Monday, July 4, 2011

Filling Up Pages

I received a belated birthday gift in the mail from my sister this past week.

A journal is always a great gift for me.  Whether it's from someone else, or myself!

I've kept a journal, or what I used to call a diary, for as long as I knew how to write.  I have so many journals filled up stacked in my closet. I rarely look back at them, and I sometimes fear that some day, I'll be gone, and someone will be reading things that I really only intended for myself.  So although I'm not sure why I hang on to the old ones, there's just no way I could ever get rid of them.

Lately (and maybe it's due to that fear...), I mainly use journals for songwriting.  Although that stuff feels private too, at least it would be a little harder to decipher it someone other than myself ever got a hold of it!

So this journal from my sister comes at a perfect time.  Today marks Day #1 of 90 for the "50 Songs in 90 Days" challenge that I have participated in for the last 3 years.

Right now, all that blank white space looks a little daunting.  How and with what am I going to fill those pages?  Can I really come up with something new to say, or at least a new way to say something I've written about before?

But that's the beauty of this challenge.  There's no pressure, other than self-induced pressure.  No one says these songs have to be good, or put on an upcoming CD, or sung in front of anyone.  All 50 of them are allowed to be the worst songs I've ever written...

Of course, I don't really want to spend the hours and hours and hours this will all take if it's just to write a bunch of bad songs!  So I'm hoping for some good ones that will make this all worthwhile.

90 days from today, October 1st, I will have written 50 new songs.  Good, bad, ugly or indifferent.  And regardless, I am sure I will not regret the time I spent on the endeavor.

Posted below is the final song I wrote last year, called "Pages and Pages".

8 comments:

Lisa said...

You can do it Kerri!
I love your new journal. I've just started keeping an "art" journal. I've wanted to do it for so long, but I'm scared too. I've finally decided to just go for it and not worry if someone sees it. It brings me such happiness to just draw, color and doodle and I can get lost in that journal for hours.
Looking forward to your 50 new songs. :)

Roberta said...

Ahhh...happy belated birthday Kerri! Love your journal and can't wait to see what you create in it. Hope you have had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. Fondly, Roberta

Lis said...

Belated birthday wishes! And here's to a productive 90 days of writing! I've done 30 day challenges, but 90? You go! Can't wait to hear the results :)

xo Lis

patty said...

Hey, happy birthday!! I just blogged about journaling too. Just starting into art journaling and it's the same thing - no pressure, no one even has to see the pages. Really love that! And as for those old journals (I have stacks too!), I do get a kick out of re-reading them and I have realized that there is probably no one that would ever want to take the time to sit and read them - except me. So not worried about it! Happy song-writing!!!

Robin Norgren, M.A, R-YT, Spiritual Director said...

so very excited for you to take on this adventure again! BRAVO AND AWAY YOU GO!

Jadyn said...

I am excited to see that you're participating in the 90 day challenge again and am looking forward to hearing the fruits of your labor!
I love the pages and pages song. Good luck with writing!!

Robert said...

Happy belated birthday Kerri!

Kerri said...

thanks, everyone-- so much! for the encouragement!