Movie/music Monday
I’m writing this post on Sunday night, just before 10:00. I plan to start the 9-10 hour drive back home around 6 or 7 in the morning. No time for a post before I go and I’m sure I won’t feel like writing anything once I get home.
Since tomorrow/today is Monday, I think I need to explain how intently I was listening to the Hamilton soundtrack on my drive up here last week.
I always listen to it when I drive to Ohio because the entire production of Hamilton is basically all music so you can listen to the album and pretty much get the whole experience like you’re watching it on Disney+. There are only 3 or 4 minor pieces that you don’t get on the soundtrack. Minor, but not having them makes me want to watch the musical when I get home. So because it’s almost the whole thing, it’s like being able to “watch” a movie and get engrossed in the story while driving. It makes 2.5 hours of driving go by very fast.
I had listened to it on the drive from my home to the hotel in West Virginia. And I listened to it again on the drive between West Virginia and my sister’s house in Cleveland the next day. Though that time I was a few songs short of getting all the way through it.
But on the second listening, I got to really thinking about Lin-Manuel Miranda and how he wrote every word and every note of Hamilton. He read a biography of Alexander Hamilton, got inspired, and created the musical masterpiece. I thought about this book that Josh got me for Christmas one year.
It’s a book that is basically a huge behind-the-scenes reveal of all that went into writing the songs and then putting the award-winning production together. Each song has a page devoted to the lyrics and notes from Lin-Manuel that explain his thought process behind the words. In fact, the whole book is an explanation of his thought process. And I love it!
As I listened to it again on the second day of driving, it got me super inspired to work on my book. I thought about what I want the structure to be and various other elements that I’d like to add and how I would go about adding them. So inspired was I by the hard work that was put into Hamilton, that it made me want to immediately work hard on what I hope will one day be my own masterpiece. Certainly my book will not be the inspiration for any Broadway musical, but I hope to inspire somebody with it.
I will likely listen to the soundtrack, yet again, as I’m driving home tomorrow/today. When I get home, I will have the rest of the week to myself before I start my new job the next Monday. Perhaps the inspiration will continue and I’ll get down to making some good progress on my book. Either that or I’ll pull the Hamilton book off my shelf and finish reading it. As I recall, I was in grad school the year I received the book and while I did start reading it eagerly, I never finished it. Josh and I have tickets to see the touring company of Hamilton when it comes to Durham in May. He’s never seen it and he refuses to watch it or listen to the soundtrack before we go see it live. That’s o.k. At the very least he’s willing to be my plus one for the performance.
To all my writing friends…may inspiration strike you this week as hard as it did me last week simply by listening to the Hamilton soundtrack for the umpteenth time.
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