Beginning and Ending Your Projects
There are three problems one might encounter in creativity:Beginning the projectEnding the projectSticking to the project until the second goal is met,At the outset, a project doesn’t have to be...
View ArticleYour Best Efforts
It's important to give your best efforts to your creative works. Even if you don't feel like it. Maybe some days your best isn't what you know could be your best; your energy level, your state of mind,...
View ArticleA Flow of Ideas
Creative works don't come from nothing, although they may seem to if I'm drawing a creative blank. There's the blank page or canvas facing me in the morning. At worst, I'll doodle on that page if...
View ArticlePatience With Your Projects
I sometimes suffer from a lack of patience with a project. In spite of my excitement about a project, I want the creation process to be finished so that I can send my music off to the performers. A...
View ArticleProject Burnout
No matter how enthusiastic I am on any project, sometimes I suffer from project burnout. Tired of the music I'm writing and the overall project, I just want to be done with it. This can be a motivating...
View ArticlePancho and Lefty
I go on a one-song listening spree sometimes. That is, I'll listen to different versions of the same song. Recently it has been Pancho and Lefty by Townes Van Zandt. I've heard the song a number of...
View ArticleSky Songs
Bukka White said he reached upand grabbed 'em out of the sky.He called 'em "Sky Songs."But, man, it seems to methat they reach down and grab me off the Earth. - Townes Van ZandtThis quote is from...
View ArticleJohn Hartford and Making a Hit
Through the graces of fiddler/producer Matt Combs in Nashville, I met and spent a little time hanging with composer/musician John Hartford a couple of years before Hartford passed in 2001. Hartford...
View ArticleMarketing a Way to Success?
The heart of creativity seems to lie in a spirit of giving. After all, there is no guarantee of a return for our work - money, acclaim, performances, a publishing deal - nothing is assured, so there...
View ArticleGordon Parks and a Chance Encounter
Gordon Parks, the great American photographer/filmmaker found his calling in 1947 as a conductor on a train; not as a conductor but as a photographer. Someone left a magazine on a train seat with a...
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