Monday, Monday...

I'm about to do some major promotion here, people.  And no, I'm not getting paid a dime for either of the things I'm about to promote.

First off, as a writer in an age where we're constantly "plugged in" - even as I write this, I've got Facebook and Twitter open - it can be difficult to concentrate.  And when it's tough to concentrate, the writing suffers.  Well, this weekend, I discovered a fantastic solution.  Ommwriter.  This thing is brilliant.  When you check out the site, you absolutely must watch the video.  It gives you a beautiful example of exactly what you're getting from the program.  There are two versions - Dana I and Dana II.  The first is free, and gives you three sounds and backgrounds to choose from.  The second expands upon that.

Right now, I have the former (though as soon as possible, I'm getting the latter) and I have to say that I'm in love.  Basically this program is what would come out of a frazzled writer who got into a fight with their word processor and threw it in a blender with a nightlight and an ambient sound machine.  I know that combo sounds strange, but that's really the best way I can explain it.  It's...well, it's beautiful.  Right now, I have it on a sort of dark grey background and playing music that reminds me strongly of the second thing I'm going to praise here.  But seriously - if you're a writer and you find that writing is a struggle with the day-to-day craziness, whether it's at home, school, work or the internet - Ommwriter sort of gently nudges you to write.  It's a full-screen program, which means that, if you're like me and you forget that there are other things on your laptop besides the internet, you can write, all the while ignoring the soap opera drama that somehow manages to explode all over Facebook.  And, by using headphones, you can ignore what's going on around you - like a Yorkie barking at the cows from the farm next door.  I'm using it to work on my Camp NaNoWriMo project - a collection of high school romance shorts, and so far, I'm impressed.  My word count for today was triple (YES!  TRIPLE!) what my word count was this time last year.

Now, for the second.  It's Monday and it's probably just a coincidence that "music" also starts with M.  So it's equally a coincidence that "New Music Monday" sounds like a great blog topic!  But this is exactly where I'm going with my second find.

The band's not new, but until about a year or so ago, I'd never heard of Poets of the Fall.  Then I stumbled across a crossover fandom video that used the song "Carnival of Rust."  And although I loved the fandom video (honestly, who DOESN'T love Dean Winchester?!), I was fascinated by the song - both the melody and the lyrics themselves.  So I started looking into the band.  And listening to more of their music.  If you're a fan of the video game Alan Wake, you might recognize their music as the Old Gods of Asgard.  So many of their songs have incredibly deep lyrics and if you're a writer looking for music for a particularly haunting sound for your soundtrack (if you have one - so many do, but I know a few writers who can't write with music), this is definitely a band to check out.

Some personal favorites:
Carnival of Rust | War | Sleep | Someone Special | Roses

Let me hear it:  What bands do you like that maybe aren't new, but they're new to you?