I showed up in Nashville thinking I could be a songwriter… knowing a drummer.
[Wow, now that I say that, I don’t even know what happened to Greg Frump.]
Anyway, I showed up in Nashville pretty certain I could write a decent song. I honestly figured that all the people who were being negative just weren’t as good as I was. lol
Lord.Have.Mercy.
I was in for a SCHOOLING. Humble pie, anyone?
Even so, and with all the talent in this town, I wasn’t swayed. I was certain I was supposed to be here, somewhere in this space, doing what I dang well knew how to do.
I was NOT going away.
And I didn’t.
Any time someone gave me an open door, I put my foot in it and kept on till they let me in.
I kept preparing. I was soooo going to be ready for my “opportunity.”
And when my opportunity came? Yeah, I’d actually written my first radio single, my first #1 song and my first Dove Award nominated song…SEVEN YEARS before my opportunity opened up.
SEVEN YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, there were times when I secretly questioned myself.
I wondered if I was chasing something I didn’t really have access to.
And then one night I was at the movie theatre in Green Hills (uppity Nashville, if you’re not from here.)
Martina McBride stood there in the middle of the lobby talking to friends.
Mind you, this was at the height of her career. I was convinced she could sing ANYTHING!
And there she stood—just like me and my friends, talking to her friends.
I had a moment: If not me, then Martina McBride? This small woman standing next to me in the lobby?
Hmmm…Why HER and not ME?
She surely had a childhood, too.
She surely had to have questions like I do.
She most definitely had to wonder at some point if there were other people more deserving..
So, if not me, the WHO?
Martina McBride? Sure. Of course.
But, why not me, too?
ME, TOO!!!!!!!!!!!
And with everything in me, I go back to that night at the theater too many times to count.
Persistence is key.
Never, never, never, never, never stop pursuing what you know to be true for you.
We all come from somewhere.
We each have talents.
And we each have a space to fill with our unique gifts and abilities.
So let’s fill it UP!!!!!