The Comfort of Friends

So I've been thinking on this blustery March day that in order to be a musician/songwriter one needs to cultivate and maintain friends who celebrate and support you. You can't do this gig in a vacuum. It's impossible. The spark that ignites when like-minded folks share ideas and listen to yours is amazing.

It's been a long six months in the winter cold of Ontario. Don't get me wrong, a lot of it was and is very good. I just completed a 30-day poetry challenge. I'm writing lyrics albeit without tunes and loving the freedom it gives me. I've even been writing new words to old Beatles' songs just using the chord structure. It's not making me any money but it's keeping my songwriting muscles toned.

But I miss my fellow writers, I miss the face to face sparking that comes with just messing around on guitars on a Friday night. I miss the thrill of talking about a new song idea and getting inspired right then and there to write something. I miss the new chord shapes and melodies that come from another artist's brain. These are all things that shape me as a writer and cannot be replaced with canned music.

I don't think the reclusive writer's life in a Paris garret is my thing. I like having the comraderie of my friends around. I like the conversations about stuff that seem to dance in my head.

I like the forced isolation for the discipline of focus. Very little distraction in this part of the world and when it's this cold, going out is something well thought out....but I would so love to walk to the corner coffeeshop and see who's hanging.

But soon enough I'll be back in my locale, listening to road stories and sharing a few of my own. Who knows, it might spark a song or two? You never know....