January Hot 🔥 and Cold ❄️
January was hot and cold - in temperature, that is. We had the coldest temperatures in two years here in the Northeast, but I got to escape to Miami for a week. Here are some highlights of my month and where you can find me these days. How was your January??
A selfie with the wall at the South Beach Walgreen’s :)
⭐️ Social Highlights
Earlier this month I posted a few duets with the amazing Casey Bassey from Post Modern Jukebox. Here is a popular one, “Do Right,” with yours truly doing her best Jessica Rabbit impression:
🎸 Ukulele Days
Major update: I learned the Ukulele! I was inspired by Amanda Palmer’s story of how learning the Uke changed her songwriting. It’s portable and when you play, you can face the audience. I went live on Facebook when I learned it (make sure you have notifications turned on so you can join me live!) It was a messy beginning but I was determined to learn a song before the kids came home from school. I hope it inspires you to start something you’ve been waiting to do. Here is the first song I learned and recorded the next week (and yes - I know I spelled, “Somewhere” wrong, but once it’s up, you can’t take it down or edit it! 😭. This is just part of being so busy and trying to get something shared. It’s not going to be perfect!
🌅 Miami
Now that I had my Uke, I could bring it with me to Miami where I got whisked away with my husband who was asked to fill in at their hotel. I, meanwhile, wrote songs on the beach to an audience of seagulls. I decided to share the songwriting process live as well, so that others might be inspired to create their own art without judging it too much along the way.
💿 FAWM
February is Album Writing Month FAWN for short. And if you write music, it’s not too late to join FAWN.org. Weekly song challenges, daily “skirmishes” (one hour songwriting sessions with surprise prompts) and just lots of good music and camaraderie. The goal is to write 14 songs in 28 days, but it’s just a guidepost to keep you motivated. Here’s one I wrote, inspired by my teenager and the fear of time slipping too fast!
🔎 Where you can find me
I share as many songs on social media as much as I can, or in my live streams, even if I may never release them. I am committed to not releasing new music unless there is a demand for it, so you can show your “vote” by liking the posts and commenting. And sharing my posts really, really, helps get them some more reach.
I’ve been attending some great open mics recently, where I discovered artists like @redsmithmusic and therozethatstaysred_ and sharing new music. I adore this supportive spaces where you can share raw, unfinished, unpolished work without judgement.
❗️The search is over!
Finally, if you are following me, you know I was impacted by a layoff in December, so January was dedicated to interviewing! I was happy to receive multiple offers, and, let’s just say, everything is better in every way than before. I will be continuing sales training but now in healthcare tech, for MCG, a subsidiary of HEARST media.
I thought I would have so much extra time to focus on music, but what I learned about myself is I need a certain sense of security to be creative. I needed to focus my energy on finding my next role and once I did, the creativity started flowing again, and I felt like I had “permission” to focus on creative efforts.
I wonder how others have approached this with creativity.
Well, thanks for reading and I will see you here next month with another update!