Hello friends,
You've probably noticed, but I haven't been around a lot. I've just been really busy. :D And the busy isn't ending - not yet at least - I'm just taking a few minutes to pause and update my life. ^_^
For starters, the person who wins a free copy of my e-book short story "Blue Moon" is....
GALADRIEL!!!!!
Congratulations. ^_^ To claim your copy, please email me at silverdreams3@gmail.com. :)
On another note, I'm preparing to host another giveaway... this time for Frank Peretti's new book "Illusion". I FINALLY received my ARC of the book about a week and a half ago... after it was already in stores. :p But that's ok. I'm slowly working through my copy of the book, and Simon & Schuster sent me an extra copy of the ARC as well... a book that has never, and will never see a bookstore shelf... a book that I should have been able to offer you long before the rest of the copies came out in stores, but oh well. :)
SO in the very near future, I'll be posting more info on how you can get your hands on it. ^_^
In the mean time, I've been spending WAY to much time doing things that are not related to writing novels. In fact, I've been writing music. ^_^ You see, I've been playing around with the demo version of a program called FL Studios, and having an absolute BLAST with it. I've put together three pieces of music since downloading the demo program three days ago. lol!
The first piece... needs some work. :P :P I'll go back and edit it later. Now that I'm getting the hang of the program, I know I can do much better than that. (even though I still like the original music. lol!)
The Second and third pieces are much better, and the third is my FAVORITE. ^_^ It's called "Beautiful Storm" and was inspired by... you guessed it... a very beautiful storm that blew over my house the other night. I just LOVE listening to the rain on my roof at night! And I think that this composition portrays the wonder of it fairly well... or at least I hope it does.
Enjoy! And let me know what you think of the music.
Nichole
9 comments:
The first piece sounds like one of my songs! lol Don't worry it's a bit different but when I first began listening I was a little afraid it would be completely like one of my songs that I've written(on the piano).
The second one sounds kind of like a hymn. I love the last one!
W4C: I originally wrote the first piece on the piano. ^_^ Still called "The Music Box Lullaby" because it makes me think of this old music box I used to have to open and listen to to go to sleep when I was little. When I decided to take what I had written on the piano, and put it in to FL Studios, I decided to change around some instruments and play with different harmonies. I really should go back in now, and work on dynamics and some of the timing. lol! I'm glad it's not just like your piece though... that would be unfortunate. But you know what they say -- great minds think alike!!! (not that I think I'm great or anything... haha!)
The second piece was originally not supposed to sound like a hymn, but it's funny that you should say that, because when I finished it I let my mom listen to it and we both came to the same conclusion -- it's sounds like it's based off of "Be Thou My Vision". lol! Totally unintentional, but that hymn IS one of my favorites... :D
And I'm so glad you love the last one too. ^_^ That makes me so happy! I finally figured out how to use the programs dynamics in that one, and some of the different channels and sound effects, like the rain-sticks, wind-chimes... and the thunder! I was very happy when I figured out the thunder. lol!
Haha
Yeah I really liked the thunder and almost thought the song was too short. I wanted it to be longer lol.
*goes to pick it out on her own piano*
I think the Celtic song sounded like a hymn because it sounded kind of like an organ. But yeah it does kinda sound like Be thou my vision!
Wow, this was a treat! I agree with you--the last one is my favorite. I liked the thunder too! I find that getting good bass tones can be the difference between an okay composition and a "wow!" composition. Do you have a midi controller that you use to input? I'm considering buying one. I've worked for years with Finale (in which I wrote most of my music), but now I have GarageBand.
By the way, this is exciting for me, because I didn't know that there were any other serious writers who were also composers! I think I should meet you in real life; I'm pretty sure we have a lot in common.
Yaasha: I don't have a midi controller, no. :D Quite honestly, I have no other equipment than my computer itself and this demo program... and the pianos in the practice rooms at school, of course, but that's it. I have my guitar, but it doesn't really work for something like this. lol!
It's so cool that you are a composer too! :) It's truly amazing how many multi-talented writers there are out there in the world. For instance, I used to think that even though I (think) I'm fairly good in art, music, and writing, I would only be able to do one thing because no one had ever done all three before and it would be too much... THEN I discovered Andrew Peterson. ^_^ <3 <3 <3
He's not only a well known songwriter/composer/singer, but he's also an amazing writer with three Christian fantasy books out on the market (and selling well, I might add), AND he did all of the illustrations in his books. I can't tell you how excited I was to learn all that!!!! And I always LOVE meeting others with multiple talents. :D
It would be so cool to meet you in real life sometime. Perhaps someday it will be a possibility... who knows? :D :D :D
I'm going to have to experiment with that program this summer. I especially liked the third song.
I liked the songs. :) Not only did the melodies play well, but whole presentation was polished.
As a teenager, I made a bunch of midi organ pieces, because I like Bach, but I never posted them online. Never happy enough with them, I guess. :/
I still play the organ, though, and I do want to do a collection of songs -sometime-, but right now I really want to get books done. :)
How did you get Simon & Schuster to send you an ARC?
Galadriel, you really should. :) It's a pretty cool program... but just a heads up, if you use the demo program you will have to save your project as a midi file and re-upload it to work on it after you close out the program. Saving as a midi can be annoying though, because everything defaults to a piano sound and in order to work on the piece, you have to place the sounds in the right places all over again... once your pieces is done, though, save it as an MP3. :) Or... you could just buy the full version of the product... I think the basic version is like $99... which is why I'm playing with the demo. lol!
Philip, I'm glad you liked it. :) And you should try again! But I understand wanting to get books done... I have so much going on in my life, sometimes I wonder how on earth I'm going to find time to finish my writing.
Anon: Honestly, I don't know what happened. ^_^ Frank Peretti's publisist got a hold of me and asked if I would like an ARC copy of the book, and of course I said YES! Then they sent me another copy for a giveaway. I suppose it has something to do with my interests and online presence, but I mean, wow! I never saw that one coming! What a wonderful surprise. :)
Post a Comment