I’ve always thought that the idea of an inner voice was a little bit over the top. When I was at the peak of my religious phase in 8th grade, I read the book Conversations with God. The idea of this book, if you don’t know about it, is that a man gets really mad one day and starts to write a letter to God, and to his surprise, God writes back… through him, by manipulating his arm and forcing him to write a response.

+++ title = “04” date = 2019 +++ Sometimes I look at the comments people make online, and I wonder how they got so closed minded. I’ll watch Facebook debates between two politically divided people. No one’s mind is ever changed, and the arguments become circular with each person feeling more and more right after each jab. How is it possible to have an argument where both parties believe they’re more correct after each disagreement?

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with hurricanes and tornadoes. “If there’s ever a tornado warning,” my mother told me with wide eyes, “then we’ll have to head to the basement where it’s safe. A tornado watch means we just need to be alert.” So I developed the belief that if there was ever a tornado warning, that we were doomed and the house was going to be crushed by a twister.

+++ title = “04” date = 2019 +++ I’ve written before about how songs seem to come to me gift-wrapped. That is, they’ll appear out of nowhere, fully formed with a melody and a core idea, and it will take very little refining on my part to beat them into shape. There is some truth to the idea that inspiration is spurred by simply sitting down to work. I’ve written some songs this way, like when I have a custom song to write for a wedding and the deadline is soon approaching.

The first time I wrote a song I was seven years old. My parents had recently gotten a piano in our basement and I made up some simple melody on thee piano that ended up being performed at my piano recital. My teacher had told me a secret: you can play any song you want, as long as you know the notes. I figured the same must be true for songwriting, except… how do you know the notes to a song you’ve never heard?