#1 Creative Hack

Today I found myself watching the Oscars from 1965. How interesting it was to see the ceremony, much less lavish and much more intimate than the one they have today. So many actors and actresses I recall from older films and musicals. My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins and The Unsinkable Molly Brown all vying for awards. The most beautiful moment for me was watching Audrey Hepburn present the award for Best Actor, and she was so sincerely thrilled to announce that Rex Harrison had won. She flew into his arms when he got on stage. So wonderful.

It reminded me of how lucky I have been to have the support of so many people as I have made my meandering creative journey towards freeing my voice, writing my perceptions, expressing myself in song and sound. Many of the composers and songwriters I have come to know are extremely generous with their time and knowledge, honestly celebrating the success of others and sympathizing when things are less successful (while offering sage advice on how to make it better). I can truly say that I would not be where I am today without the help of others who willingly listened to my attempts at composition and production, shared their expertise with me, and encouraged me to keep going inspite of the setbacks.

If there's a Creative Hack I can recommend it is to surround yourself with people on the same path. This is one reason I really enjoy participating in things like
FAWM (February is Album Writing Month- http://fawm.org/)
50-90 (50 Songs in 90 Days- http://fiftyninety.fawmers.org/)
NaNoWriMo (Ntnl Novel Writing Month- http://nanowrimo.org/)
TAXI Forum (http://forums.taxi.com/)
Just Plain Folks (http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthreads.php)
and others.

Why not look around today and see if there's a Facebook group, forum, message group or online community you can join? You might be glad you did.