"The Elephant Diet" Day # 5

One bite at a time.  That's how you eat an elephant they say.

Today was a small bite.

I started my day around 6:00 a.m., did vocal warm-ups while driving to church, worked at the church again - longer than I had planned - went to the gym, ran errands, came home to shower, answer e-mails and make supper preparations.

Tonight I head back to the church. It's Christmas time...rehearsals, etc.

My one bite toward the Christmas CD was small, but thanks to my "to do" list that I made last night, I was able to look at it and quickly identify what I could do to work at it, even if it was only for 20 minutes or so.

I started getting my songs moved into one file and getting them typed so I can easily find them and re-write them.

A few minutes with my husband and I'm off to the church again.

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 4 (video blog)

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 3

Today was a full day!  I worked at the church where I serve part time so I didn't have much time to eat my elephant.  This was definitely a 'one bite at a time' day for the Christmas project.

However, since my job is music at the church, any practicing I do on the piano or even in singing, means I am contributing to anything else I do musically because it's all working toward being a better musician and each affects the other.

When I got home, I made supper, spent a long time on the phone trying to deal with a credit card machine dispute on my statement (from sales at concerts) and really felt like just collapsing on the couch afterward.

Though I did take a moment to rest, I was interrupted by the phone ringing, so that ended the rest.  That gave me what I needed though to get up and work on my elephant.

This will be the good thing about daily blogging.  It will keep me accountable to stick with it because I need to let you know what I'm doing each day toward the project.

So I spent some time just sitting and praying.  This is no small undertaking in so many ways, so I think that any time I can spend praying over it is time well spent.

Next, I wrote another verse to a song about taking a ride in the sleigh.  I love snow and this will be my second snow song on the project.  It needed another verse so I took my first stab at verse # 3.  I'm sure it will need improvement, but getting something down on paper is another step in the process.  Now I can go back later and re-write it.

So long....on this rainy Monday.

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 2

Sundays are days that I normally try to keep as a sabbath, so I try not to do anything toward music projects on this day. But I found myself listening to Christmas music on the way home from church and that makes my mind drift toward my own project and what it might sound like.

I was listening to David Spencer's Christmas project.  He's one of the guys I am considering for production of my Christmas CD.  He's very creative in his arrangements, taking old tunes and making them very interesting.  So what might he do with my tunes I wonder?

I am going to try a song with him and see how it goes.  There's no better way to know what it's like to work with someone than to actually work with them on something.

I sent him my "Night of Miracles" song and will look forward to hearing what he does with it.  Ed Cash's company (Chris Tomlin) recommended his name to me and I've liked what I've heard of the music he produces.

Other than that, I've tried to keep my mind off the project today.  It's a good exercise in controlling my thoughts.  That's something God has been working on in me...teaching me to take my thoughts captive and renewing my mind with His thoughts and not letting it roam wherever it wants....which is usually toward worry and fear or in this case, obsession over all the details of a project.  That's a whole different kind of elephant!

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 1

This morning I woke up around 6:00 a.m. with one of my Christmas songs on my 
mind.  It occurred to me that some lyrics could be stronger so I began to 
rewrite them in my head.  Another bite out of the elephant.

Years ago I was listening to a radio program about Christmas by Focus on the 
Family and in the midst of the show they used the phrase "A Night Of Miracles" 
and somehow it jumped out at me. 

I began to write a song with that title and that's the song that I woke up with 
in my head this morning. The Christmas story is full of miracles!  I have them 
numbered in my Bible and have over 33 amazing things that happened in that story 
and the song lists only a few of them.

When you're preparing to do a CD, you really want the songs to be strong so you 
work on making them the best even up to the moment of recording them.

Today I also communicated with a couple of different producers that I'm 
considering for the project.  Every producer brings something different to the 
song, so it's a hard decision.  

I worked on making a demo of the song with just a piano and vocal track so they 
get the idea of the song and sent it by email to one of the producers I'm 
considering.  I've never used him before so I'm having him do one song to see 
how it goes.  I met with him this past summer and really liked his music and his 
heart.  

Today I also listened to another demo that I was working on from last night in 
my studio.  It's always good to listen to your work with fresh ears!  I want it 
to have an "Enya" flavor.  Enya has inspired me so much over the years.  A track 
like that involves singing with yourself over and over....tons of stacked 
vocals.  You have to be sure to sing well each time because you are trying to 
match the nuances of each previous track.

The song didn't sound like I wanted it to today, so I have to figure out why and 
how to make it what I want.  A producer will certainly help get the song to the 
way I want it, but I want to have it close to what I want when I give him a demo 
of it.

Not every day will be this full of activities dedicated to a Christmas project.  
Saturdays are normally my cleaning day, bank errands and grocery shopping.  I 
got all that done, plus worked on songs in between cooking and caring for a sick 
husband.

Finishing up the day with a delightful piece of pineapple upside down cake that 
started out as a fiasco when I forgot to put the pineapples in first.  But it 
turned out ok and it tastes wonderful!

The Elephant Diet

I've always heard that if you want to eat an elephant, it's best if you eat it 
one bite at a time.  

There are two elephants I'd like to eat these days:

1) getting better and more consistent about blogging
2) producing a Christmas CD

I think the best way I can do both, is to combine the two. 

So here I go!  

I am going to blog about the journey of what it's like to do a CD project and 
let you in on the process: the decisions and hard work that go into something 
of this magnitude.  

This will be my 7th CD project.  I've also recorded 2 singles and 1 professional 
music video.  They are all big elephants, but I've eaten them all and without 
having to go into debt to do it.

Welcome to the journey of making a CD.  Hopefully as you read this, you will get 
inspired to eat your own elephant - one bite at a time.

(I have no idea what the calorie count is when eating an elephant).

# 18 Hang on to that seed! Part 1

I believe we are all born with a seed inside of us.  It might be a seed of music or teaching, etc.  As we discover our seed, we will encounter challenging soils and elements that will threaten to steal the seed.  This message encourages us to HANG on to the seed!  Fruit will come if we stick with it!

Check out this episode!