Legalsounds: One Stop Shop

If you’re looking for a one-stop shop for your cheap music needs, look no further than Legal Sounds. At nine cents a track, iTunes doesn’t stand a chance. In comparison to its competitors, like mp3Panda where tracks are fifteen cents each, Legal Sounds stands out. Don’t let the cheap price fool you. The quality is superb. There are other similar music providers, and in the past, I had used both mp3Panda and Legal Sounds because initially their tracks were cheaper. However, since their prices have increased to fifteen cents a track, I have switched to solely using Legal Sounds. This has cut down my music costs substantially. Also, Legal Sounds allows you to re-download files if you’ve lost them, whereas at mp3Panda, you only have a window of time to download songs. Also, Mp3Panda only has registrations open for short periods of time to new users.

I use iheartradio and Pandora to discover new songs. When I stumble on a song or artist that I’m interested in, I jot it down on a Post-It Note and stick it on my computer monitor. For example, iheartradio just played “On the Brightside” by Never Shout Never, which I’d never heard before. I just wrote it down on a note that already has twelve or so other songs I’ve jotted down. Once I find the time, I plan to download the songs on Legal Sounds. I can download all the songs for around the same price as one-song costs at iTunes. I can also choose to buy just one track or the entire album, which beats buying traditional CD’s where you are forced to buy the entire album.

Another awesome aspect of Legal Sounds is the bonus program they offer when you choose to replenish your funds. If you add $49, which will last you a very long time in my opinion, you receive $10 for free. If you add $99, you get a $99 bonus. And if you add $199, you receive $199 for free. At mp3Panda, you only receive a $5 bonus when you add $49 and only $15 when you add $99. There is absolutely no comparison to the deals that Legal Sounds offer. Legal Sounds also offers a referral bonus program. If you refer a friend and they use the link you send them to sign up, you will receive a $9 bonus.

Overall, I have been extremely happy with my experience with Legal Sounds. Never once have I gotten a virus from any of the files, which isn’t necessarily the case with most music downloaders. Legal Sounds also has the latest hit songs, and I know that if I hear something on the radio, I can just about bet that it’s already going to be available on Legal Sounds. To keep consistent with our mp3Panda comparison, I’ve noticed that it takes a while for new songs to be added to mp3Panda. If, for some reason, a song isn’t available yet on Legal Sounds, you can request it here.

Blog # 8: Jess Yaun

I haven’t worked on my novel once this summer. I needed to take a break and let the story simmer; let lime trees, hot Carolina sun, a hedgehog and two tigers set up residence in my imagination. With every book we read I entered a different world, each of them complete and vivid. I found myself on a shrimper’s boat watching for a white dolphin, hiding in the concierge’s armchair sipping jasmine tea, and falling asleep on a plush, new mattress given to me by my lover. Whenever I thought about leaving one of those worlds to enter my protagonist’s world, I found my limbs unwilling. I realized there wasn’t a world to return to.

The first section of my novel suffers a loss of place. In the second section, when my character Rebecca lives among the Cherokees, the place is bright and vibrant. I can feel the breeze on my bare skin, walk beneath the red and orange leaves of the forest, and hear the river rushing on the edge of the village. But the first section of Rebecca’s life, in the present moment, there is no world. I gave the reader the vaguest sense of where she is. I wanted her to be lonely but I made her too alone; I wanted to show a disconnect present in modern times but didn’t give the story enough characters to depict that disconnect. And above all, she has no place. I wanted Rebecca to not have a place, but I failed to create a place around her in the process. Instead, I need to create the world around her and figure out how to show that she doesn’t feel a part of it. Just because she feels she doesn’t belong to her world doesn’t mean there isn’t a world!

The books also reminded me to let go. Since beginning the MAPW program I’ve been like Hemingway, painstakingly choosing each word. But this is not the kind of writer I’ve always been. While I’ve learned the value of revision and careful word choice, I’ve restricted myself to the point of strangling my creativity and forcing myself into rigid lines of what is acceptable. Strout prompted, there are different ways of constructing stories. Smyth whispered, find the heart of your character’s world and let it flow from you in beautiful words. Barbery advised, the big things you want to say are important, more important than technicalities or what others may think of how you express it.

Toni Says Thank You

My many thanks to all of you. You have made my summer brighter.

Blog # 8 by Brittany Leazer: Its in the Details

This course has challenged me in my own writing in so many ways. I have learned so much about my writing that I would have never learned without these books. First of all, I would have never even picked up most of these books without being told to. I would have looked at the back cover of most of them and then returned them to the shelf. For instance, Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange did not sound appealing to me, but I could not but it down. I was completely overwhelmed by the beauty of the writing and incredible descriptions. I learned that I need to be very aware of the details in my writing. All of the books we have read have been so precise in the details. In the Prince of Tides, the setting was so vivid, because of the details surrounding it. In Olive Kitteridge, the characters came alive because of the details. In A Movable Feast, Hemingway always pays careful attention to the details of language. He chooses each word so carefully.

In my own writing I have been careless with details. I have been hoping that the reader will just get it. I have learned in this course that to truly write something worth reading, I must take great care with the details.

Blog Post # 8: Ray Atkins Wishes You All Well

Beach Readings for Writers has been an enjoyable class for me, both because of the selection of books on the reading list and because of my interactions with all of you. During the course of the semester I learned (or re-learned) a bit more about the complex craft of writing from each of the authors we read.

In A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway reminded me that being a writer is very cool. No, really. I became a writer in the first place because I always believed that it was the best of all possible occupations. Occasionally I have forgotten this and have allowed the realities of the writing life to spoil the experience, and I was going through such a period when I opened this book. Thanks, Papa, for adjusting my attitude.

In A Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy rekindled my lifelong love affair with beautiful language. As far back as I can remember, I have been drawn to books with lush, descriptive words and exotic turns of phrase. I have always believed that how a story is told is at least as important as the story itself, and every time I read Conroy, I am encouraged to write magnificent sentences.

In Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout taught me that a character doesn’t have to be likeable in order to be sympathetic. This was an epiphany for me. Olive was an unpleasant, selfish woman. I took an instant dislike to her. Yet by the middle of the book, I truly cared about her, and I wanted her life to turn out all right.

In The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga taught me that a book can be serious and whimsical at the same time. I think that this is an especially important skill for writers of serious fiction. Have you ever sat down with an “important” book only to have the author beat you over the head with the book’s message? I usually end up with a headache, and the book generally finds itself donated to the Salvation Army.

In Lime Tree Can’t Bear Orange, Amanda Smyth showed me that simple can sometimes be better. As I have said, I love rich language, but there is a fine line between a verdant sentence and an overwritten one. Smyth walks this line and makes it look easy for the rest of us to follow.

In The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery reminded me of the importance of titles. This seems like such a simple lesson, but that is precisely why it is easy to forget. It doesn’t matter how great your book is if no one picks it up in the first place.

In A Pearl in the Storm, Tori Murden McClure taught me the importance of action. The action in her story was non-stop, and the book was hard to put down as a result.

And finally, in The Ghost of Milagro Creek, Melanie Sumner taught me that it’s okay for a writer to get outside of her comfort zone if the story she wishes to tell is out there beyond the boundaries, waiting.

Samara Blog 8: Where do I go from here?

I must say that almost all of the books we were asked to read for this class are most likely books I would have never picked up on my own. However, I am glad that I have had the opportunity to read all of them. It is important to read books out of your comfort zone and some of these were way out for me. I have learned a lot from all of the selections chosen, but four of the books had a significant inpact on me as a writer.

I not only enjoyed The White Tiger as a reader but also as a writer. I found that Adiga's style of writing suited the story he told exceptoionally well. I think that writing the truth can sometimes be a challenge and Adiga rose to that challenge. Even though his work is a piece of fiction it is clear that he has an agenda to tell about life in India from a persepective that is not often heard from.

The Prince of Tides will most likely be the biggest help to my writing. I struggle with setting in my works. I get so involved in the characters and the dialogue that I tend to forget about setting all together. Conroy's writing changed that for me. The minute I began to read this book my eyes grew wider and wider at all of his descriptions of setting and how he actually made the setting another character in the novel. I also feel this way about Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange. The descriptions of the people in this novel are wonderful. Each character is so clearly rendered that the reader would know this person if she met any of these characters in the street.

Olive Kitteridge is a novel that I will come back to often to look at usage of point of view. I am awed by Strout's use of point of view within her novel. Each chapter lends itself to a specific person's voice and Strout is able to execute this effectively. Point of view can make or break a piece of writing. Some stories are meant to be told from a distance and some are meant to be up close and personal.

Without a doubt I learned something from each and every book we read in this class. I also learned that it is okay to come out of your comfort zone as a reader because it just might make you a better writer.

Blog #8 Dina's Journey of Thought

Wow - what a semester! When I signed up for this class, I wasn't sure how an online format would work for a class about reading. With great relief, I quickly found out that with intelligent, dedicated classmates and a list of thought-provoking novels, it probably worked better than in a classroom. Since I was forced to write my responses after reading beautifully written prose and consider my classmates' points-of-view before responding to them, I began looking at reading and writing in a very different way. Here are just a few of the things I learned.

• With A Moveable Feast, I found out that the novels I feed on are more than likely not the result of a few months of easy, fluid writing. The best books I read were probably written in fits and starts, edited multiple times, hated at times by the writer, and took dedication and commitment to complete. Writing is not for the weak-hearted, and I have to be willing to work through my self-doubt and fear and "write the best story [I] can" (183).
• A Pearl in the Storm showed me how to weave the past and present together with beautiful descriptions thrown in to light the way. Her personal story also taught me that dreams can come true if you never give up.
• The Prince of Tides inspired me to do a better job of setting, characterization, and descriptive language. I mean, come on, "lost in the coilings and overlays of a memory tight-fisted with the limitlessly prodigal images of a Carolina sea island" (110). Can you get any more evocative than that? He just inspired me to be the best writer I can possibly be. He made me want to write a different book than the one I'd been working on because, after that, I wanted to tell a more intricate story.
• I continued to think I could do more, had to do more, when I read Olive Kitteridge. Her stories were simple but still showed the complexity of the human heart. But what I really loved was the unique format. It made me think about different ways to tell a story beyond the typical novel format. What could I do that was new and interesting?
• The White Tiger made me want to create a character with more dimensions. Although I can't say I liked Balram and would want to have tea with him, I was fascinated by him. He had highly moral ideas in some respects, yet he was willing to commit murder to be free. What situation or conflict would bring out a different side to a character - a side that even the character didn't know he/she had?
• Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange once again gave me picturesque language that painted a foreign land that didn't feel foreign because Smyth took me there with Celia.
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog showed me that beautiful writing isn't enough. Tell a story. Staying inside a character's head for several chapters and discussing one topic too long is death to the reader. No matter how good a writer you are, beautiful words are only words if they don't engage the reader and make the reader care.

I haven't done much personal writing this semester or applied these lessons to my current novel for several reasons: one reason was time, but I could've made the time if I'd really wanted to. The main reason was that these books, the writing, made me want to write a novel with more depth than the one I've been working on. I'm not sure exactly the story I want to tell, but I'm getting there. Then I just have to write it.