Beyond The Shallows (a.k.a. Winging It!)
It’s a Sunday mid-morning in mid-May and time I write a little something before this month runs away. My personal promise to write monthly and consistently seems to actually be working. (Incredible achievement for me!). I don’t want to write for writing’s sake however. Sometimes I catch myself and wisely delete entries that seem to just shout ‘Hey YOU, Check me out. I’m doing so darn well. Come to my gig. Come to my other gig and also buy my cool stuff!’
In the last month I had some great tours, shows and high five moments but I sure as hell am winging this! I don’t believe I have ever ‘WUNG’ it (is that even a word?) as big and wide as I am now. Freaks the bejeesus out of me sometimes. A little cash comes in and before you know it I’m maxing out my credit card to pay for future flights for interstate tours. My life seems to be an extreme sport of contrasts too; Whilst featuring in a film documentary that is launching in a Mexican film festival I am simultaneously on the other side of the world driving my van Lady-Luck performing to new audiences in a string of out-of-town bars that most likely wouldn't notice if I sang in Cantonese. Mucho Bizarro &... totally humbling.
Bowie once compared creativity to a swimming pool and advised the ideal place to be is where you no longer feel safe and your feet can’t touch the bottom. Outside of your comfort zone is where your best work lies. So with my feet rapidly treading water I somehow keep writing, booking tours and shows on the smell of an oily rag.
Yes I am totally human; I have my freak-out-about-money moments. On an even badder day I might be seduced into the spiral of comparing myself to others....until I slap myself out of it and remember "I am the only me. No one else is me. Carry On!"
It is so easy as a self-employed creative in a completely self-generated career to feel like you have not done enough, created enough and worked hard enough...BUT as I write this blog I am struck with the simple truth that can be so easily forgotten; The simplicity of the actual dream itself;
TO DO WHAT I LOVE and LOVE WHAT I DO
I didn’t think ‘success’ would look like this but I gotta admit my goals were always to DO WHAT I LOVE and LOVE WHAT I DO. I only need to fine-tune the income sich so I can deliver more of what I love making! With arts funding cuts busier than a barber shop we need to think outside the box. So I pose this to you all; If every person buys one ticket to one live gig & one theatre show per year it could dramaticaly improve the arts. You, dear friend and obvious music fan, are most likely doing this already but perhaps you have a friend or relative that isn't doing it and might like to experience a live show with you, or a piece of art for their birthday or special occasion? Every tiny bit makes a BIG difference.
I am about to start driving down the coast in my van Lady-Luck to do some songwriting in NSW, write by the sea, collaborate with another female musician in Lismore and then perform for the SONGBIRDS concert this Thursday 19th at The Gollan Hotel with a bevvy of singing angels. (Check out my gig page for more info). This rest of May see's me continuing work on the Mexican story album and preparing for my new part-time teaching role as Lyric Writing lecturer at Brisbanes JMC Academy for the Bachelor Of Music Students.
Yup, I shall continue to juggle my many roles and WING IT! I raise my glass and toast to all of us living our lives with more meaning and daring to swim beyond the shallows.
Love Abbie
x
A Photo Gallery of Doing What I LOVED Last Month...
Estoy Aqui Por una Noche - The trailer to the new film featuring Abbie & Twin Tones in Mexico. Now showing at film festivals overseas. Fingers crossed it gets shown in Australia later in 2016!