Away we go

Now that we’re all caught up with my songwriting journey to this point, we’re off to the next step: I just signed up for a six-month online songwriting program called “6 Figure Songwriting.”

Wait, what happened between my last post and today?!

Here’s the story.

Two weeks ago, an ad popped in my Facebook feed about a Five-Day Sync Songwriting Challenge where someone named Cathy Heller teach participants about licensing songs for music and film. That’s something that I’ve been curious about so I signed up to learn more about it, with no obligation required.

By the end of last week, I was blown away by this “someone named Cathy Heller.” Not only is her own story inspiring, but one of her goals is to inspire and teach other people. In addition to helping others realize their songwriting dreams, she also has a podcast called “Don’t Keep Your Day Job,” which I listened to on my commute to work each morning (yes, I realize the irony), and a book of the same name coming out in November.

She’s truly amazing and inspiring, has an incredible spirit and a motivating attitude and I can’t wait to learn what she has to teach.

My first impulse was to not move forward with it for financial reasons, but I’ve been wanting to take a music class at a local community college but none were what I REALLY want to do – write songs. So I decided to look at it as an investment because this is what I truly want to do and this seemed like a perfect opportunity (that will hopefully pay for itself in the long run…) And if not now, when?

So here we are, on to the next chapter of the journey.

I’m currently in Denver on the eve of attending an all-day workshop for work and listening to very loud thunder coming from outside my hotel room window, just to paint a little picture of where I am when writing this. The flight I was on this morning was continuing on to Nashville. Is there something symbolic there? Also, the day I signed up for this course, it was my older son’s birthday, a birthday that made me the mom of a teenager for the first time, and I received a confirmation in the mail from ASCAP ( American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), which I joined during the week of the songwriting challenge, a move I have contemplated for the past year or so. So it seems like things are already moving forward!

The crazy thing is, it feels like that Facebook ad was exactly what I needed to see and that the five-day challenge was exactly what I needed to experience at this moment. A year ago, I wouldn’t have been ready. I feel like I’m ready now to take another step and learn more. I’m relieved that there may be an opportunity to share my songs that doesn’t involve performing or touring (although there’s a rock star fantasy inside me somewhere, it’s buried pretty deep inside).

This class has a private Facebook page and people are encouraged to post their own music. There are some super talented people in there and it’s a bit intimidating because their songs sound really good. Some even have EPs and professional-looking videos. As opposed to my songs recorded on a little tape recorder and posted on Soundcloud.

I think I’ll watch this video by Cathy Heller first about overcoming the Impostor Syndrome:

OK, I’m going to pick one of my songs and post it now…. Wish me luck.