Writing Using Word Association Lists

Have you ever had a great idea you wanted to put on paper but just couldn't get started? I'm raising both my hands. As a writer you want the best lead-in you can get. Unfortunately coming up with it isn't always easy. One of the tools I've found that helps me is a word association list.


I'm currently working with just one list. I sat down one night and created a list of words that could be associated with each season. So for spring I have words like warmth, breeze, renewal, rain and training. A few weeks ago when I was trying to write a devotion based on a verse about training your children, the spring portion of the list came in handy. As I scanned the list, I saw the entry "training (spring)". I immediately thought about baseball. That launched me on a parallel of how spring training relates to parenting. The devotion basically formed itself from that one word association.


Another devotion about transformation was written from the fall list. The word of choice was pumpkins. I'll share the beginning here so that you can see how thinking about pumpkins gave me the beginning I needed.

                     " Pumpkins know the power of transformation. They can remain a simple pumpkin or become part of a table centerpiece. Some become pie, soup or seeds. Many become jack-o'-lanterns. Whatever their final destination, they all go through a transformation that's not of their choosing. I guess we can say that we are like pumpkins. Just as pumpkins can be transformed, we too have a similar opportunity. The big difference is we get to choose!"

Before looking at my word association list, I struggled for an hour trying to come up with a good first paragraph. Nothing seemed to work. But pumpkins, yes that was just the right hook for this piece. 

I'm currently putting together a new word association list based on geographic locations like the mountains or the beach. It's a good idea to keep things fresh and a new list will help me do just that. What about you? What word association lists could you come up with? What other techniques do you use to help jump-start your beginnings?

Marietta Taylor is an author and speaker. She is the author ofSurviving Unemployment:Devotions to Go. Marietta is a monthly blogger at the Go ask Mom Blog at www.wral.com. Her tagline is Mom of Teens. She was also a contributing author to Penned From The Heart Vol XV. Marietta has a bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Illinois-Chicago. Visit Marietta at www.mariettataylor.net or www.marismorningroom.blogspot.com or email her at maritaylor@mariettataylor.net.

ROYALTY FREE MUSIC PART II

Where can you find royalty free music at no charge? There are actually quite a few musicians that offer their music under the Creative Commons License, it is sometimes just hard to find them through all the sites that ask a lot of money to use one song.

Recommendations

Some artists allow you to use their music in commercial productions whereas others only allow you to use their music in personal productions. So look at the license agreement carefully. Most music is licensed under Attribution, so in your production you should credit the author of the music. If it is a slideshow or a video presentation then you should include a credit to the artist such as:
Music By Artist Name

To play it safe, contact the artist and let them know how you are using their music. It is great that they allow you to use their music at no cost to you.

I suggest making a donation to the artist. Based on other's recommended donation amounts, I suggest that you send the artist at least $5 for each song that you use.

ROYALTY FREE MUSIC LINKS

http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/

At this website Kevin MacLeod offers his royalty free music creations under the Creative Commons License. There are many different types of instrumental music at this site.

http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/free-music.html

pacdv offers a few instrumentals for you to use royalty free. They just ask that you mention "Music by www.pacdv.com/sounds/" in your credits.

http://www.musopen.com/

Musopen is an online music library of copyright free (public domain) music. At Musopen they obtain recordings of public domain music that have no copyrights so that visitors may listen, re-use, or in any way enjoy music. Most of the music is of classical piano or symphony pieces.

http://www.taylorhayward.org/freemusic.htm

Taylor Hayward offers a few piano songs that are copyright free so you are free to use them in any way, commercial or non-commercial.

http://sonnyboo.com/music/music.htm

Offers a few songs that you can use in your productions as long as you credit the songwriter - Peter John Ross.

http://www.soundclick.com/business/license_list.cfm

I recommend that you sign up with a free account at www.soundclick.com to take full advantage of its many differnent music artsists and genres. To find royalty free music at no charge under the Creative Commons License click on the soundclick link above and then change License Type to Creative Commons (Free), select the Genre and click go.


This site includes many different genre's of music by many different artists under the Creative Commons License. The difficult part at this site is just downloading one song. When you go to an artist's page and click on an album it wants you to download the whole album. But if you are listening to the album with the jamplayerwebthere is an option at the bottom to Export this playlist: M3U. If you pause the music and click on M3U then the songs should open up in your Media Player and you can click the next and previous buttons in your Media Player and also click on File -> Save As... to save the song youhttp://derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/music.php

Derek Audette offers his royalty free music under the Creative Commons License. Most of these are instrumental pieces that are either dark, moody, or hard driving.

http://www.jame

5-18-11 - Note: Seems to no longer work under creative commons, but asks you to pay for licGeeksAreSexy.net exclusive created music with Apple Garage Band and Sony Acid that you can use. Download them here.

http://www.publicdomain4u.com/

This site contains recordings of songs that were published prior to 1922 and are now in the public domain which means the public is free to copy and use the works in any way.

http://opsound.org/

This website offers a collection of music from a variety of artists and genres under the Creative Commons License. In the left hand menu click on artists or genres.

http://www.openmusicarchive.org/

Open Music Archive offers recordings of songs that are over 50 years old so their copyright has expired in the UK so the recordings have become Public Domain. However, if you are from another country other than the UK then the recordings may not be Public Domain yet. See the FAQ for more information.

http://www.archive.org/details/audio

Dan-O at Danosongs.com has also released a number of songs, which are free for commercial or non-commercial projects with attribution. There is a pay-what-you-feel-is-fair donate button, however.

FREE MUSIC CLIPS

http://www.internetaudioguy.com/iag/freemusic/freemusic.htm

InernetAudioGuy.com usually sells royalty free audio tracks for a price but they also offer a few instrumental 30 second samples that you can use for free for anything you want.

Kathy Stemke
Award Winning Author/Educator/Freelance Writer

Trouble on Earth Day earned the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval

            Sh Sh Sh Let the Baby Sleep won the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval

         
    Sign up for FREE monthly newsletter, Movement and Rhythm:  http://educationtipster.blogspot.com/

Royalty Free Music!

Music can spice up your website or serve as background on your book trailer. But you must respect the rights of the artist. There are lots of musical pieces in the public domain that can be used. many artists are willing to give you permission to use their work if you ask them.

If you do a search on "Royalty Free Music" or "Public Domain Music", the search results will give you several sites to explore. Some of the music will be royalty free but there may be a small cost associated with obtaining the music track. In other cases, musical artists may be willing to allow use of their music for free on your website as long as they are credited as the artist. Many of the sites provide the code (.HTML) to install on your website.

Here are some examples a friend of mine used foraccoustic guitar instrumental music. He found a fellow whose music was just what he had in mind. So, he messaged him directly and asked if he could use his music on his website and he granted him permission. He copied the .HTML code from the music site and installed a different selection (along with the widget/logo from the artist's site) on several pages of his website.

http://www.soundclick.com/kurtlewisneufer

Kathy Stemke
Award Winning Author/Educator/Freelance Writer

Trouble on Earth Day earned the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval

Sh Sh Sh Let the Baby Sleep won the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval

Sign up for FREE monthly newsletter, Movement and Rhythm: http://educationtipster.blogspot.com/