“The last thing that anyone forgets, even if they have Alzheimer’s, is the music they loved when they were 12 to 14 years old.”
–Meredith Born
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"Laura's writing prompts are juicy and creative and through them, I am remembering my own life story."
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"Laura has helped me breathe life into words that had waited so long to hear their voices spoken aloud. Her prompts were the nourishment I needed to begin my long journey as a writer. I am so grateful to Laura for the gift she is."
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"Writing with Laura is a dream come true...she's funny, smart, insightful, and willing to risk putting her own life experience down on the page. Writing practice has proven to be a form of meditation in action for me: it has revealed dark corners of my mind that were begging for illumination, and healed broken pieces of my heart. I have cried, laughed, marveled at the insights a simple thing like writing practice has given me. I have used it in the groups I run with first-time older mothers, and even the women who say they have no skill writing are led into deep and wonderful places inside themselves. This is an experience not to be missed."
--Nancy London MSW, author, "Hot Flashes, Warm Bottles: First-Time Mothers Over Forty" -
"Laura Davis's Writer's Journey is about possibilities. Not about being published or receiving accolades, but the possibility of discovery: discovery of my creativity, my joys and sorrows, the discovery of me. Laura supports that journey through a wide range of prompts that are ever changing, always interesting, and many times seems tailored to my personal experience. With each of her prompts, I frequently find myself saying, "How did she know?"
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"With Laura's guidance, I have been able to discover and develop the writer inside of me who had been waiting in darkness my whole life for the support and safety to emerge."
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"Laura's writing retreat was a rare and beautiful gift. It was a real treat to be with an eclectic, quiet, exuberant, creative group of people gathered to write our hearts out. Laura created a safe, accepting space for us to let go and pour ourselves onto the page. There were no red letter Fs for us-just lots of great food, a beautiful setting and a wealth of wild writing."
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--Marcia Heinegg, author of California to New Zealand THE LONG WAY -
"I signed up for the retreat, unsure what to expect. I went with trepidation: 'Would I be good enough?' 'Would it get too personal?' 'Was it worth the money?' I came home extremely glad I had gone. It wasn't about being good enough; it was about being encouraged to find my voice. I rediscovered how much I love to write and was relieved to meet other people like me, who need to write as much as they need to breathe."
--Stephanie Huff, Director of Marketing for firstRain, a software company -
"I would encourage anyone who has even a passing interest in developing themselves as a writer, or who feels "stuck" personally and is looking for some tools to push them to a new level to develop a writing practice using Laura’s prompts. I guarantee you will be changed by this experience!
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"Laura Davis is an exceptionally warm, motivating teacher. I never considered myself a writer until I took her workshop. Her caring attitude, personal concern for my well-being and progress, as well as her years of experience, inspired me to become a writer. I am writing almost every day now and will publish my first piece in October."
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"I am so grateful to have you as my writing teacher. Without your keen instruction and astute instincts, writing would still be a vague yearning inside of me. Perhaps the most effective technique in your teaching bag of tricks is not a tool at all, but your steadfast willingness to fearlessly, beautifully put yourself on paper. The perfect original lesson of demonstration still tops them all."
--Nancy Miner -
"When I first met Laura Davis, I was still a fledgling writer. I knew how to tell a story, but I had a difficult time connecting with my work emotionally. After a week of writing practice with Laura and Natalie Goldberg, my work deepened far beyond anything I ever expected. Since that time, I've continued to work with Laura. Her teaching style is open and inspirational. She's been instrumental in helping me bring my characters to life. I highly recommend her to anyone looking to improve their writing and deepen their emotional connection with their work."
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"What is most compelling to me about Laura's work is the wonderful balance she conveys, both in person and in her writing, between being both a teacher and an ongoing, active learner. She is completely credible as she shares both her own and others' stories for the benefit of mutual learning. This is a relief from the more "expert" point of view, which has a way of making me feel small and disengaged."
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My list:
The Grey Goose
The Titanic
If I Had a Hammer
This Land is Your Land
Inna Gadda Davida
Oh the Deacon Went Down in the Cellar to Pray
When You’re Down and Troubled
Laura
Tea for the Tillerman
Clementine
I Want to Hold Your Hand
I Can’t Get No Satisfaction
Why Don’t We Do It In the Road?
Old Hiram’s Goat
I Want to Eat 8 Apples and Bananas
Make New Friends (but keep the old)
You’ve Got a Friend
Under the Boardwalk
Michele, Ma belle
We are Family
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
My Girl
Tapestry
Wheels on the Bus
Hey, hey we’re the monkeys
Say a Little Prayer for Me
Our House
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Yellow Submarine
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
You Really Got Me
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Songs in the Key of Life
Summertime
The Circle Game
Lady Madonna
Janis Joplin
Jimi Hendrix
Peter and the Wolf
Tommy by the Who
Liverpool Lullaby
I Gotta Crow
White Rabbit
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
The Jets Song from West Side Story
Hello Deli (mad magazine parady)
Song of the Soul by Chris Williamson
The Flintstones theme song…”flintstone, meet the flintstones…”
Helplessly Hoping
Paint it Black
The Hora
Arti (from the ashram)
Dona, Dona
Imagine My Surprise by Holly Near
House of the Rising Sun
Sexual Healing and Let’s Get It On by Marvin Gaye
Kumbaya
Tracy Chapman
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Stop In the Name of Love
Sunrise, Sunset
Yesterday
The White Album
Holly Near
Ferron
Indigo Girls
We are Family
Alice’s Restaurant
Thriller
Music is a safety net – a hold-on-and-sustain-you constant in my life. I’ve read thousands of books and can name my two favorites as well as my favorite human author. Music is not as easy.
From lullabies to hymns, classical to pop, alternative to rock, heavy metal, blues, jazz, opera, symphony, country, folk, birdsong and wind melodies; I wake up every morning with something playing on the stereo in my head. I hear music in color. I read music in color.
Making a list would be impossible if it could not somehow be narrowed down and the only criteria I’ve come up with is “Do I Love Every Song on this Album?”.
There are many exceptions (songs only) – here are a few of those:
“Brown-eyed Girl” – for Annika from the moment she was born.
Tchaikovsky’s “the Seasons” – which my piano teacher said was too difficult for me but I mastered and memorized it (yes, the whole thing!) and which in second grade was the downfall of my concert pianist aspirations.
“Southern Cross” – before Karaoke. My sister and I in front of the mirror with hairbrush microphones.
“King of the Road” – my brother (4 years old at the time) spontaneously sang it during Sunday School (‘Ain’t got no cigarettes’).
“Washed by the Water” (NeedToBreathe) – my anthem for the past 2 years.
“The River” (Joni Mitchell) – my dirge for the past 2 years.
My list of I-Love-Every-Song Albums (nothing in chronological order):
1. Every country song/album/artist from the 50′s through the 70′s. I hated country music growing up but I know every verse of all these songs. I surprise myself. The first time I thought my mother was cool was when I came home to hear the stereo playing “Hey Jude”. The only pop she ever bought was that 45.
2. Led Zeppelin “Physical Graffiti”
3. Joni Mitchell “The Hissing of Summer Lawns”
4. Elton John “Blue Moves”
5. 10CC “Bloody Tourists”
6. Every hymn ever written.
7. Jackson Browne (all)
8. Neil Young (all)
9. J.S. Bach (all, especially cantatas)
10. Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Works Vol I and II)
11. James Taylor (all)
12. Bonnie Raitt “Luck of the Draw”
13. Beethoven (all)
14. Simon & Garfunkel (all)
15. Queen (most)
16. Kansas (most)
17. Sarah McLaughlin (all)
18. Counting Crows (all)
19. David Gray “White Ladder”
20. Liberated Wailing Wall (all)
21. Pavarotti (all)
22. Jack Johnson “Brushfire Fairytales”
23. Coldplay “A Rush of Blood to the Head” (easiest/hardest piano songs I’ve ever played)
24. Daniel Ash “Love and Rockets”
25. Staind (all)
26. Pink Floyd (all but especially “the Final Cut”)
27. Steely Dan (all)
Ok, ten minutes was up 5 minutes ago. I have no discipline when it comes to music. And all of these have stories.
1. Disco music at 2 am in the tropics (70-80′s) music, ages 10-15
2. Mornining Praise Music from Campus Students for devotions
a) Today is the day that the lord has made
b) jesus is Alive
c) etc
3). Lady of Shallot – Lorenna Mckeenit (college)
4). Country love songs/life songs (high school)
5). Adult (Variety- hip-hop (fun), Celtic- Oprah (romantic), Rock Music (angry)
6) Apologize by One Republic (brings up up so many different emotions)
- 2007-current.
Thanks, Elizabeth for coming by to post. Stop back anytime! Laura
Epiphany
Twelve years old, WNDR on A.M. radio. Every week Casey Casem’s Top 40. Keeping lists of the songs. Spending 50 cents on a 45 at Dots Drugstore. One afternoon in winter I’m standing in my bedroom and Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” comes on. Thin light filters through the high narrow windows of the small ranch house on Bear Road. It feels like the world stands still. Suddenly, when I hear this music, the voice of Carly Simon, I feel pure happiness. Everything’s in it’s place. I will go on now to find a beautiful life. I’ll travel and be a writer. I’ll follow my imagination. I am perfect just the way I am. “You walked into the party, like you were walkin’ onto a yacht” I am blameless and content in my room with the bunk beds I share with my sister. My small GE transistor radio because everything is from GE where both my parents will work forty years in the plant down the road. Right now I am solo. Not a sister, daughter, friend. It’s just me alone in a resonant universe with some kind of pop music that feels like pure heaven. This is before I turn thirteen and the hell of middle school when my mother won’t let me shave my legs and I am the only girl in school who has to wear peds not panty hose. This was before the betrayals and confusion. Before the day I lose Tracy Wood and Wilma Green calls me queer. Neither one of them will ever speak to me again in this lifetime. I remember that moment at twelve and the sound of “You’re So Vain” as a highlight in the happiest moments of my life. It’s what got me through being a teenager still believing in myself. Unique, hopeful, worthy.
Joanne, I sure remember, “You’re So Vain.” Thanks for reminding me….your piece was vivid and evocative. I was there with you and that little transistor radio.
Looking Glass – Brandi
Harry Chapin – Taxi
The Carpenters – Rainy Days and Mondays
Carol King – Tapestry, Nightingale
Carly Simon- Thats the way it should be
Janis Ian – Seventeen
Niel Sadaka – Laughter in the Rain
John Denver – Annies Song
Neil Young – Old Man
Jim Croce – Time In A Bottle
Bread – Diary , Aubrey
Sitting in my room transistor radio to my ear, these were moments of pure joy, free from that awkward sensation that came at the hands of perversion. I no longer fit in with those of my age and still not a women ,though I was now painfully aware of their secrets. Isolated and alone, lost in the distraction of confused feelings and profound sadness,aching to be heard and rescued ,I found my only solace in music. I felt that in this one place I was understood , the words of each song expressing all those secret feelings I held so deeply. Even now music is one of the few things that seems to alleviate my depression, when I can’t focus, the words seem to be able to hold my attention and I am again able to escape if only for a short time.
Vickie, I’m glad you had music as a solace and a comfort–and a source of hope.
After reading the lists posted, I wanted to add more songs to my list. These are not necessarily in order. I “held” this promp in my heart for several weeks before writing it down…so many memories and deep feeling surfaced.
Sister Golden Hair
Red Red Robin
Love Child
I’m Your Captain
Close to You
Jesus is Just Alright With Me
Maggie May
Black Coffee
Billion Dollar Babies (All of Alice Cooper)
Stairway to Heaven
29 or 6 to 4
What Goes Up (Blood,Sweat, Tears)
Joy to the World
Abraham, Martin & John
So Far Away
The Elephant Walk
Tammy
Theme From a Summer Place
Long Haired Lady
Ram
We Are Family
Hey Jude(in a convertible with my dad and brothers/sisters going through downtown Houston…one of my most exciting memories w/dad before he died)
I’m Not in Love
I’m Gonna Love You (at age 12-13 when I was in a foster home…Jim Morrison’s voice soothed my 13 year old aching heart)
Magic Carpet Ride
Take it to the Limit
Heart of the Matter (about forgiveness…had the single cassette in my Chevy)
The Greatest Love of All
I’m a Believer
I’m Not Your Steppingstone
Goin Down to that St. James Infirmary (my dad’s name was James)
Steely Dan (any and all…first and only year in college)
Boz Scaggs…Lido
Dwight Yoakum (most of them)
Delta Lady
Up on a Tightrope
Peter Frampton (entire 1976 album)
Don’t Stop til You Get Enough
Take Another Picture-Carly Simon (therapeutic song that taught me if I didn’t like my mind’s picture to take another picture)…change my thought, change my vision
this song by Smashing Pumpkins has been recycling in my head for days…”1979″….maybe bacause I am in a lull…an in- between point in my life…it is a beautiful, rhythmic melody to the backdrop of my current life.
Julia, thanks for adding your songs to our ongoing list. I’m glad the prompt worked for you. Music is so incredibly evocative. I hear one or two notes of a song and there it is–blasting through my head for the rest of the day–like it or not (usually I like it!) Welcome to the Writer’s Journey–and the Roadmap blog.
Forever Young.
For-eh-eh-verrrr eeyooouuunnggg!!
And I was–and wasn’t. I was perhaps 14, perhaps 10, perhaps even 18–not sure. I was innocent though and couldn’t have dreamed a better life for myself. I walked in fields of gray and darkness, corn and wheat, firecrackers and musicals. I listened to my headset with my tapes–all the cheesy 70s anthems, and states (Boston, Kansas, the Eurythmics) listened to bad music and sang along w/it. Had a blast though–at least on the outside.
How do I break down these walls? Get a firecracker and explode it open. Get a windpipe and caress it open. Get a banjo and sing it open. Get a guitar and pick it open. Get anything. Just open–puhleeease (jeez)
Open sesame–here we go–and it all pours out–bad 80s music, horrible 70s twang, cool 60s vibe, useless 50s garb. ahhh decades–now that’s the stuff life is made of–decades.
What else? Useless ranting–there it is. fell right out a me
careless fighting horrible yelling tall tale telling
more? cracker windpipes useless swipes air guitar manny wipes
lester holt canonbear folk crazy hoch
lemon drops airy walks candy stops
crazy dream we are
crazy dream we be
crazy is the word
useless is the verb
hotcracker pitchforks
aimless workes
nasty horkes
lemon drops
aim your gun at me
that is the only salvation..
shoot your weapons as they cast their badge
that is the only reason “why”
nasty airy gundy fucked up reasons to live
dish them all in favor of for-ehhh-verrr eyoooouuuuung.