Band Themed Project Week 3

 The latter part of this week has been difficult emotionally, as it was the 18th anniversary of my late husband's death on Friday and would have been his 53rd birthday yesterday. It's funny how some years it's more difficult to cope with these anniversaries than others.

I've found it more difficult to be inspired this week, too. It's interesting that the more obscure bands people have nominated are easier to write about. The more well known bands are harder, as are those bands that I've been a fan of for years (e.g. Ozric Tentacles).

Monday's band was Roxy Music, nominated by Janet O'Kane, whom I met at last year's Harrogate Crime Writers' Festival. I wrote a sad story of just over 1,000 words, called Angel Eyes and based on Bryan Ferry's parents. I managed to reference a few of Roxy's song lyrics, too, but the story focuses on a middle-aged couple who rekindle their relationship after their adult children have left home.

Tuesday's band was The Moody Blues. I chose to write about a mother whose child has been abducted. It's called Go Now. I still haven't finished it. The story currently stands at about 850 words. I got carried away with the story and have hardly referenced the band or their song lyrics at all. That's probably why I got stuck! Janice Rosser nominated this band.

I could have throttled my old friend from teenage years, Louise Tadiar, when she nominated Public Enemy! I can't stand hip-hop and rap music. I made a whole page of notes, including lyrics and song titles and came up with a piece of Flash Fiction of about 450 words. The story was more fun to write than I'd expected. I'm not sure what Louise thought of it (not much, I suspect), as she still hasn't got back to me.

The Who story was great fun to write, too. Again, I wrote a shorter piece of 862 words and managed to finish it in one hit during a half an hour session with my writing buddy. Celia Joy Anderson nominated this band and she said the end result made her laugh and suggested I send it to Roger Daltrey. I'd referenced a lot of Who lyrics in this one and set the story in the early 60s when the Mods and Rockers clashed on Brighton beach.

And then it was Friday and Ozric Tentacles, nominated by Dr Suzanne Conboy-Hill. Ozrics are one of my favourite bands and there's a lot of emotional baggage attached to them in that I was first introduced to their music by my late husband, Phill and it was the 18th anniversary of his untimely death on Friday. Marry those two facts together and you can imagine the emotional fall-out. As an extra twist, my husband, Nige first introduced the band to Phill and has always been a huge Ozrics fan. We even got to meet them once, backstage at Rock City, Nottingham. I started a story, which was semi-autobiographical and it became so painful to write, that after 724 words, I had to stop. I can't even 'go there' even after all this time.

So, it was with some relief that I wrote about Siouxsie and The Banshees for the Write Invite Competition yesterday. It was a mad, bonkers story, probably reflecting my mad, bonkers mood. I felt so negative yesterday that I convinced myself that I was the worst writer in the world and why on earth was I continuing with this stupid band project anyway? Celia Brayfield, one of my all-time writing heroines, nominated this band and I've no idea what she's going to think when she reads it!! 

Thankfully, I felt so much better today and more positive. I had fun researching and writing The Sensational Alex Harvey Band story for Phill's cousin, Paul Good. I wrote a crazy dream-sequence Flash Fiction piece in just twenty minutes using all the prompts and notes I'd made. I hope Paul likes it!

And to finish off... some good news! The story I wrote based on Gay Bykers On Acid came 3rd in last week's Write Invite. I didn't won any money, but gained a few more points on the league table. This is the first of my band stories to enjoy success. Let's hope there'll be a few more.

Oh, and I still haven't finished my Thin Lizzy story nor the one based on Big Country, which looks like the beginning of a novel! I really need to address those two bands this week. Wish me luck!