Man, Where Do We Start?
I think I’m supposed to start by letting you know that I’ve embedded affiliate link(s) in this article. Basically I tell you about something I bought that I like, and you might too. Click, buy (for no extra charge), enjoy, and I get a little kickback. Thank yeeeew.
The tough thing is, as a musician, the obvious thing for me to do would be to write about music. My music, my favorite music, songs that have recently caught my attention (Howlin’ Wolf’s “I Ain’t Superstitious” has got me right now), teaching how to play songs on guitar, how to get better, how to perform better on stage…
And I will, for sure. But also, I’m not gonna burn out.
I actually looked into blogging a long time ago, even got a “Blogging for Dummies” or “Complete Idiots” kind of book, and tried to make it the best thing since sliced bread right out the gate. I was dead set on a strict niche of songwriting, how the pros do it and how you can do it too. Still love that idea, but the mistake I made was fretting, over niche-ing, SEO, and Pinterest and all the other tricks to make sure the dang thing blew up and made money. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be stoked if this new thing made money.
What really got me thinking about blogging though was a YouTube video I saw recently by a guy named Ali Abdaal.
I mean, I like writing. I’m not by practice a blogger or fiction writer (although that is one of my many, MANY pipe dreams). But as a professional songwriter the title obviously caught my attention. Plus I had sixteen minutes and twelve seconds to spare.
I’m so glad I did because the absolutely GOLDEN nuggets I found in this video address:
Impostor Syndrome
Getting over that icky feeling of “self promotion”, and instead thinking of just showing your work and what you’re doing
The thought that you don’t write/post/create everyday because you have something to say, but you have something to say because you do this. It helps you to clarify what you think and believe, and is less a way of communicating with the world, but more about communicating with yourself.
These few points, among many others, prompted me to actually go and buy the audiobook recommended in the video: “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon. not only that, but it came in a trilogy with his other books, “Steal Like an Artist”(which funny enough happened to be on my reading list already) and “Keep Going”. I gotta say, I’m halfway through the trilogy and it’s been blowing my mind with every sentence, just gold nugget after gold nugget.
So what am I gonna do with this information? Well, impostor syndrome and analysis paralysis has plagued me all my life, and I’m no stranger to “shiny new thing” syndrome either. More or less, I hope to accomplish some of those bullet points above; clear my head, communicate with myself, and keep myself focused on what I really want to do. Not mincing words; in a lot of ways I’m doing this for myself.
However I like the idea of “showing my work”. Self promoting does indeed feel weird for me, and i think that translates to the camera every time I make a video or tweet about a song drop or something. I much prefer the idea of promotion by helping everyone who is listening to and reading my stuff.
So let’s see where this goes! I’ll definitely (probably) be sharing mostly thoughts on songwriting, guitar playing, singing, performing, and the strategies, techniques and mindsets I gravitate towards while using them. That said I can’t guarantee that I won’t drop the occasional post on; birdwatching, surfing, whiskey, shooting pool, NFTs and crypto, travel, history, Star Wars, science, bonsai, cocktails, photography, art, fiction, cooking the perfect filet mignon… You can see why I probably need to communicate with myself better.
Alrighty, not your typical, introductory article. I’m Cam. My love is Katlyn. We live in Hawaii with our two dogs. I make music. That’ll probably do for now.
