Beginnings of the Struggle

My iPhone/alarm clock goes off. 9:00.

Day 1.

My alarm hasn’t gone off like that since the first week of August, the last day of the Summer season of my “real job.” That job consists of arriving at 8 am, 15 minute morning recess, 30 minute lunch, 15 minute afternoon recess, quitting time at 4. No cell phone, no internet, no social hour. No distractions. And during working hours, we work. No sitting around doing nothing; there’s always something to be done.

Yes, it is like being in elementary school all over again. But that job has taught me something important about myself. When I have 8 hours of the day reserved for working, and it is clear what I am supposed to be doing, I can be extremely efficient. I can get a great deal accomplished.

So this is my goal for the next three months. Structured working time during which I will work on music, and only music. No distractions. For 3 months, it is my day job. And I will approach it with the same urgency and fear of disappointment or failure with which people approach their job. Except this time I am accountable to myself.

It will not be easy.

The alarm sounds at 9:00 on day 1. It is 10:30 before I drag myself out of bed. Not great, but an improvement. Previously I had been sleeping in till 1 or 2 pm. Baby steps.

Time to write. I sit down at the piano and tinker around. I stare at my computer. I grab some staff paper and try to write some notes. Just write. Just write something. I can’t.

11:00. Time is wasting. Well let’s start on something menial while we are waiting for inspiration to strike. I pull up one of the pieces I wrote for Albert in March, because it needs to be scored out.

So that’s all I get done on day 1. I get about half of the parts for “Fabula Venera” scored out. I don’t feel like today is completely wasted, but I also am not yet accomplishing what I need to accomplish. Goal #2 for this project has become to get better at Just Writing. Something I have always struggled with, but also an important skill if I want to get into the world of film.

At the end of my work day, I find that the blog is down. Can’t report on day 1. Oh well.

Day 2 was more of the same. I decided that scoring out a piece first isn’t a bad idea since I haven’t used Finale in a while, and need to re-familiarize myself with it. So I basically finished the score except it is still a bit of a mess. Needs to be cleaned up. But at least the notes have been entered. Something accomplished.

And the blog is back up and running, which means I can write this report. Yay!

So we’ve run into some snags already. However, very little time has been wasted and we’ve still managed to get some stuff accomplished. Promising. This is gonna be the key. Always be productive. Always find something to do.

I’m proud of Alli for making her list. I’ll try to make mine within the next couple of days. It will help, this way I can use it to find things to do if need be.

So days 1 and 2 are done. Hopefully we can start Just Writing soon.

One Comment:

  1. Baby steps indeed. I struggle a lot with working when, ya know, shit just ain’t working. Way to push through and be flexible with yourself. We’re on the road!

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