Spring always feels like a creative time, so I thought I would reach out and ask….
How’s everybody doing?
Are you writing songs? Gardening? Designing T Shirts?
I like to think we all have that itch we need to scratch and for many of us, it’s not an itch we picked up in Tijuana. It’s just something inside us that we need to express, to send out into the world.
I hope you are all finding outlets, big and small, to get your dreams out into the world.
“What about me?” you ask.
I’ve been writing some songs here and there. Not as many as I used to. I used to write about eight songs a week. Now I probably write about a song a week.
I think, after all these years, I need to find something really interesting and new to write about or it’s hard to not feel like I’m repeating myself. You know how many love songs I’ve written in the last forty years? I don’t either. A bunch. A great big bunch. Most of them are in my closet, unheard.
But you know what? That’s not a problem. Sure, part of why I wrote them is the dream that a million people will hear what I wrote. But I think the reason was in the writing. I did it. The empty page got filled up. Stuff in my head became stuff in a song and that’s a pretty great feeling. Do I want the mailbox full of money? No, I do not. Nope.
I want a truck to back up at the house and pour out money like boiled crawfish on a picnic table.
They’re not ALL in the closet. I just had a song I wrote with Mike Reid come out on Kenny Chesney’s new album so I might hear a small van pull up sometime soon. Very small. Miniscule. (Thank you, internet.)
Whatever shape your creativity is taking these days I wish you nothing but success. I hope you do it (a garden, a song, a T Shirt) and pat yourself on the metaphorical back and say “well done.”
One thing new and exciting that I have been doing since the pandemic is… I wrote a book!!!
It’s a rock and roll fairy tale about the Beatles. I figured since I have been hanging around with Ringo all these years, why not shamelessly exploit my access? It’s a very fun, sweet book.
Writing a book is a lot different than writing a song.
It’s like writing a hundred songs that all have to connect to each other.
Georgia and I are just beginning the process of releasing the book out into the wild, so there is a better than small chance we will be reaching out again to let you know how it’s going.
So pick up your guitar… pick up your piano… (no wait…you’ll get a hernia!)… pick up your garden spade… and have a wonderful, creative spring.