I wanted to share a new song with you. I got this song back today. The name of the song is Grace. I could go on and on and tell you what the song is about but I will let the song do its job. (No hype!)  Here are the lyrics.

Grace    

Grace is amazing ask anyone they will tell you 
she dont judge me, condemn me, like other's do. 
she's big on forgiveness,  loves to give it away 
I need her so much, can't get enough, that's why I say she's 

Chorus- Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful 
Yeah,  she is 
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful 
all the time 
Merciful, merciful, merciful 
Hear me cry 
God gave me Grace   
Grace still amazes me.  

Grace is like sunshine, it shines on, flowers and weeds 
she watches me grow, and see's her yellow in me 
I'm a dandelion, she loves me just as I am 
I need her so much, can't get enough, and I can say she's 

 Chorus- Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful 
Yeah,  she is 
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful 
all the time 
Merciful, merciful, merciful 
Hear me cry 
 Grace is amazing 
 Grace keeps amazing me.  

Grace is  a gift, I couldn't earn 
I'll sing this song, about what I've learned, You're 

Chorus-  Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful 
Yeah,  she is 
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful 
all the time 
Merciful, merciful, merciful 
Hear me cry 
Grace is amazing 
Grace keeps amazing me. .  

 Grace is amazing 
Grace keeps amazing me.

    This week was a vacation from my job at Dillons grocery store. Vacations have changed with COVID 19. This was a staycation. I wanted to work on songwriting this week. Here is what a songwriting vacation looked like.

     Sunday and Monday I worked with a new songwriter that I met last month. Bill Miles. Bill is an NSAI member at the Tidewater, Virginia, NSAI chapter. We got in touch when I attended a zoom meeting in February. We texted each other about writing together but life get's busy. I contacted Bill and told him I was on vacation this week. 

      Bill and I had a very productive week. We were able to write two songs. Not totally finished buy pretty close. We are going to work on the second song again tomorrow and hopefully finish it up. Bill is a great singer and songwriter. You can check out his music on all the of digital platforms. The name of his band is The Bill Miles Band. 

      I also was able to write a song with my friend, Fletcher Moudy on Tuesday. We were able to finish up a song. It might need a few tweaks but not to much more. There are always tweaks to do to songs before you demo them. Sometimes, maybe a line doesn't sing quite right. Maybe it needs another word but usually it goes that other way. Most of the time, songs get better when you take words out. 

       Tomorrow I am attending the Kansas City NSAI chapter zoom meeting. Kansas City has a big chapter and their meetings can be longer than most. I am looking forward to attending it. I will be playing a song I wrote by myself last month called, Dance for Me. It is a dance song about a guy and a girl meeting and dancing on the dance floor. I am looking forward to getting some feedback on my song. 

       Also, this week I have done alot of reading. I am an avid reader. I finished reading two books this week. I read a book called Never split the difference. It is a book written by a hostage negotiator for the FBI. A very interesting book telling about how to bargain with others. Very interesting.

        The second book I finished this week was Wild Tales by Graham Nash. This is the Graham Nash that was part ot Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. It was a big book - 700 pages. I started speed reading toward the end. Just for any other rock stars that are going to write a book. Keep it interesting. Don't just tell me what you did, tell he how you felt, what you did right, where you messed up, and how your life story can make a difference in my life. 

         Tomorrow is my last day of vacation. Back to work on Sunday. It was a great vacation. Looking forward to  next week and the adventures it will bring. 

     I was reading the Bible yesterday and found a very special verse. I read from the New Living Translation. I will start with verse 10.  God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so God's generosity can flow through you. Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.

     What if I changed one word in verse 11. Are you called to be a songwriter? Then write as though God himself was speaking through you. God calls some folks to be preachers, speaker, writers and also songwriters. Imagine how much better my songs could be if I actually wrote it, with total confidence that the words and melody were a gift that God gave me. 

      I do believe that God does this. But when you write a bad song, don't blame that on God. You need to do your part in the songwrting journey. You need to know how to write a song, Knowing where the verses and chorus's go. If the song needs a bridge. How to make the song easy to sing. Re-wrting the song to make it the best possible version of that song that it can be. 

       Maybe the way to look at songwriting is. You and God are writing a song together. He is the writer and you are the co-writer. Don't write a song that God wouldn't want his name in the credits. 

      I believe in you. Those are very powerful words. Words like these can make a huge difference in our life. These words are how my parents made me feel. They believed in me. What a difference it can make in a person's life. Every once in a while we will run into someone who is not a family member who truly believes in us. This is even more empowering because we don't have our family connection with them. Sometimes we expect our family to believe in us and not others.

       I have been an NSAI member for a long time. I remember the first song that I sent in. It wasn't a great song and there was problem areas in it. Richard Helm was the evaluator of that first song. He wrote an evaluation that was a page and a half long. It was so encouraging.He broke the song down and talked about the verses, the chorus, and then how the song make him feel. A song should make you feel something, if it is done right. 

       I was a beginning songwriter looking for feedback. Wanting to know if I was doing as a songwriter was the right way to do it. Richard confirmed that I was on the right road but it is a long crooked road that covers alot of miles. The bottom line was Richard told me - He believed in me. He said, I should move to Nashville and become a songwriter. Those were powerful words. Words that keep you chasing the dream.

       Nashville Songwriting Association International (NSAI) had changed over the years. In the old days you got to know the person that you were sending your songs too. I sent my songs to Richard Helm. With all of the lawsuits over songs, I don't send it to person with a name. I now send my songs to evaluator 21371. On the website it tells me that evaluator 21371 does these genres of music. Country, Jazz, Pop, Americana/folk, Hip hop, R&B, Tracks, and contemporary Christian. Wow! That is a wide variety of genres. 

       I sent in a song called Polaroid Memories. (Evaluator 21371) , I think she is a girl but I could be wrong. She liked my song and wrote a very good evaluation with comments on how to make it a better song. What really moved me was the last line she wrote in her evaluation. She wrote- I believe in You. Powerful words. Thank you.

       I sent in a new song yesterday to get evaluated by 21371. It is called- Almost (The story of my life). I wrote a thank you note in the comments of my new song thanking her for believing in me. If you want to make someones day today, tell them, I believe in You. It will make their day and maybe change their life. 

     It has been awhile since I blogged about songwriting. I have been spending more time songwriting and less time writing about songwriting. That is how it should be. 

      I have been co-writing with Fletcher Moudy. Fletcher owns his own publishing company called Ammar Music Group. We have been writing about once a week. We have to skip a week occassionaly because of my work schedule. It has been fun. Co- writing is about finding someone who together you can produce better songs than you could by yourself. 

      I have been a write by myself writer. I am a slow write by myself writer. I am good for about one song a month. When I say one song a month, I am talking about a fully completed, evaluated,  demo'ed, and ready to pitch song. (In my opinion.)  My struggle is with the busines side. I don't have the time to pitch songs and wirte songs. That is why I am working with Ammar Music. 

       It has been great getting to write more songs. I am still writing my one song a month and then I add on the three songs that Fletcher and I write together. That is four songs a month. At this rate I would have 48 songs in one year. It is about odds. The odds of writing a great song are stacked against songwriters. The more songs I write the better my odds are of writing that one killer song. 

        This is why I have not blogger much lately. Just wanted to say, Hi and let you know how the songwriting is going? Have a great day. It is suppose to get up to fifty degrees today. We got ourselves a heat wave in Kansas.