It has been two months since I wrote the last chapter of this book. Why did I take two months and not write a single chapter? That is a great question. Great questions need great answers. Oops! I don't have a great answer maybe just a weak excuse. Deep down I had plan when I started writing this book. My goal was to write for thirty days and take you along on my songwriting journey.
We all have pre-conceived ideas of how things are going to turn out. Let's use the subject of love for an example. Love. We are going to fall in love and it is going to be better and stronger than anybody else's love. It is going to be kind, intense, passionate, and forever. We picture falling in love, dating, getting married and living happily ever after. It sounds like a fairy tale. A fairy tale that we hope happens. If only life was that simple. We could fall in love and live happily ever after. That would be a great story with a great ending. We could celebrate and have a victory celebration. Take the football hold it above our head and spike it down in the end zone.
Every book needs a great ending. I knew how I wanted to end my book. My plans were to document the process of going to Nashville and trying out at the Bluebird Café. I had already tried out twice and I was hoping the third time would be the charm. I was going to pass my audition and that would be a great ending. Our life stories don't always end how we planned. It would be great if they did. Dreams start where the last dream died. I failed to pass the audition but I received an email with words of encouragement to tryout again. There goes my great ending. What do I do now for and ending?
It is so easy to tell people about what your are going to do. Maybe you are going to apply for a new job? You are not happy with your old job and there is a job that you heard about the would be a perfect job for you. Maybe the new job has weekend off and you would love to have weekends off. Or it pays more money and we would all love to have more money to pay bills and have a little extra to spend on ourselves or somebody that we love. You tell your friends about your interview, the new suit you bought to go on the interview, the interview questions they asked, the answers that you thought were brilliant, and how long it will take to get the results.
Then comes the hard part. You don't get the job. Maybe you are like me? I don't bring it up. It is like it never happened. I might tell a handful of people, my wife, kids, and family and friends that ask about the results. Why do we do that? I do that because I feel like ashamed. What am I ashamed off? I guess because I feel like I did something wrong. In my case, maybe I picked the wrong song to play? Or maybe my songs were too personal? Not personal enough? Or something was missing? Or going back to the job interview example, What if you would of asked that one question differently? Was your answer to that one question the reason that you did not get the job? It makes you wonder.
My songwriting journey is still going on. I haven't quit. I don't know how it is going to end? I am still writing songs and working on the craft of songwriting. I'm going to keep writing this book about the journey even if I don't have a great ending. Dreams start where the last dream died.