Tag Archives: dreams

Livin’ the dream

Fall leavesI missed my first day in three months of blogging yesterday. But I have a good excuse: I was living my life.

Nine years ago, I attended my first concert as a “guest of the band.” I set foot on a tour bus for the first time. I held an All Access laminate for the first time. I even met the guy I would much later marry for the first time.

The end of that weekend, I wrote a journal entry in my private journal entitled, “Weekend dreams are made of” and in it, I chronicled every second of every moment of the day. Fast forward to today, and as I remember that entry I have to laugh. Back then, I’d never heard the phrase, “Livin’ the dream…” in reference to the music industry, and today I hear it used in a sarcastic irony.

The last few days, I’ve been off living… living the dream I spoke of nine years ago. Living the dream of life being dictated by the music industry… its perks right along with its (unknown to me then) downfalls.

In the last few days I’ve run on little sleep, attended my first CD release party, rode a tour bus through the day and night to tag along at a live music radio show, made plans to attend the Opry, and been reminded of debts that are in collections.

Like I said, the perks and the downfalls all rolled into a few days… I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything. Not a single note, hour, or bill. It’s my life, and I love it.

Living and loving my life feeds into my career dreams of writing for a living. The more life I live, the more I have to write about. The more I live the dream, the bigger the dream becomes.

And you gotta love that.

Projects left undone

A couple summers ago, my husband and I started work towards opening a nightclub. It sits across from the bar we both call our home away from home, the one I am working in tonight. It’s a gorgeous building, and I still sit staring at it wistfully. We worked hard on our business plan. We met with contractors. We studied demographics. We researched grants.

In the end, we abandoned the project due to the economy. Finding a private investor proved harder than we anticipated, and the pricetag was scary.

It is a project left undone.

We still hold the dream of some day running a bar or nightclub. But this particular one was not meant to be.

Similarly, about six years ago, I looked into running my own music magazine. I forget now how the option came to land in my lap, but it was exciting! It was my first taste of a business plan, budgeting, and the true behind-the-scenes of publishing.

Legal and financial reasons brought it to a screeching halt.  Again, it wasn’t meant to be… but I’ve never (obviously) lost the publishing bug.

Projects left undone… we all have them. Sometimes its strictly never meant to be, others are just not meant to be right then. Either way, lessons are learned, and you walk away wiser. Just because its undone, it not anything to consider lost.

What are some of your projects left undone? Are they done for good, or just on pause?