zero360/music

Road-ie

Mar 28, 2008 sojourn, songwriting

The drive from Charlotte-Nashville went well, especially once I realized I was getting to town in Central Time. The best part about getting there “early” was I got to see Jane Godfrey, who was in town to record a podcast that never happened due to technical difficulties. We hadn’t seen each other for some time, so though ever so brief, we had an enjoyable chat. As she departed, I realized I need to eat, and made a beeline for the local Food Lion, in the rain, Friday rush hour, interesting to say the least.

As my frozen dinner microwaved into existence, I booted up and got surfing. Couldn’t get the schedule for the Write About Jesus workshops to save on my PC so I went retro with pencil and paper and wrote it out. For the best, at least this way I’ll actually look at it and make some choices. Pretty amazing lineup of sessions, it’s going to be hard to choose, for sure.

To say I’m weary is kidding myself, I’m beat. My grandiose notion of making it out are all but extinguished, not even a quick jaunt up the street to watch the Davidson-Wisconsin game, which I’ll surely kick myself for in the morning. The trick now is to stay awake long enough to a reasonable hour in high hopes of a solid 7-8 hours of  sleep… OK, do I hear 6-hours?

7:00 AM is the target for getting around and heading out for some semblance of breakfast, surely a good cup of coffee. According to the schedule, we jump with both feet into the teaching at 9:00. There are open critique sessions every hour, I’ve got 2-3 songs, but will likely keep it to two because there are some really good, and unique, sessions I want to take. I think I’ll go for Belinda Smith’s, “Finding Creativity When You Don’t Feel Creative” session first, because this is definitely an area where I struggle. At times the wear and tear of corporate jousting is a valid excuse, but it comes down to being able to get over the hump because the day job has no end in sight. 10:00 is going to be tough because there are two sessions of interest, neither repeats. One a Co-Writing Secrets panel, the other titled “His Words, Your Words”… I’ll have to play this hour by ear.

This list goes on, I’m thinking I’ll most likely hold off till the afternoon on a critique, but ultimately, I want the day to be low key for me. I just want to soak up all I can enjoy… wow, Davidson is doing a number on Wisconsin, could it be?

Over the next couple of days I’ll scribe out thoughts on what I learned and impressions of the one day event in Hendersonville. Can’t wait to see and hear what God has in store for everyone that attends. I pray a special blessing for all those traveling distances, and for the instructors as they impart their God given wisdom to make us better writers and artists, not for the sake of music or the industry, but for the sake of the Gospel.

Tags: Gospel, Nashville, songwriting, write about Jesus