Day 167

So both today today and tomorrow are big "focus on writing days". They're my days off of work this week and I've set out to get a lot of music done in those 48 hours. I did admittedly sleep in today (just 'cause sleeping in is way too much of a temptation not to give in to on your day off) and got off to a slow start, but when I did sit down in front of my piano I was quite productive.

I had a moment of panic though - the chorus to "Never knew me well" has been a work in progress over the last week or so, but today as soon as I started playing the song it finally just came to me. I wrote the lyrics down, and finessed it until I got it just right. Then I got up to make lunch, came back, sat down to keep at it, and . . . could not remember what the melody of the chorus was. Now normally once I get an idea, I record it to my computer strictly 'cause I have a tendancy to forget my ideas (and songs, and lyrics, and melodies), but for some reason today I didn't. I must have sat in front of the piano for about 30 minutes, racking my brain trying to remember what I had come up with. I sang it a bunch of different ways but knew none of them were it. I actually got quite upset at one point, 'cause sometimes an idea will only come to me once and then that's it, and I had really liked this chorus. Finally I just sat there quietly for a minute and then just started the song from the top and by the time I came to the chorus it flowed right out of me again. Whew - huge relief and panic-stricken songwriter's worst nightmare now over.

Now that song is almost done and all I need to do is record a demo/guide version of it on piano and then either find a guitar player or wait until I can play guitar well enough to record it the way I want, which is with guitar as the main instrument.

I also hope to finish writing another song tomorrow - it's a song I started writing awhile ago but never quite finished. It's been stewing in my head and my heart for a long time and I feel it's finally time to get it out and let it see the light of day. So hopefully that'll happen tomorrow and then I'll have two more songs in the can and will just keep writing my little heart out.

So if you happen to be reading this and you're a facebook friend of mine, you may have noticed that I posted that I would be attending the Songwriter's Summit during Canadian Music Week in Toronto in March. I was super stoked to go to the conference and listen to a lot of great songwriter's and people in the business talk and just learn I all could. Well - looks like that's not going to happen for me this year. I for some silly reason forgot to book that day off of work, and when I finally remembered and went to book it off, saw that three other managers had already booked that day off or are on vacation that weekend. As we need four managers to work on Saturdays, I can't have the day off as well. Major, major disappointment for me (albeit totally my fault). I may be able to attend one or two sessions in the late afternoon/evening if I work the early morning shift, but the main sessions I really wanted to go to were right in the middle of the day. :(

However - with every disappointment, a ray of hope usually shines through somewhere - and on the very same day I realized I couldn't go to the Summit, I did learn of an opportunity that made me even more excited than Canadian Music Week . . .

I happened to find out that as a SOCAN member (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada), I have the ability to go down to Nashville (the songwriting capital of the world) for a period of up to two weeks, and stay (for free!!) at the Nashville House - basically a hotel for SOCAN members who go to Nashville to further their songwriting career. There's a lot of connections down there for Canadian songwriters/musicians and we have a pretty strong presence in Nashville. It's funny 'cause I've had Nashville on the brain for the last little while (probably 'cause so many of the articles I've read and interviews I've watched with songwriters - both Canadian and otherwise - have mentioned that Nashville is the place to be if you want to really make a go of songwriting). I'm not saying I want to move there anytime soon or anything, but just to be able to go there and attend songwriting sessions, meet other writers, and write with other musicians would be truly amazing.

This is definitely an opportunity I won't pass up, but I have a lot of work to do before I start planning my trip down there. Although I have a lot of songs I've written over the years, only a handful have been recorded, and I'd want to go down there with probably at least 15 to 20 songs recorded on a demo CD. I don't know if it's possible, but it would be great if I could make that happen and then make a trip down there in the next year. I'd also want to be a relatively good guitar player at that point, but that's already coming along quite nicely, so hopefully that's a realistic goal.

Anyhoo - I've got to get back to it, but I hope everyone out there is having a good week so far and enjoying the snow we finally got!!

'till next time . . .