Being a performing songwriter is more than just a hobby to me. I guess in some ways, it’s a calling. Does that make it a vocation? The truth is, it’s a sideline business, and I’m always striving to be better at taking care of business. To do this, I require focus, energy, time, and a belief in myself.
Taking care of business is an endless task, similar in its perpetual-ness to weeding the garden, doing laundry, tweezing your chin hairs – there is always more that requires care and attention and it’s sooo easy to fall behind.
I confess that I am often sporadic about taking care of my music biz. If my music biz was a car with a manual transmission, you’d see it shuddering and jerking down the street, as I try to shift gears and keep from killing it all together. That’s how I drive it sometimes. And often, I don’t even know for sure which way I’m headed, which can be a problem both in life and in driving.
One thing I have figured out, however, is that I value my talent. And you know, it’s HARD sometimes to value yourself and what you have to offer. I wasn’t raised that way! Someone was always afraid we might get “the Big Head.” But how can I expect others to value it if I don’t value it myself? And conversely, if EVERYONE values it BUT me – I will never really get the return on the process of creating that I seek.
