Wow.  I wonder how many times I've been tripped up by this one?

"Don't show your song to anyone too soon.  After you've re-written it until you think it's just perfect, put it in a drawer and leave it for a week.  Then get it out and have another try at it." - Claire Cloninger

Signed,
Sheez Ryte Fohx

Okay.  I can't escape this.  I may have to share favorite moments out of Robert Sterling's book Jesus' Chairs for awhile.  After all, when you hear or read something cool, you wanna tell your friends, right?

Try this on for size:

Every good musician begins by emulating others.  Beethoven's early works were very reminiscent of his hero, Mozart.  Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones admits he learned to play guitar by stealing Chuck Barry's rifts.  There's nothing new under the sun.  We are all borrowing from those who came before us.  It isn't criminal to mimic someone else's music, as long as you raise your work to a new level.  A creative person learns to take from an existing piece and come up with something new.  At some point you learn to use the things you like and put your own spin on it.  Eventually you sound like yourself. [emphasis added] (pg. 153)

Oh my.  How I love that last sentence. 

And I wonder how you know when you've arrived?

Signed,
B. U.

Sometimes as songwriters we bemoan the fact that we have only a few minutes to communicate something moving and profound, whereas a novelist has hundreds of pages at his disposal.  (I must admit that I personally find the idea of "hundreds of pages" rather daunting.)

Nevertheless, this quote has besieged and confronted me for weeks:  It is famously rumored that in response to a challenge to write an entire story in six words, Ernest Hemingway wrote this economic piece of genius: 

"For sale:  Baby shoes, never worn." 

It is also said that Hemingway believed those six words to be his very best work.  (Jesus' Chairs, by Robert Sterling)

Enough said.

Signed,
Own lee siks

So I'm reading - day after day - about Solomon's fame, wealth, wisdom.

-  The Queen of Sheba heard...and came for a visit.
-  The king made silver as common as rocks.
-  ....the palace he had built, the meals that were served, the impressive array of court officials and sharply dressed waiters, the lavish crystal, the elaborate worship....
-  A fleet bringing in cargo of "gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks."
-  Everyone who came brought gifts--artifacts of gold and silver, fashionable robes and gowns, the latest in weapons, exotic spices, and horses and mules--parades of visitors, year after year.

This guy's got it made, right?  Not only wealth, but wisdom from God!  And then this morning I reached I Kings, Chapter 11.

Gulp.

Paragraph 1 - "King Solomon was obsessed with women..." 
Paragraph 2 - "Solomon openly defied God..."
Paragraph 3 - "God was furious with Solomon...."
Paragraph 4 - "God said to Solomon, 'Since this is the way it is with you, that you have no intention of keeping faith with me and doing what I have commanded, I'm going to rip the kingdom from you and hand it over to someone else.'"

My heart sank as I read Chapter 11.  I knew it was coming, but it seemed so incredibly real today.  And it seemed so sudden.  Listen to the blunt, straight-talk of that first verse - the verse where everything began to unravel.  "King Solomon was obsessed with women." 

That's our world!  That's the way it is with famous people!  (And not so famous people.)  With artists!  (And songwriters...like Solomon and David...and us.) 

How I wish I could buy yet another copy of Somebody's Daughter (the DVD from Music for the Soul on pornography) and give it to Solomon.  Maybe it would have made a difference.  Maybe.  ....   It's too late for Solomon.  But it's not too late for us, or the people we know and love.  I'm begging you to buy this DVD, watch it, and then ask God to quicken your heart to recognize those He may want to see it.  Maybe the person you "recognize" isn't someone who is addicted to pornography themselves, but they may be the gateway - the channel - to get it to someone who does!  Your church's staff members?  Absolutely!  Friends who have teenage sons?  No question about it.  Just spread it around!!! 

My heart is heavy this morning for the Solomons and Davids of our world.  For the songwriters who have so much to say, and who Satan so desperately wants to bring down.

Signed,
Ree Phooz - and Fyte Bakk

Do you ever feel like you've been put "on hold"?   And have you ever noticed that when someone puts you on hold, there's usually zero chance to decline the offer?  "Can you hold, please?"  CLICK.  ....

Here's the connection.  Every now and then I like to look at my quotes file.  It seems that a lot of my favorite quotes have to do with working hard, being consistent, moving forward, taking risks, taking the next step, productivity, etc.  ....  But tonight I noticed one called the Law of Delay.  That grabbed my attention.  You see, I typically try to do some writing every day...and I try to do a LOT of writing as MANY days as possible.  And I'll admit this past Tuesday was a huge day of co-writing, plus Thursday was a smaller co-writing day as well.  These are good things.  They stretch me.

But that means it's been over a week since I first started working on this one idea, all by myself, that I really, really like.  I desperately want to get back to it!  A tiny piece of me worries that I'll finally get back to it and I won't remember what it was I even liked about what I was doing.  Waaa!!  Gotta get back to it ASAP!  But I can't seem to find the time.  Of course, I know that God wants me to do other things in life too - specifically the many things that are needful when you're a wife and mother.  (Today, for example, was thoroughly consumed by soccer semi-finals.  After double overtime and a shoot-out, we lost.  No State Championship on Tuesday for us.  I was SO exhausted after the game, and all I did was sit in the bleachers!)  So, yes, these are things I need to experience and embrace in life.  They're part of who I am.  They're part of what God's given me to do.  ....  So I'm doing them,  and meanwhile experiencing a personal songwriting delay that can be frustrating at times. 

That's why the Law of Delay spoke to me.  As I read it, I'm encouraged that perhaps there's more going on "behind the scenes" in my mind than I realize.  I certainly hope so.  (Redeem the time, right?)  Anyway, here it is:

“The Law of Delay: that writing which can be delayed, will be. Teachers and writers too often consider resistance to writing evil, when, in fact, it is necessary.... There must be time for the seed of the idea to be nurtured in the mind. Far better writers than I have felt the same way. Over his writing desk, Franz Kafka had one word, “Wait.” William Wordsworth talked of the writer’s “wise passiveness.” ... Even the most productive writers are expert dawdlers.... Writers fear this delay, whose great unwritten books will never be written, but, somehow, those writers must have the faith to sustain themselves through the necessity of delay.
—Donald M. Murray

So I'm trying not to fear the "delay" of today.  I guess I'm not really resisting writing.  And I'm definitely not dawdling.  And yet, there IS a delay.  I'm waiting....  Waiting....  As I wait, I pray seeds are being nurtured, and that they will bear fruit in season.  (Like - uh - maybe tomorrow?)

Signed,
Imm Pay Shent