Yep. That’s what I’m calling Monday.

So. Y’all come back Monday, ’cause it’s time for me to let you know just what in the heck we’ll be doing back in the dirty south.

Two-ten is so close I can smell it!

Until then… I’ve gotta go be a bridesmaid.

See ya Monday,

mandy

Hellooooooo!!!

Happy Wednesday (I refuse to call it “hump day” because that phrase greatly offends me.)

Marisa ended last week’s WW with the question: What are you most looking forward to?

I’d LOVE to answer that! If you’ve been paying much attention to this here blog, you won’t be surprised to hear that I’m looking forward to having an isolated room to do some recording in. yay Thanks for asking, Marisa! Now, on to a secret treat: I know half of y’all don’t even read my answer up here, but just fly right off to the comments to play WW, but for those of you who DO read this actual post, I have a secret game. I want y’all to answer this secret question as well: Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons? If yes, type the word “snort” somewhere in your WW comments. If your answer is no, type “wiggle” somewhere in there. Got it? hehehe

Ok. Now, let’s get started with this week’s, shall we?

The rules: Answer the last, leave the next. mkay?

Here’s our starter question for our first commenter: Are you offended by the phrase “hump day?”

Hopefully, in just a few months, once the paperwork has been completed, the deal has been closed, and we’ve moved our things in, I’ll be able to give you the grand tour.

But for now, we’re simply “Under Contract.” But I can show you where I will hopefully be recording in a few short months.

You walk in the front door, past the immaculate landscaping that we will (eventually) get to.

Through the soon-to-be-painted living room and past the fireplace.

Into the way-too-green-to-be-seen kitchen.

Stopping to gaze at the coolest feature of the house – a banquette.

Through the laundry room, into the garage, and towards the other corner of the garage.

You open the door to see this 6 by 12 room:

Which will very quickly be converted into a snazzy, inspiring, soundproof home recording studio.

And I can sing as loudly as I want, because I’ve got three doors, and a laundry room between me & the rest of the house.

I better start warming up those vocal chords now!

There’s just NO WAY I could get even close to reaching this 100 song goal without finding triggers – muses – things that quickly and faithfully get my creative juices flowing.

No.

Way.

Thankfully, I’m finding patterns and muses in my own creative journey this year:

• coffee/mocha of some sort. I’m not gonna lie. Caffeine/sugar works for me – starts my brain. And the sensory experience of the brewing, the stirring, the warmth, the smell, the taste. It jolts my creativity.
• lighting – Changing the lighting in the room helps me – sensory again.
• reading – Namely, blogs and books about songwriting. When I’m feeling down on my own creativity, they give me the boost of believing I actually am a songwriter – and they also have great ideas and resources to churn my brain.
• exercise – I’ve written more than one song on the way home from the gym. The chemical boost in my brain is much better than caffeine & sugar, because there’s not that awful dip in energy.
• telling myself that I don’t have to – Believe it or not, this genuinely removes the “panic” and pressure, and allows me to refuel. Sometimes the act of picking up the guitar, even though I don’t intend to write, causes the free-flow to happen. No pressure or expectations, it just happens.
• telling myself I have to – Failure is my most powerful motivator. Period.

These are some of my muses. These are my triggers that get things going. And I can return to them again and again and they come through for me. They spark creativity. It’s the craziest thing, but they work.

So I shamelessly use them. Shamelessly.

What “muses” do you use?

Y’all remember how much you want to do something about Sex Trafficking and modern slavery?

Well, here’s a guy who’s trying to win $100,000 for the International Justice Mission… The giveaway is from Lash Allure MD.

His entry into the contest:

If you want to help, you have to click on the youtube page, and then rate the video once. Every day this week, go back and leave a comment about the video. One comment per day = one more vote.

Let’s do this.

Yesterday, on twitter, somebody mentioned watching the movie Memento.

Now, let me jump in and say that I like most movie genres, well, excluding Horror Films (unless Shyamalan is somehow involved).

But occasionally, I am subjected to a film that I simply cannot connect with. Yes, I have been known to walk out of a movie theater on occasion.

Unfortunately, I could not escape the torture of Memento. I was at a friend’s house, with an entire group of Memento fans, one being this VERY handsome young gentlemen who would later be my husband. Suffice it to say, I had to stay. I kept saying I didn’t like it, but they kept saying “Just watch. Just watch! You’ll understand everything. Just watch.”

When I’d endured until those pivotal last moments, and all had become clear, and the credits were rolling, I looked back at my friends and said, “I want my two hours back.”

Or something like that.

Yesterday I compiled a list in my head of “I want my two hours back” movies:

• Memento
• Transformers Revenge of the Fallen
• The Horse Whisperer
• There’s Just Something About Mary
• Scream
• No Country for Old Men

What would you put on this list?

I’ve been in close communication with a far-away friend recently. Texts, emails, etc… And, in nearly all of my recent exchanges with her, I’ve made it a point to call her “friend.” This word means a lot to her, and she uses it regularly when she’s addressing friends. I want to speak her heart’s language, so I intentionally and consciously call her “friend.”

I’ve thought about that word a lot lately. About what that word means. About what it means to her, to me, and to the English language.

I’m realizing that this word – friend – is probably one of the most important words in our vocabulary.

It holds so much meaning, so much symbolism, so much relationship, so much knowing, so much truth.

What does this word mean to you?

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Is it Wednesday already? wow.

Ok. So we closed last week’s fantastic round of “Whatever Wednesday” with a question from Dan, who is an old college buddy of mine:

What is the biggest sleep “reducer” in your life?

What a question. Seriously. This is the right time in my life to ask that, because I’m loosing quite a bit of sleep… mainly from everything that is on my mind. Moving. Goodbyes. Hellos. And a bit of other stuff that shouldn’t flood the blog world. But, yeah, stuff on my mind.

Now for today’s Whatever Wednesday!

The rules: You answer the last & ask the next. Come back as often as you’d like, until I close the comments tomorrow morning. mkay?

I always start with the first question, so the first commenter has something to work with: What do you do when you have a hard time falling asleep?

So, the first commenter will answer that question, then leave a new question for the next commenter.

GO!

“Right about what?” you might ask.

That I can’t tell you yet.

But, what I CAN tell you is that I had a long conversation yesterday with a publisher.

Not like a book publisher. A music publisher.

“What’s a music publisher?” It’s a person who promotes songs… Like a song agent.

(Here comes the part that gets fun.) If you were to ask me what I want to do with all this songwriting, I’d say that I want to get them in the hands of a publisher. I don’t want to go on tour. I don’t want a recording contract. I want these songs to be placed where they should be.

That’s what a publisher is for. I’m not sure if this contact with this publisher will ever go anywhere… I don’t know. But I do know that this publisher has listened to a few of my songs (insert excitement here). And this publisher has given me some very useful feedback (insert even more excitement here), and wants me to work on these songs and send them back (insert no-sleep-for-a-week excitement here)!!

Now, shall we return to the part where y’all were right? Well… The publisher seems to agree with some of you on some points of feedback. A few of the suggestions sounded familiar… until I realized that they were already typed out in the comments here on this blog… by some of you.

I’ve told you before that the feedback is unspeakably helpful. That you hear things I can’t hear. That you notice things that I don’t see. With that in mind, I will continue to post songs here. And I will welcome your feedback. So we can make these songs – these little messages – the best they can be.

And THEN I might submit them to the publisher.

For most of my 31 years, I’ve been a very self-aware person… Always knowing what’s going on inside me – why I feel what I feel – and very pensive.

Introspective.

In the past few years, I’ve noticed that I’m not nearly as self-aware. Sometimes I’m super-emotional, but I don’t know why – until I talk things out. Sometimes.

I have a theory about why the “introspection” light just shuts off in my brain.

Maybe I stopped wanting to know what was going on inside. Maybe it’s a sort of denial. Maybe it’s a way to create some distance between myself and the drama I may find within me. Maybe a way of not letting “it” get me down – so down – that I can’t get up. Maybe. I’m not sure. I get this funny feeling inside just now – just thinking about it. Heart beating faster. It’s not funny. It’s more like fear. Like panic. Like there’s some bad thing down inside me that I’m running from.

I hate that feeling.

If I don’t introspect, then I don’t feel it. See how that works?

But, because of this lack of introspection, I’ve found that I’m more of a “right now” person as well. I am more “present” – more “in the moment.” I don’t worry as much about stuff that used to worry me. I just say “I’ll deal with that when I have to.” This is a HUGE HUGE HUGE personality shift for me. And I think that might be for the better.

Maybe the “no-more-worries” Mandy and the “out-of-touch-with-self” Mandy are somehow related.

There goes that funny feeling again.

Which is the whole point of this post. I think feelings are good. I think a bit of introspection is good.

So, are you brave enough to introspect with me? How are you feeling today? What’s going on inside?