May 11, 2012 by A Fettered Mind

A to Z Challenge – a retrospective

I have had my blog for over three years and have posted iregularly whenever I was inspired by something I’ve read, seen, heard, or thought but taking on the A to Z April Challenge meant writing 26 posts in one month.

The concensous is that writers write everyday and don’t wait for inspiration

When I decide to try something I do it wholeheartedly and for me and the A to Z April Challenge that meant that I approached each post as stream of consciousness, with little or no preparation apart from a list of A-to-Z with potential topics. I know that some people have prepared their posts in the weeks before April and although I admit that I may have finished on time if I had taken this approach I am unsure if I agree with it.

I tried to write each post in one session, dropping my thoughts almost unedited from my heart/mind and on to the page/screen.

This doesn’t mean that I was flippant in my writing but it did teach me to edit once and then let it go. I did fix typos in the minutes and hours after each post.

The Stats for April:

Followers: increased from 11 to 219
Views for April: 11,589
Comments: 260
Most popular post: What is the Beginners’s Mind?
- 4,379 views
- 241 likes
- 116 comments

WordPress – Freshly Pressed

Although I’m tempted to claim the highlight of the month was having my “B” post promoted on the WordPress Freshly Pressed page but it has actually been the amazing blogs that I’ve discovered and the wonderful and inspring comments I’ve received, especially when posts have been re-blogged.

Thanks to everyone at A to Z Challenge, to all my followers, and the the blogs I now follow and am regularly inspried by.

The Posts:

A – A is for “A Fettered Mind”
B – What is the Beginner’s Mind?
C – The Cunningham Classic – one of Australia’s Spring Cycling Classics
D – Who was the 15th Dalai Lama?
E – Is Ego the mind killer?
F – The Bureau of the Five-Grain Transmigration – from A Journey to the West
G – The strategic game of Go
H – Humanity, how do we ensure the survival of our species?
I – What is Immovable Wisdom?
J – Does Rabinovich live here?
K – How I kicked asthma by simply breathing
L – Learning…the teacher must learn the most
M – The Mars Series by Kim Stanley Robinson
N – No-Form, No thought, No Mind
O – What is the One Point, hara, or lower dantien?
P – Paul Dempsey doesn’t write love songs
Q – 1Q84 – Murakami’s cult masterpiece
R – Ray Kurzweil…and the singularity
S – Carl Sagan, and the Baloney Detection Kit
T – Looking through the wrong end of a Telescope and other Analogies for Time
U – The Universe…the tyranny of distance and time
V – Releasing your and your character’s VOICE
W – Why do we write?
X – Where does Nationalism end and Xenophobia begin?
Y – A message to me to yourself…
Z – Who is the real Zo Boone? A new Koan is born

Thanks again…

April 20, 2012 by A Fettered Mind

Paul Dempsey doesn’t write love songs

Paul Dempsey is the front man and singer/songwriter for the Australian rock group Something for Kate (SFK).

His most recent release is the solo album “Everything is true“, on which he played every instrument and provided all the vocals.

“Dempsey is a gifted observer of the human condition…a truly beautiful collection.” – The Daly Telegraph

Dempsey’s songwriting is superb and unique, it stands apart in an industry full of three-minute lust songs.

“The tally for genius lyrics per second is positively baffling…eleven excellent reasons to acquaint yourself with one of Australia’s finest songwriters.” – Beat said of his latest solo effort

Dempsey is a veracious reader too and the breadth of his literary consumption appears to feed his songwriting; everything from literary classics, 1960’s Sci-Fi from Philip K Dick, to A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin, and The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene.

“For me…a half a dozen words, the rights words, arranged a certain way…when you get one line that manages to posses some sort of insight into an aspect of your life is so satifying.” PD on Face The Music Songwriting Segment with Paul Dempsey presented by The Push

When asked once about the breadth of subjects in his songs he said that he actively avoids writing love songs, that the genre has been done to death so why put just another love song out there. There are so many more interesting things to write about.

once in a lifetime she says

the waking life stitched together in your head

well, what if it’s only worth

the bundle of nerves it’s written on?

–

and i don’t need these arms anymore

i don’t need this heart now, to love

i don’t need this skin and bones at all

– Ramona was a waitress

Dempsey is currently in the studio recording Something For Kate’s next album, expected to be released later this year.

Paul Dempsey, Stephanie Ashworth, and Clint Hyndman – Something For Kate

“P” is for Paul Dempsey

December 9, 2011 by A Fettered Mind

Voice in song lyrics

Augie March’s song Farmer’s Son came up on shuffle on my iPhone today and was reminded how cleverly they infuse their lyrics with voice. Even some of the words they use, there are so few used in a song they all have to be good, e.g. Shirk. It is one of the singles taken from their Watch me disappear album.

I’ve always enjoyed music from artists who tell stories in their songs; Billy Bragg, Paul Dempsey, Paul Kelly, Tim Friedman, Bjork, Kate Miller-Heidke, The Killers, Lisa Mitchell, Peter Gabriel… where do I stop!