These days I'm especially thankful for last month's GMA win.  That "bright spot" keeps me believing.  Keeps me dwelling in possibility.  Keeps me focused on the future.  Definitely easier some days than others....

My husband and I closed on an Ace Hardware store on Aug. 26.  I suspected the ensuing days would wreak havoc w/ my writing schedule.  Amen to THAT!  But there's still absolutely NO question in my mind that "writing" is what I'm meant to do.  I may have to take a break for a bit, but I WILL be back!  And in the meantime, I do what I can.  I write down ideas constantly.  I listen to the radio critically when I'm in the car - noticing what I like and don't like - analyzing why that's the case - and brainstorming about the next song.  I listen enthusiastically - even desperately - when my teenager wants to play a song for me.  I find myself distracted by the store's background music (today it was Taylor Swift, one of my favorites) when I'm supposed to be paying attention to the accounting software training my husband and I are going through.  I've mourned the fact that I'll miss WAJ this year (because of our first Ace Hardware convention as owners), but I registered for the Durango Songwriters EXPO in its place.  Today I sent off one of my favorite tween songs to 3 teenage girls - one in New York, one in Pennsylvania, and one in Australia.  I still faithfully read American Songwriter Magazine over my Frosted Shredded Wheat.  I actually chatted about songwriting the other day with an Ace customer, who kept coming back to find me and ask more about "which comes first - the melody or the lyric?"  I daydream about a new Ace jingle.  (Crazy, I know.)  And believe it or not, blogging is part of my "songwriting maintenance" as well...regardless of how creative or intriguing it turns out to be (or turns out NOT to be).  It may not happen as often as I'd like.  It may be less than inspired.  But I'm still here.

Here's the thing.  I'm not writing right now...and yet...I am.  "Writing" is more than working on a melody or lyric.  "Writing" is a lifestyle.  A mindset.  An identify.  A worldview. 

I am a songwriter.  I will always be a songwriter.  For now...I'm working on staying alive.

Signed,
Know Tearneen Bakk