Near- future project: once the excitement of the holiday season is finished, I'm going to return to my roots and get back into serious writing. A couple of months ago I finished writing song lyrics for an old friend who is working on rebuilding his old music group (Agents of Oblivion- an indie band from the late 90s founded by Dax Riggs and Chuck Pitre- Google it and prepare to rock out). It took a while to devote the time needed for this venture- several months' time- but the end results were satisfying, and my friend was blown away. Basically I took Chuck's instrumental version of the music and added the written lyrics to the melody. It was a different process from just writing whatever is in my head without the accompanying music. It was fun to remember the good ol' days when my writing was front and center- I used to write pages and pages of poetry in an old black and white composition book, and share it with my friends in the band, who expressed sincere appreciation for my words. It was a time that I felt pride in my work. The process was a good reminder that I am squandering this writing gift by not making the time for it every single day/several times a week. It got lost in the shuffle of work, home, volunteer work etc., when it should have been first on the to-do list. I've heard many famous writers speak of the writing process they way you would exercise- its a muscle that has to be put to use each and every day, to stay fit and to yield positive results. Like any other venture, you can't make anything happen by sitting on it- whether "it" be writing, exercising, doing ANYTHING. Now its time to get back to work- my work- and make things happen again. Maybe this blog is a good place to start.
