Hoarders & What We Save For Later

I have anxiety in cluttered spaces. Rooms with lots of knick-knacks bring out my claustrophobia.  (Which is a damn shame because I really love a good knick-knack.)  Lots of my friends hold onto items because they think they'll use them later.  My dad did that. And while I can respect that kind of resourcefulness, having lots of stuff lying around just makes me tense.

Although I gotta hand it to dad: anything I ever needed was usually up in our attic.

Anyway, this was an interesting week for me as a songwriter.  A couple months ago, a melody came to me while I was waking up one day. I wished I had the words to go with it, but there was really no story that seemed to fit with those chords.  And you know, if that melody had been a knick-knack, I would have thrown it out immediately before it had a chance to gather dust.  Instead, I wrote it down and put it in a notebook.

Then yesterday--after a hard conversation with a friend--words started pouring from me so easily and quickly that I had a hard time writing them all down.  So I pulled out the notebook with the melody, and a powerful song--that started weeks ago--was completed in a matter of minutes.

And all because I wasn't too quick to toss out that melody.

Reader, I'm in no position to judge anybody, but I learned a lesson this week: providing there's a little organization involved, it pays to hold onto some things, especially if they could be a part of your creations as an artist or musician or writer.  While they may not have immediate use, those little bits and pieces of inspiration may come in handy later on.  Sometimes clutter really pays off.

With that, I'm off to keep writing.  I got a little good news this week: one of my tunes is a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition.  While that kind of recognition doesn't make or break my relationship with music, sometimes it's just nice to have a little boost to keep you going.  See you next Monday. -Em

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