Thanksgiving and Songwriting

Today we hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. It was a very enjoyable experience and I am glad we were able to. We did not have a large number of guests but it was still very nice and we felt privileged all the same.

Right now, I am home alone while my wife is working overnight at Target for their huge Black Friday shebang. Kinda lonesome here. I believe this will make the third or fourth night apart for us since we have been married. Don't really like it.

Ash actually likes working Black Friday but it is taxing. Tomorrow we are going to the fam's house for further festivities and she will be doing it on no sleep. She says she will be fine but I remember what that was like, working a third shift and then going straight into some activity the next day without sleeping. I did that before when I was working two jobs for a while. Occasionally had to work an overnight at the gas station and then go to the library first thing in the morning. It is not very easy to do.

Just wrote another song. I do pretty much every time I pick up the guitar for longer than 2 minutes lately (which averages around 2 or 3 times a month). It sounds alright but I think it is a little sad which is unusual for my music. It just came out that way I guess. Probably won't keep it. 90% of the songs I write I just end up throwing away or forgetting. In a way, I don't really mind that. For a long time I struggled with that. Anytime I wrote something that sounded even remotely like a song, I would have to write it down and practice it and never forget it. But eventually I began thinking very differently. I learned that my greatest goal wasn't just to write some good songs. My goal was to become a songwriter. Someone who could sit down with the guitar or piano or whatever and write a song every time. Now, instead of clinging to every piece I write, I find a strange pleasure in writing songs and throwing them away. Each time I do, I bolster my confidence that the next time I sit down to write I will create another song and it will be better. Today I have written probably hundreds of songs and kept less than fifty. Probably less than thirty of those I have actually played for someone and less than a dozen I think I have performed before an audience. Anyway, I don't know why I am writing about this. I started writing about the great holiday and then.....whatever.

I guess that is all. Oh, I think I will leave a link here to the recent article about George and I performing at Cuppa for those who have not seen it. It was nice and I recommend anyone who can make an effort to swing by there sometime for some great coffee and some cool performances.