Friday, November 16, 2012

Say It Out Loud

Do you want some advice?  
All you have to do is ask. Or maybe don’t even ask. You’ll probably get it anyway.  There’s more advice out there than you can shake a stick at, these days.

The question, really, is whether to ask or not. Does sharing your dreams with someone run you the risk of short-circuiting the end result in some cosmic way? It can sometimes feel that way.

For the most part, I’m a firm believer in putting requests out there to the Universe. Saying things out loud seems to help make them happen. On the flip side, it feels risky to share dreams and aspirations with people and ask for help or advice.

Several years ago,  when I was just really starting to play my songs in public, people started asking if I had a CD for sale.  Well, of course I wanted to have one, but I didn’t know anything at all about it! I had no idea where to start. However, the idea was planted in my brain. A good friend told me, "Stop saying you want to make a CD and start saying you're doing it. You're going  to make a CD." So  I began to say it out loud as if it were going to happen.

It sounds like such a simple thing, but it was scary.  What if I didn't make it happen?  Even so, I took that one small step in the direction  of my goal.

Some time passed, and I was a fortunate enough to be a guest on a local radio program. A friend of mine heard the show, and mentioned it to me. Following my recent resolution, I bravely told him that I was planning to record a CD of my songs.  But, I explained, I had no idea where to start. He told me that he knew Ian Byrne – the endlessly charming Irish front man of the KC-based Irish rock band, the Elders -- quite well. He said, “A couple of the Elders have recording studios in their homes - I’ll talk to Ian and have him call you.”


The Elders

And sure enough, Ian did call me. What a sweetheart he was, with his lovely Irish accent, throwing around the words “Luv” and “Darlin” and “Lass” and what-have-you, as I was fairly swooning on the other end (I realize this has nothing to do with the overall point of this blog-story, but I felt it was worth mentioning). He talked to me a bit about my music, and then recommended that I work with Steve Phillips, who had recorded singer/songwriter types like me. He gave me Steve’s number, and told me to call him.

And I did call Steve, and set up a meeting. We talked about what I wanted to accomplish  and I could tell he was the right person to record my songs. He said, “Okay when you’re ready to get started let me know.” 

But I didn’t let him know. I’m not a fast mover when it comes to such things. I let months go by and I didn't move forward. Life, however, grew impatient with me. Once you set your toe and punt that great Kickball of Fate, you put things in motion. Out of the blue one day, Steve gave me a call and basically said, “are you ready to get started?” And so, I knew it was time. That's how my first CD, "Hit the Ground Running" - recorded at Steve Phillips' Big Time Music Productions  - became a reality.

Now, of course, I can look back on it and see how an entire chain of events unfolded that I could never have planned or predicted, all because I decided to talk about it. 

I only needed to say it out loud.



To find "Hit The Ground Running and other Laura Lisbeth music, go to www.lauralisbeth.com

Friday, November 2, 2012

Sleep Deprived and Waiting for the End of DST


I ask the universe this question and I do not get a direct answer:
Is sleep optional? Can sleep please be optional?

I really need it to be an option, not a requirement. For I have, as they say, many irons in the skillet. Many chickens in the fire.  I have much to do, and I am not finding many open slots for things. Where can I find the time?  Most of what I have is non-negotiable and so this is why I look to my tiny cache of sleep hours and contemplate the way  I could make it work to do without as much of it.

Complicating matters is some kind of trait I have (possibly hereditary) that predisposes me to have an extremely low tolerance for activity of any kind. Therefore, if I am not actually sleeping, I’m thinking about sleeping and making promises of sleep to myself to fool myself into getting out of bed in the morning. I say, “you can go to bed really early tonight if you want.” And because I’m groggy from sleeping, I buy this line every time.

Tomorrow night is the Big Opportunity for those who suffer as I do from a negative balance in their sleep account.  This wondrous event comes but once a year: Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday morning at 2 am. All clocks (except those in Arizona) will be set back 1 hour, and an extra hour of sleep will magically be injected into my sleeping time.
Don't forget to turn your clocks back 1 hour
 In this hour I will attempt to atone for a year's worth of stolen sleep.  

Go to LauraLisbeth.com