I’ve been wanting to start my own blog for a couple of years now and this morning I got the push that I needed to just go for it. So what’s been holding me back? I can probably list a ton of excuses but it can all be summed up with one word.. “Fear.” As someone that has worked in music most of my life, that vulnerable feeling of putting yourself and your creations out there is nothing new. However, this is a completely different creative outlet than what I’m use to so it's all new to me.
For a while I had been writing a couple hundred words everyday as part of my morning routine using a digital notebook called Penzu. Some mornings I’d get in the zone and I’d end up with 1000 words before I knew it. These writings started taking shape into what I could see becoming a blog. The theme of my writings seemed to be about what I’ve experienced and learned throughout my journey with music.
Overtime I ended up with about 20 blog ideas of which I narrowed down to my top 5 favorite. I spent a lot of time trying to perfect them so I could be confident when clicking the “publish” button on my blog. I’d keep revising paragraphs until they didn’t make sense to me anymore. I even thought about getting someone on fiverr to edit them. In the end, this perfectionist approach is what lead me to a standstill and I fell out of the habit of writing daily altogether.
It’s funny though, because when it comes to releasing music, I know nothing is ever perfect. There’s always going to be that one thing in a song that you wished you had done differently, yet the listeners and fans would never know the difference. You just get to a point where you can live with your creation and then release it for others to interpret as they will. Then onto the next. That is what I’m aiming for in writing as well.
Each of us as individuals are works in progress. Everyday we get the chance to create and present ourselves to others in all of our incomplete glory. Imagine if we never went outside or showed ourselves to the public until we were the perfect human. We’d be inside our whole lives. By sharing our creations, we’re giving the consumers of our content the ability to feel something different, learn something about themselves and others, or provoke new curiosities.
The point is, it’s ok to leave a touch of raw vulnerability in what you release to the world. That’s what makes it “you.” Don’t rob people of the opportunity to experience your unique perspective.
So what gave me the push to finally start my blog today? Today is Monday July 18, 2022. I try to do my ideal morning routine on Monday’s in hopes it’ll carry over for the rest of the week. I woke up early, meditated, worked out, made some music, did some follow-ups, then I was ready to get to work. What was missing from my morning routine was writing. It has been months since I’ve given any thought to making a blog but something compelled me to go on youtube and search “make money blogging.” Now, my goal isn’t to make money through writing by any means. It’s more about sharing my experiences as someone that has dedicated their life to music, in hopes that it can help someone else along their journey.
The first video that came up based on my search query was called “How Writing Online Made me a Millionaire.” The title seemed a little click-baity but I decided to give it a shot. The first thing I noticed was that I recognized the content creators name, “Ali Abdaal.” I listen to a lot of podcasts and it seems like I’m always hearing his name come up. In fact, the podcast I was listening to earlier at the gym called “Modern Wisdom” brought him up in relation to some productivity advice. I watched the video and was like “Damn, this is relatable AF!” It wasn’t really so much about how to get rich by making a blog, but rather how to get out of your head, over your fears, and just put yourself out there. I’d highly recommend watching it for whatever creative endeavor you’re thinking of taking on.
In the video, Abdaal recommended this book called “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon. I immediately downloaded it on Kindle. It’s a fairly quick read so I got through about half of it before I put it down to start doing my own writing.. which is this blog post your reading. Between these 2 pieces of inspirational content I felt ready to start sharing. So thanks Austin and Ali for the push!
One thing that really hit home in Ali Abdaal’s video is the feeling that anything you write about has already been written about by someone else, so why does the world need another article about the same ol’ sh!t? Well.. because even if there’s been a billion articles written about a certain subject, there’s never been one written from your perspective about your experiences. Even if you made a blog about all your failures in life, that’s valuable content for someone out there that is currently struggling with what you’ve already been through and overcome.
The same can be said for writing songs. A million people have written songs with the same 4 chords and love song lyrics. So why write another love song? We all experience love and the same set of emotions but in different ways. The shared feeling is what connects us but your unique experience is what can make it stand apart from the other 60,000 songs that are uploaded to Spotify everyday (what?!). You ever listen to a song and think “Wow, this song explained exactly what I’m going through better than I ever could”? That’s the beauty of the creative exchange between creator and consumer.
As a word of advice to myself and to anyone that’s still reading, don’t be afraid to share what you’ve learned. I’ve been on this planet for 38 years now and creating music has been part of my life for 32 of those years. I’ve had to atleast learned a few things along the way that can help someone else in their journey, wether they’re just starting out or they’re a pro in search of a new perspective.
It’s too early for me to declare a schedule of how often I’ll post or what exactly the content will be about, but I gotta start somewhere. The same “fears” that existed before my first blog post will still be there I’m sure, just as they are for music after all these years, but you learn to accept them and use them to your benefit.
On that note, I’ll be back soon with some more writings. Follow me on Instagram and check out my website for more of an audio/visual look into what I do. Thanks for reading
-Tony