The Zone
I used to send out musings once a week.
I enjoyed the self-assigned assignment of spilling my mind-fodder on a weekly basis. It felt like the right interval.
On occasion, when life got “lifey-er,” I skipped a week.
I don’t get mad at myself.
When I travel I might skip 2. After all I’m taking in a new experience. A new landscape. A new city/county. I’m about IT not me. There is a season to turn turn turn outward and a season to look inward.
Usually, when I’m on the plane returning and my body is at rest, my mind starts rumbling for some action. I get my laptop from the overhead. Actually, more often I just spill on my Notes App.
These past few weeks I’ve missed appointments, skipped the gym, Shower — What’s that? Maybe we order in tonight? There’s nothing in the fridge. Or as they say, the cupboard is bare. I’m showing up an hour early for a movie screening and an hour late for a doctor’s appointment.
Why? Because I’m in the zone and I can’t get out. It’s the most delicious place to be. If you’re a songwriter or creator yourself I know you know what I’m talking about.
I went to a meeting with a literary agent in NY a few weeks ago. I shared my idea about my YA (Young Adult) novel — a young person coming up in the music biz today. Working title: What A Girl Wants.
At first it seemed like a fun idea. I thought I could get a co-writer to help with the fiction. I’m a writer but I write about Shelly. That’s easy. It’s just the truth.
But when they said they were intrigued and asked me questions about the twists and turns and got me talking and flowing, I realized how much there was to write about. Then they asked if I thought I could do it by myself and I panicked. How would I ever write 80,000 words? But then I realized the young protagonist is an apple and I am the tree. She doesn’t fall far. She was just born in another era.
I came back to LA and started tapping. And I haven’t been able to stop. I’m 10,000 words in.
It is my truth. How would I feel if I were coming up today? With AI and streaming income (or the lack of it) and competing with the hundred of thousands of tracks that are uploaded daily?
My favorite excerpt so far: Thing is if I fail playing on someone else’s terms, I’ll never forgive myself. But if I fail doing something I believe in, that is forgivable. I’d dust myself off and try again. (To quote Aaliyah’s 90’s hit, “Try Again”).
I may be aiming for ‘Young Adult’ but I have a feeling that anyone interested in music will enjoy it. It’s a pull-back of the curtain (as they say all too often) of songwriter life. What it takes. How the songs come. How they go. How they suck. How you vibrate inside when they’re good. I have 40, 50, 60, 70-year-old friends who ask me about this stuff all the time.
So like I said I’m in the zone and I can’t get out and I LOVE IT.
I felt this way when I wrote Confessions of a Serial Songwriter. I was obsessed. I thought I was done and then I went for a hike and came back with a new chapter. How could I have left that out? It’s non-stop. It’s an alien.
Soon I’ll send this extremely extended not-perfectly-formatted proposal to the lovely and engaged humans at the agency. I hope they get it. If they don’t, I’m grateful that they got me back in the zone.
That’s what’s up. Now I have to get back to it.
Oh and…
PS…My songwriter consults are going well. I’m enjoying the conversations and I believe I’m offering helpful feedback. Here’s where to click (and scroll down) if you’re interested in spending an our on ZOOM with me and sharing your songs.
Have a great weekend.
xxxx
Shelly
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