Creativity In The Eye Of The Storm

Couldn’t resist a pun at my own expense. Here’s the deal.

A little more than a month ago I was carrying on when something popped up in my left eye. I mean something really weird. I’ll spare you the timeline and gory details but it was a detached retina. Now don’t go Googling this… It will only freak you out .   The point is that it’s a real scary deal. Song writing, music business, coaching…all take a backseat pretty quickly.

Jumping ahead, it’s been a month and still waiting to find out more about the outcome. I don’t have any big observations, indisputable truths or, no pun this time, visions. I just thought it might be relevant and interesting to you guys as it pertains to passion. You have it or you wouldn’t be here working on your writer/artist path.

I have many friends who have dealt with all different forms of adversity, some way worse then what I’m going through. Many of us have friends on the East coast working through actual storm damage and I know your thoughts and prayers go out to them. I believe that your reality is your reality and you have to do whatever you do to dig deep , find strength, patience and faith. Music can play a big part in healing, no secret  there and I’ve been finding more comfort in just playing during this time. I’m not so much looking for that undeniable hook as I am the calmness music can bring. I watched the fundraiser for Sandy the other night and was reminded once again of the power of music but even more the healing process. Can’t make it go away but when all those guys did “Under The Boadwalk” there was a sweetness that made it more real and less horrific for us all. I think at it’s best and brightest music reminds us we’re not alone.

I coach lots of writers and artists and one of the easy bits to pass on is to remind them to write what you know including what’s going on in your life. This is especially true of the ones who depend on building an audience through making their music available. Using social media and blogging on a regular basis is huge. For these folks I always stress the need to “put yourself out there” and “let people in”. Taking my wife Kathys advice here and talking about whats going on in my own life right now.

My main purpose for this blog is to start a discussion that might encourage or maybe just allow you to vent! Writing and the music business is hard enough and you need all the focus you can muster. What do you do, who do you lean on and where do you find the inner tough guy to block out whatever is discouraging you from being creative?

I not only would like to know but I’d appreciate your encouragement and stories!

Photo by my buddy Shelly Horton…love ya MORE!!