So I keep telling myself that I need to write more often so as to satisfy all you clamoring masses (that’s right, I’m talking to all 2 of you).  I’ve recently discovered Google Reader, a handy-dandy web tool designed to keep you updated on all the blogs you follow…all in one, convenient place.  (Who do I follow?  Bethany Dillon’s, Brooke Fraser’s, Priscilla Ahn’s, aaaand…my daily laugh, the tongue-in-cheek site Unhappy Hipsters.)  I often find myself wishing that some of  them were updated more often…and then I look at my own neglected site…*avoids eye contact*

Gosh, April just flew by!  But it was a good month.  I had the privilege of playing at Merge Cafe and the even greater privilege of getting to duet with Jason Thompson.  And Refuge Cafe was a momentous occasion indeed, because I played with a BAND for the first time ever!  (A big thanks to my brother Jason for doing an amazing job on drums/percussion and also to guitarist extraordinaire Anthony Fetterhoff)  I dig the band-feel and it’s been sparking some ideas for future performances and recording.

So, friends, I have been faced with one heckuva writer’s block for the last, ehhh, 6 months or so.  It’s been a scorcher of a dry spell, let me tell you.  It’s frightening to me to feel so uninspired.  But it’s also been a really revealing, really…humbling…past 6 months.  I’ve become very aware that my songwriting isn’t up to the level I want it to be, that I’m a tiny fish in a sea of other singer/songwriters, that I’ve got so much to learn about performing, that, haha, I don’t really know what I’m doing…  I’m realizing that creativity is partially about inspiration but mostly hard work.  I’m realizing that a good song speaks for itself, and like it says in the Hebrew Proverbs, “a man’s gift will make room for him” (Proverbs 18:16, in case you’re interested).   And I’m realizing that without God’s hand in it and on it, it’s all just noise.

And all that has led up to where I’m at now: the pondering stages of working on a new album…”brewing”, if you will.  I think the dry spell is on its way out.  I am discovering that although I’m very much someone who likes her alone time when it comes to songwriting, I also tend to be more creative when I’m around other people.  A group of friends of mine get together every Tuesday night for dinner and fellowship, and lately they’ve been turning into what I call “song-brewing sessions”.  There’s a piano in the house, so it’s an easy way for me test out ideas on my captive audien — I mean, my friends.    It’s not quite writing, yet more than pondering…it’s just brewing.  Like a cuppa tea.  Steeping the teabag of thoughts into my cup of musical hot water.  Ha.

So what has been brewing in my mind lately?  Well, it’s a conglomeration of thoughts and music and books I’m reading and movies I’ve watched.  Too many thoughts to say, but I CAN tell you what music:

Future of Forestry – Traveler EPs
MoZella – Can’t Stop
Ingrid Michaelson
Jon Foreman – Betrayal
Amy Stroup – Hold on to Hope
Vivaldi – The Four Seasons
and a dash of Colbie Callait

And the books I’m reading:

Be My Guest – Conrad Hilton (there was a free copy in the room of the Hilton Garden Inn that I stayed in whilst on the Orlando trip; it’s Conrad Hilton’s [the founder of the Hilton hotels and a really great businessman] autobiography)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy – J.R.R. Tolkien (I think I’m halfway through The Two Towers?)
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Joshua – Bible

And the movies I’ve watched:

Gladiator
500 Days of Summer
The Blindside

Only God knows what’s to come out of all of it.