"Write the truest sentence you know." - Ernest Hemingway

Mr. Hemingway knows something I don't know......... ooooh, but I sense I'm coming close when I write songs, in my own way, and I want to know what he means!  Write the truest sentence I know?? What a challenge.  I read his stories and I wonder as I'm reading.... how did he do that?

I wonder the same thing with certain songwriters too.

One of the first things I've learned about songwriting is speaking your truth and being able to say what you mean and mean what you say.  The song I Believe You which I recently finished recording for the mini album is a personal triumph for me as a writer.  Why?  Because the song is the truest song I know.   The song is simple.  But I trusted where the song wanted to go as I was writing it, and I didn't get in the way of where the song was headed.  It felt to me like the hand of God was helping me write and I accepted it as a friend's offer with what I wanted to say.

Another aspect of songwriting I've learned, and I'm still reminding myself to practice, is to keep a sense of playfulness and openheartedness while still saying what you mean.  I look at my songwriting as a way to connect with other hearts, minds, people, backgrounds, and experiences. Isn't that why we share our art with others? In hopes of making connections and enhancing each other's experiences with being human?

Paint the truest image you can paint.  Set the angel free when you carve.  Make the heavens weep when you compose. Sing the inner terrain of your heart when you sing.  Believe in yourself that you can do it, whatever it is you want to do.   Just Believe......  When we say, "I Believe...." we are in essence saying,  "I trust myself."  When we say, "I trust myself...." we are in essence saying,  "I Believe."