Defying the Fear of Failure

I’ve been caught in this web of destruction myself. You’re so scared that you’ll screw up something so important to you that you wind up taking no action at all. The fear of failure debilitates you.

The other night, I had a revelation. It went something like this:

When all else fails, remember that no one knows you (yet). No one cares what you put out onto the inter-web, except your family and friends who already love you no matter what. If you suck, people will ignore it. If you’re deliciously terrible, you’ll make tons of money on YouTube ads. If you’re good, people will be impressed and they’ll do one of two things: 1) enjoy it and move on with their day, which you’ve now impacted :) or 2) share it on their social media and tell friends about it :D

Is there really a down side here? No one cares if you’re invisible, so dare to be invisible. You might just be so remarkable, they notice you.

Here's a video to show that I dare to be invisible: "Anything" by Carolyn Mescher 

Hopefully, you'll notice.  I'm not perfect, but I keep getting better, so this is me right now. 

Write Your First Song: the self-proclaimed non-songwriter’s guide to writing a song

1. Write a list of what’s going on in your life right now, whether they’re successes, habits, relationship woes or excitement, fears, faith, whatever.
2. Pick the one you think sounds like the best song idea (you can pick a few if you’d like to see which ideas play out best)
3. Write about your chosen topic completely. Include both detail and overview. Add smells, sounds, sights, feels, senses, thoughts, how other people may perceive the situation, how other people would think or feel given the same situation.
4. Read what you wrote and pick out any lines or phrases that really hit you. Circle them. Underline any lines or phrases that seem like universal truths or things many people can relate to.
5. Look through your circled and underlined items and see if you found a cool song title, which will also be used as your “hook line”. The hook line is typically the last line in the chorus, the line that sticks with the listener.
6. We’re going to start with a basic and extremely common song structure for this first song: Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Chorus.
7. Put your hook line as the last line of your four-line chorus. Pick out other universal truths as well as some details that all relate to your hook line. Arrange them in a way that you would naturally say rhythmically. Think of a poem, like…”Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow. Everywhere that Mary went, that lamb was sure to go.” The syllable emphasizes are very rhythmic.
8. Once you have four lines you like for your chorus, all directing the listener to the hook, ie the point of the song, move on to the verses. Think about how you want to get to the chorus and what you may want to say after you’ve made your point in the chorus. You may want to start with imagery and details. You may want to start with a question. It’s really up to you what you think is an interesting first line for your song that you can finish the thought in a four line verse and have the listener ready for what’s coming in the chorus.
9. For the verse melody, you’re looking for something more conversational. Think the same rhythmic/groove feel, like you’re reading a poem in sync with certain syllables emphasized.
10. Once you have four lines you like for the first verse, move onto the second. What can you say now, after the chorus, that wouldn’t have made sense in the first verse? Is there another part of this story you’re telling that had to wait until after the chorus? Maybe there’s a twist? That’s perfect material for the second verse. Look through your notes and pull out ideas, crafting your words into four lines for the second verse.
11. Repeat your same chorus. Make sure this makes sense with what you said in verse two.
12. Read back over your song. If there are any lines you don’t like, work on crafting them into lines you do like. This is your creation. It is whatever you want it to be and whatever you make it. If it strikes a chord with you, it’s done its job.
13. Optional Melody: Your verses typically include more detail and are more conversational, so the melody is more conversational. For the chorus melody, try to jump up a third or a fifth musically. That will make the chorus stand out a little more. If you don’t know what a third or fifth is, just sing higher for the chorus to help make it stand out more.
14. Song complete!