I am dropping by to say hello. What can I say about this last month? There have been many situations where I have had to stop and let go. Realize that I can’t rush in and save the day. My habit has been to do this. It is a habit I am trying to change. Someone told me recently that this is something that type A people do. They see everything as urgent. I have told myself that if no one is bleeding it isn’t urgent. Then we have this life of COVID and there is an urgency in a continue reading…
singer/songwriter
Grateful for Connection
I am so grateful that it is possible to connect with you in this way. I have been thinking a lot about listening these days. Listening to myself, choosing who I want to listen. Choosing what I want to listen to. I love to talk and that is the skill that I have developed. I have realized recently that I am a good speaker and I love to do it. I was so looking forward to doing that mid-March. I was booked to present my Signature Concert to a group of United Church folks. In my Signature Concert I speak continue reading…
Stop Pushing
The end of February is fast approaching. I have continued to spend time thinking about how I want to spend my time. Yes well I like to think, being a libra and all. I realized at the end of January that putting out my EP in April was too quick. I had been already to go- I had contacted the reproduction guy and the bio writer as well as the artist. Then I realized no – I had been pushing once again. I promised myself when I retired that I would try to use my energy in a different way. continue reading…
Here we go , we are in 2020
As the first month of 2020 gets under way, there are lots of things to think about. How do I want to spend my time? What do I want to be doing? I have a tendency to take on more projects then are likely wise. I had a music colleague say this week “ I think that we get dragged away- we are afraid of what we really want to be doing.” This struck a chord with me. I think that I am doing what I want to be doing and then I wonder. I want to be writing is continue reading…
Showing Up and Letting Go
It is the last day of 2019 and I have been reflecting on this past year and the past decade. The themes for 2019 have been showing up and letting go. I have realized that it is so important to show up. I experienced this intensely when I went on tour in May. The connections I made with old friends and new fans were inspiring and hopeful. I had a house concert in May at a friends home where about 15 old high school friends showed up. I went to a church school for most of my high school years continue reading…
Reconnecting and Touring
I have been busy finalizing things for the ten days that I will be away on tour. I have six shows in that time period and will be visiting friends and family as well. I seem to be able to do this every time I go away on a short tour. I am extremely grateful for the friends that have stepped up to be hosts for a couple house concerts around the Calgary area and for the friends that have offered me a bed as well. It is a very rewarding experience to be reconnecting with folks from my high continue reading…
Be the Unexpected
I have been working on a signature program (keynote address) this last week.This is a program of songs combined with stories that add up to an inspirational message. My business coach told me a while ago that this would be a good idea. I had a few friends over on the weekend to run through my material and they gave me some feedback. I am so grateful for the helpful feedback. The main thing I need to do is to be more specific and focus on the three main things that I want to say. This was helpful to hear continue reading…
Transitions
I realized a few weeks ago that transitioning out of my life as a nurse was going to be a little more challenging then I thought. I will be retiring July 1st. I have been so tired from my work as a nurse that I had assumed that there would be no issues with this change. Then I realized that I have a lot of pride in what I have done in my nursing life and that I wanted to leave it in a thoughtful way. I have come at this in a couple of ways. Firstly, I went to continue reading…
Christmas is nearly here.
Christmas is nearly here. I decided this year I would play a few shows during December as part of my music biz plan. People like music at Christmas and I had a Christmas single to play so it seemed like a sound decision. I have enjoyed playing although I have only just gotten into the spirit of the season. I received a couple Christmas cards a couple days ago and that helped. It is interesting to sing Christmas tunes and not actually be in the Christmas spirit. It was fun to have people sing along. It was also a stretch continue reading…
Five Years of Music
I have recently heard that we overestimate what can be done in a year and underestimate what can be done in five years. I was thinking about this as I went up the elevator to my nursing job this morning! I began to reflect about all that I have been able to accomplish in five years. Five years ago I was driving to Saskatoon every couple weeks to do pre-production work on my first album Awakening. That first album was released the following September. I had a lovely release. I also didn’t know anything about the music biz. In January continue reading…