I was listening to the Mark and Brian radio show and they were talking about how embarrassing it is to be caught listening to a cheesy love song. It made me think that while these songs are ridiculed by most, we still listen to them and enjoy them. Why? Is it because they make you feel good or maybe invoke some cherished memory?
I even have my favorite cheesy love songs that when they come on the radio in the car, I shut my windows and hope no one can hear them. When I hear one of these songs, I admit to even trying to sing along. It's like a button gets turned on inside of me and I forget to act cool.
Now there are some people who just love this type of music, but I grew up a head banger (for those who aren't familiar, a head banger listens to hard rock/metal & instead of dancing, nods their head along to the beat). My favorite bands are Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and more recently—Flyleaf, Nightwish & Evanescence. I do listen to softer bands like Blackmore's Night, but I am not a fan of Celine Dion, Queen of cheesy love songs, or anyone like that. So while I dislike this type of music, which I think also belongs in the category of elevator music, I cannot turn the station when one of these songs plays.
I looked over the song list for our wedding and strangely none of the top 100 love songs were on that list. Cheesy love songs belong at weddings. I was probably too embarrassed to add them or maybe my husband forbid them. I can't remember that far back. The only songs that come close to being cheesy love songs on our wedding song list are You Were Meant for Me by Jewel, Angel Eyes by Jeff Healy and Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton. Our theme song was If You Don't Know Me By Now by Simply Red because we were together a long time before we decided to get married. I think we were already past that cheesy love song moment in our lives.
What constitutes a cheesy love song? I would say this is a matter of personal taste, any song you are embarrassed to be caught listening to would be a cheesy love song. My favorites are If You Leave Me Now by Chicago, I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston,(although Dolly Parton's version is much better and I would not consider her version cheesy, but that's not the version I listen to), My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion (she has to be on everyone's cheesy love song list), Waiting For a Girl Like You by Foreigner, Wherever You Go by Bryan Adams and anything by Ambrosia.
What are your favorite cheesy love songs? Ah, come on, everyone has a favorite cheesy love song even the big, burly biker dude.
http://%20mag.weddingcentral.com.au/music/songs/love-songs.htm
http://www.kelleyheckart.com/
About Me
- Kelley Heckart
- Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Cheesy love songs--why we love to hate them
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Strange lights in the Lake Havasu skies
There are a lot of strange sightings here in Lake Havasu City, Arizona of the people variety, but recently there have been strange lights spotted in the night skies. I always stare up into the night sky wondering about distant planets and hoping to see something of interest. I am bummed that I keep missing these weird sightings, but one local man was able to photograph them.
http://lukephillips.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/close-encounters/#comments
So far, there has been no explanation as to what these lights are. A UFO expert is supposed to visit and investigate. The military is staying quiet, but they did say they haven't been flying in the southern part of the skies (where the lights were spotted). This area has a history of strange lights in the sky. I guess UFOs like to fly above the desert.
Has anyone else ever seen strange, unexplained lights in the sky?
I saw something strange in the night skies in New Jersey once. It had to be about thirty years ago when I was a teenager. I was sitting in my darkened room listening to rock music and staring outside my window. Not sure why I was doing that. I may have been waiting for my friends to show up so I could sneak out. Anyway, I saw these red lights moving in the sky in erratic movements, not a smooth straight line like an airplane would fly. I never said anything, but other people saw them too so I guess I wasn't hallucinating. At least not at that moment. Hey, it was the late 70s.
I am not sure what to make of it, but the lights do appear to be something paranormal-- kind of like a giant, fiery worm that belongs in a Sci-Fi flick. So far no abductions have been reported. I wonder if I have to worry about that.
Kelley
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://lukephillips.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/close-encounters/#comments
So far, there has been no explanation as to what these lights are. A UFO expert is supposed to visit and investigate. The military is staying quiet, but they did say they haven't been flying in the southern part of the skies (where the lights were spotted). This area has a history of strange lights in the sky. I guess UFOs like to fly above the desert.
Has anyone else ever seen strange, unexplained lights in the sky?
I saw something strange in the night skies in New Jersey once. It had to be about thirty years ago when I was a teenager. I was sitting in my darkened room listening to rock music and staring outside my window. Not sure why I was doing that. I may have been waiting for my friends to show up so I could sneak out. Anyway, I saw these red lights moving in the sky in erratic movements, not a smooth straight line like an airplane would fly. I never said anything, but other people saw them too so I guess I wasn't hallucinating. At least not at that moment. Hey, it was the late 70s.
I am not sure what to make of it, but the lights do appear to be something paranormal-- kind of like a giant, fiery worm that belongs in a Sci-Fi flick. So far no abductions have been reported. I wonder if I have to worry about that.
Kelley
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Tucson Celtic Festival Book Signing
A beautiful sunny day greeted me on Saturday morning for my book signing at the Tucson Celtic festival, but it could have been about ten degrees cooler. A desert rat, I am accustomed to hot weather in the summer, but not in November. I felt sorry for the people dressed in traditional Scottish wear made for the damp, cold Scotland climate, not for desert heat. The hot weather must have made people really thirsty because they ran out of most of the ale by mid-afternoon and by the condition of some of those I spoke to, I think they were the ones who drank all the ale. It made for an interesting day, that's for sure.
This was my third year attending this particular Celtic festival. I enjoy the scenery every year of men striding about in kilts. Even the security officers wear black Utilikilts. Yummy. Oh, and the solemn, commanding mountain range was a beautiful sight to look at too.
This year I signed with best-selling author Amanda Scott. For those not familiar with her, she has written at least fifty books from regencies to Scottish historical novels so you can imagine how nervous I was to be sitting next to her. In fact, I almost cancelled this year because I thought with the sagging economy and Amanda Scott's presence my sales would be lower than previous years. In the end, I decided to attend if only for the promotional opportunity and the chance to meet a best-selling author. I was not sure what kind of person Ms. Scott would be. I wondered if she would be a diva. Well, she turned out to be a really nice lady and I was glad I decided not to wimp out and miss the festival. She even signed a copy of one of her books that I had bought, but had not had the chance to read yet.
It started out slow for me and at first more people approached Amanda making me feel invisible, but things eventually picked up for me. One technique that always works well for me is to hand out bookmarks to people who dare to glance my way. I learned this from another author and it works wonders. I ended up selling more books than previous years and a few people came up to me saying they read my first book and had to have my second book. A couple of them even bought my third book. I was thrilled and Amanda leaned over and said, "That's when you know you are on your way." Cool. I expect more sales will come from all the bookmarks I handed out. Some people were thrilled to know that my books are available on Kindle, which made me happy to know that e-books are gaining popularity.
It turned out to be a wonderful way to spend a Saturday sitting there selling books, watching men in kilts, meeting some fans (even if it was only three or four), talking with a best-selling author, watching men in kilts…
Kelley
This was my third year attending this particular Celtic festival. I enjoy the scenery every year of men striding about in kilts. Even the security officers wear black Utilikilts. Yummy. Oh, and the solemn, commanding mountain range was a beautiful sight to look at too.
This year I signed with best-selling author Amanda Scott. For those not familiar with her, she has written at least fifty books from regencies to Scottish historical novels so you can imagine how nervous I was to be sitting next to her. In fact, I almost cancelled this year because I thought with the sagging economy and Amanda Scott's presence my sales would be lower than previous years. In the end, I decided to attend if only for the promotional opportunity and the chance to meet a best-selling author. I was not sure what kind of person Ms. Scott would be. I wondered if she would be a diva. Well, she turned out to be a really nice lady and I was glad I decided not to wimp out and miss the festival. She even signed a copy of one of her books that I had bought, but had not had the chance to read yet.
It started out slow for me and at first more people approached Amanda making me feel invisible, but things eventually picked up for me. One technique that always works well for me is to hand out bookmarks to people who dare to glance my way. I learned this from another author and it works wonders. I ended up selling more books than previous years and a few people came up to me saying they read my first book and had to have my second book. A couple of them even bought my third book. I was thrilled and Amanda leaned over and said, "That's when you know you are on your way." Cool. I expect more sales will come from all the bookmarks I handed out. Some people were thrilled to know that my books are available on Kindle, which made me happy to know that e-books are gaining popularity.
It turned out to be a wonderful way to spend a Saturday sitting there selling books, watching men in kilts, meeting some fans (even if it was only three or four), talking with a best-selling author, watching men in kilts…
Kelley
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Writing Meaningful Sex Scenes in Romances
One thing I have struggled with as a romance writer is trying to write sex scenes that have some significance and are not just thrown in to spice up the story. I like to keep my romantic scenes sensual and not graphic, preferring to leave something to the imagination. After all, a reader wants to use their imagination, right? This has proven to be a challenge because I do not want to write purple prose, but I have managed to avoid this by keeping a balance between the two and avoiding terms deemed too flowery.
Sex scenes like any other scenes should reveal something about the character. Is she shy, bold or somewhere in between? Does he prefer to have control or does he like it when she takes control? Humor is something I like to add to these scenes sometimes to show how characters will react. I recently wrote a sex scene where the bed broke. I think readers can identify with the characters more if reality steps in to the love scenes. It is not all perfection as in life it is not all perfection. By writing scenes where the hero and heroine are most vulnerable, it reveals something about their personality.
The way men and women think in the bedroom are different too. Ladies, how many times do we want our man to stay awake after the coupling only to have him role over and start snoring? Or, what about the man feeling frustration because he still cannot figure out how to please his lady? The time period a story is set in also makes a difference in how characters will act, but I think the above scenarios have been happening in bedrooms for centuries.
It has taken me some practice, but when I write sex scenes between my hero and heroine, I think about each character and pull pieces of their personalities into the scenes. Well-written romantic scenes can reveal a lot about a character and add to the story.
Kelley
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://www.myspace.com/phantomqueen3
Sex scenes like any other scenes should reveal something about the character. Is she shy, bold or somewhere in between? Does he prefer to have control or does he like it when she takes control? Humor is something I like to add to these scenes sometimes to show how characters will react. I recently wrote a sex scene where the bed broke. I think readers can identify with the characters more if reality steps in to the love scenes. It is not all perfection as in life it is not all perfection. By writing scenes where the hero and heroine are most vulnerable, it reveals something about their personality.
The way men and women think in the bedroom are different too. Ladies, how many times do we want our man to stay awake after the coupling only to have him role over and start snoring? Or, what about the man feeling frustration because he still cannot figure out how to please his lady? The time period a story is set in also makes a difference in how characters will act, but I think the above scenarios have been happening in bedrooms for centuries.
It has taken me some practice, but when I write sex scenes between my hero and heroine, I think about each character and pull pieces of their personalities into the scenes. Well-written romantic scenes can reveal a lot about a character and add to the story.
Kelley
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://www.myspace.com/phantomqueen3
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
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