BRAIN SHAVINGS
Hello Readers. I’m reporting to you from New York City. I’m back living in Times Square again, working on the musical. There isn’t much that doesn’t seem artificial about it except the poo on the sidewalk. I don’t mean this in a snotty way like “New York is fake!” I mean it as in, this is an entertainment district constructed for tourists first and New Yorkers second or maybe fifth. Grandness and brightness loom. Since it’s the holiday season the bling is turned up to eleven. The largeness makes the cold seem colder and the crowds seem more of an obstacle as Paul and I walk to work down around 23rd. It’s only a 35 minute walk, so in theory it should be easy. Nope. I have windburn on my face pretty bad. My upper lip is a scab. I can feel a head cold poking around for any weakness in my defences. This is the grind part, the part that wears me out; getting to and from work. I could cab but it’s too expensive and slow. I could take the subway but I’m about to spend all day on an uncomfortable metal chair shoehorned into a tiny, carpeted shoebox with no air for a seven hour workday with eight other people, so I’d like some air and some exercise. This is not a way I would choose to live but I love my coworkers and we have a very happy, productive time together.
This is the fifth day since I got here from Vermont, and the fourth day since mixing the record was finished. Egad! There is never time to stop and celebrate a little accomplishment. It warps you. The record is now being mastered and it might even be finished-finished? I haven’t had a second to check. After work at the musical factory there is book press to do, and then maybe a chicken finger before walking home. Whew! I face-plant the second I walk in the door of my hotel. There are ink marks all over my pillowcase from the nights I fall asleep with pens in my hair. (which is most nights)
The next three months are solid work, BUT I’m going to be bringing you some book excerpts; stuff that was edited out for length. Stuff I will be sad you don’t see if I don’t put it up here. It will be exclusive for paying subscribers as will new music which, I’d like to share some of soon as well. Subscribe and stay tuned!
What sort of accomplishments did you miss feeling celebratory about that you were too busy to contemplate and pat yourself on the back for? What kind of celebration would you like to throw for yourself, however big or small?
Below is from the day we got to work with a string section. Mmmmmmmmm…
XO.
Ink scribbles on the pillowcase from pens stuck in your hair when you fall into bed -- what an evocative image. You're making art even in your sleep, even in the midst of the city, the chill, the exhaustion.
Ooof, Vermont to NYC is a big change. Glad you're there making new stuff!!
I've had a doozy of a year--a sudden change that brought me and my nomadic ways to an abrupt and unwelcome halt in the form of a painful autoimmune disease was the catalyst. So I'm learning to throw myself small celebrations for accomplishments that have less to do with driving solo through vast empty country to find new vistas, climbing new ridge lines, and communing with wildlife and more to do with breathing deeply, accepting, pivoting, and seeing this as a new season that also has much to offer me. Thank you for asking. It's a good reminder that celebration is an important part of whatever we're doing.