so close to calling it quits.

[mojobone]

O, I have been there many times, including recently. The thrill is gone. Have recently begun to rewiden my circle, invite collaborators in. Sometimes I think that queasy, nothing feels right feeling is a sign that I'm gonna shed my musical skin that's too tight and dead (like my gecko does), have some sort of breakthrough. It's the old pushing-the-wall-for-weeks-and-one-day-it-moves thing. There's something about this process that induces amnesia, because I forget the reason for my unease. Time to go way outside my usual, I guess. It's good to be around people like you who understand, who are honest about it.

I'm a new member, not convinced my own spare studio recordings will cut it, although I'm eager not to have to do demos like I have for other songs that have been cut. Anyway, hope it gets better. At least TO is a powerful gathering point for music from all over the world...maybe you need a new spice in your kitchen.

Now THAT is a feeling I'm familiar with. Sometimes it's new gear that recharges the batteries; other times it's new people or new experiences. As experiences go, I can heartily recommend the Taxi Rally. Or that kickass drum sound on Adele's "Rumour Has It". It's already been a big year for groundbreaking music; Somebody That I used To Know and We Are Young sound like nothing we've heard recently, and that's a change for the better. I hope the trend continues.

[ottlukk]

Owen: I just got that pull back from the edge. Hooked up with a collaborator on this site, Andy Kotz. We did a couple of tunes together, and got the luck of the draw on TAXI's monday night broadcast. Positive reviews! You gotta keep trying, who knows when you take that one step forward that might make the difference? Ott

[Hookjaw Brown]

Many years ago, I quit paying attention to my muse. One night she left me and I cried. My wife could not understand my heartbreak. It took years of paying close attention to my feelings to get my muse back. I learned my lesson and pay constant and close attention to the whispers in my ear. I may never have "great" music, but I will have music. a constant companion, a constant joy of the sounds of the world filtered through my mind's ear.

Music is a serious profession.

[ottlukk]

Hook has it right. "music is a serious profession". way true. it's like a jig-saw puzzle. you have all these pieces you are tying to put together. you have the right lyric, but you don't have the melody. Or vice versa. you got the second verse, but maybe it should be the first. and then what you gonna do to replace the verse that didn't work? And then, the bridge? There are no Jackson Pollacks in the music business, that can just throw notes on a score, and hope the public gets conned by their random musings. People's ears want candy. And, Hook got it right: they don't want just sugar, they don't just want chocolate. They want all the ingredients blended just right. With a decent back-beat. Ott

[cardell]

Owen...my friend
What you need to do is...

Go to your biggest mirror...
Listen to your own song "Dreams"...(Great song! Says it all...)
Point your index finger at your reflection...
Do your best "You Talkin' to me?" Deniro impersonation...
Then...
Scream at yourself for NOT ...
Believing in yourself...
Smile now Laugh

Breathe life into your own song "Dreams"...

Just my psychic vision...
All the Best...
Billy

Just listened to Dreams (thanks to this thread)...

I like it and it kinda inspired me! Thanks

Stuart

[Casey H]

O, I have been there many times, including recently. The thrill is gone. Have recently begun to rewiden my circle, invite collaborators in. Sometimes I think that queasy, nothing feels right feeling is a sign that I'm gonna shed my musical skin that's too tight and dead (like my gecko does), have some sort of breakthrough. It's the old pushing-the-wall-for-weeks-and-one-day-it-moves thing. There's something about this process that induces amnesia, because I forget the reason for my unease. Time to go way outside my usual, I guess. It's good to be around people like you who understand, who are honest about it.

I'm a new member, not convinced my own spare studio recordings will cut it, although I'm eager not to have to do demos like I have for other songs that have been cut. Anyway, hope it gets better. At least TO is a powerful gathering point for music from all over the world...maybe you need a new spice in your kitchen.

Ruth makes an excellent point. Collaboration is an excellent way to up your game and breathe new life into it... “A new spice in the kitchen”, as so eloquently put.

It's so competitive out there. Collaboration can often take a song from good to great and 'great' is what's needed. This can run the gamut from actual co-write (music and lyrics), to co-production, to work for hire, etc. My most successful tracks are a result of collaboration.

And regardless of that, as Chuck (crs7string) put it, “It’s not a marathon, it’s a sprint”… So there will be lots of ups and downs.

Best of luck!
Casey

[guitarhacker]

I get that feeling..... and it usually passes.

Stay focused on the goal.

I'd hate to quit and then one day die and when God is talking to me have him tell me that if I had not quit, the big break he had planned for me was scheduled to happen with the next song.... the one I didn't write because I gave up.

[ruthgree]

So how are you all doing? I'm finding that one incentive to write is that life's gotten so busy with nonmusic activities that those barely-eked-out sweet stolen moments in my studio feel like giving in to a hidden vice. In a very good way.

Collaborating is great -- happily unpredictable. Sometimes it helps because I realize that, for a particular song, I really have all I need to get the job done right. Other times it helps because no way in hell would I alone have come up with what we two (or three) did. It's why I have Cajun, Christian, pop, folk, and even kids' songs in my catalog. It's helpful when getting feedback too, because, in weaker moments, you can think to yourself, "Well, it wasn't >me< who wrote that bit you think is lame..." or "I shouldn't have given in on that point." I've learned a lot from my collaborators, too, both musically and lyrically. Most of the songs I've had cut and released or broadcast were cowrites, yet I've been told my strongest material is my solo work. Maybe the strong stuff needs to be mixed with a groove, something fizzy, like Scotch and soda does.

Anyway, gonna have a (RARE!) weekend retreat and get writing done. Pick up your swords (or axes) and cut your way through the resistance. I'm going to do nothing but that for the next two days. You are all my witnesses.

[Kolstad]

Many wise words have already been said, so I can't add much. But I know that feeling for sure!

I'm thinking that if music is something you can "quit", it's just another job, not who you are - a musician/artist/creative person. So, I believe the mere fact that you have the idea that music is something you can quit, means, that you can actually dig deeper in your efforts to establish and sustain your identity as a musician. One way to do that is to read. That's what I do.

Two books have helped me a lot, not excatly to become succesful in some universal sense, but to set my own agenda as a creative person, and be happy following the path I've set for myself.

One is "The artists way" by Julia Cameron, and the other is "The van gogh blues" by Eric Maisel.
Both can be found in online bookstores.

There's some great vids on Maisel on Utube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL07PFP3eTo
And Julia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpDcrAVq ... re=related

[thekman]

I love threads like this! It's so nice to know that you all feel the way I do.

For some reason we feel ill or guilty if we stop creating. We are ARTISTS!!

I say Rock On because we have to!

K