The next stage of my musical and intellectual evolution involves writing, I know that. It is why I started this blog, to give me a space that was easy enough to access and public enough that I would have to force myself to write (and post) only what I can stand behind. Whether or not anybody reads is a different matter. What is important is that I go through the exercise of articulating the ideas and theorems that invade a musician's mind.
So for 2012, I am setting goals for myself: I will carve out space and time for myself to write; I have set up the home office to better accommodate it; I will wake up earlier each morning and endeavor to not do anything else before I sit down and write each morning. (Sorry, Roscoe - your walks are now at 8 a.m.) And, I am going to continue studying with W.A. Mathieu into the new year.
What I write is of lesser concern to me at this point. I need to learn (or develop) the discipline of writing something every day. It may be song lyrics, it may be prose, it may be notes on manuscript paper. But it will be something.
Last weekend, we spent some time with some dear friends in Portland. One of them had decided that she wanted to find a word to describe the way forward in the coming year. Hers was "boundaries", as in setting personal ones and expanding creative ones. Lynda, after thought, is looking for "balance" or "consistency." I originally was going with "forward", but after reflection, that seems too vague.
So for this year, it's simple. My word is simply, "WRITE."
