’ve been enjoying recently, and also some of the most helpful or interesting links that I’ve discovered over the past week. It seems a shame not to share the goodness around.

This week’s Writing Music is a mashup of Shake It Off and Shake It Out, by Evynne Hollens. It’s an upbeat, energy-filled song, which would suit an optimistic character as a bit of a character anthem perhaps. It would be the perfect song for a character who’s had a hard life in the past, but who is ready to move on and make a better life for themselves. It could also possibly suit a charismatic rogue who rolls with the punches and takes life as it comes.

These are some of the blog posts that I’ve enjoyed most over the past week. Some are fun, some are helpful, and all of them are awesome. Hop over and give them a read, and maybe show the authors a bit of love with a comment.

Liz Brooks@Out of Coffee, Out of Mind
How to be an Eccentric Writer

Writers have a bit of a reputation of being rather eccentric. But have you even wondered how to be a true eccentric writer? Liz has the only guide you’ll ever need to convince the world that you are a mad literary genius.

K.M. Weiland@Helping Writers Become Authors
The Only Thing You Need to Know AboutWriting Strong Female Characters

There’s always a lot of discussion about female characters and what makes a great strong female in a book. K.M. Weiland helps clarify what exactly makes a female character strong, and it’s not the ability to outfight the males.

Aimee Meester@To the Barricade
The ‘Strong Female Protagonist’ Problem

Another great post on strong female characters. Aimee outlines a few truths about strong female protagonists that are super important to keep in mind when writing. Strong females can be girly too, guys.

Aimee Meester@To the Barricade
The ‘Bad Boy Love Interest’ Problem

This is my other favourite post from Aimee this week. Bad boy love interests are very common in books at the moment. In this post, Aimee lists a few problems with this trend along with a few truths about writing guys.

Stephanie Morrill@Go Teen Writers
The Go Teen Writers Summer Writing Challenge and a Giveaway

If you’re looking for some more writing motivation, you should definitely check out the Go Teen Writers summer writing challenge. Set yourself a goal and write alongside heaps of other writers this summer/winter. Plus there's also an awesome giveaway that you should totally check out.

What have you been listening to this week? What is your favourite blog post you’ve read recently? Find any of these links interesting? And would you like to see more of these round ups in the future, maybe of different sorts too?