Fade to 2011

As every December draws to a close, I try to think of a goal for the next year. Something challenging but doable. This year I can't think of a thing. There's the usual one, where I say I'll write at least four songs, but that's it.

I didn't even come close to achieving 2010's non-songwriting goal, which was to find Cinder Bridge's audience. I barely even tried. Little day-to-day tasks overwhelmed me. I've barely had time to practice, and I pushed any activities that didn't come with a clear roadmap off to the side, where they lay forgotten.

I haven't done anything to promote us. I haven't even been blogging regularly for the last four months.

Do I have nothing at all to show for 2010?

Feeling disheartened, I opened up GarageBand around 11 p.m. and loaded a song that Ron and I recorded in his living room. I've wanted to apply a fadeout to this song for some time, but kept procrastinating because I didn't know how to use the fadeout feature and GarageBand's help documentation looks like this:

To add a manual fade-in or fade-out:

Click the disclosure triangle in the track’s header, or, for the master track, choose Track > Show Master Track.

Choose the volume curve in the menu in the track’s header.

Add control points to the beginning of the volume curve for a fade-in, or to the end of the curve for a fade-out.

Move the control points to adjust the length and intensity of the fade-in or fade-out.

It doesn't look so hard until you actually try to do it, and then you discover that nothing in the interface looks like a disclosure triangle, and in fact you do not know what a disclosure triangle is, or why anybody would call something a disclosure triangle. Also, what is a volume curve, and how do you choose it? Who writes these things?

But I pressed on, because there was less than an hour left until midnight, and by god I was going to accomplish SOMETHING before 2010 was over.

One Google search for better directions later, followed by a little experimentation, and I had my fadeout.

So there you go, 2010. Don't say I never gave you anything.

Happy new year!

Targeting 2010

I never bothered with New Year's resolutions until the songwriting took off.

I'd finished "I've Been Waiting" in 2000 and considered it a one-off. Maybe I'd write another song if I stumbled across something else I felt like writing about. If not, that was fine too.

But by the end of 2001, I'd written 13 more—one with a friend and the rest by myself. Upon realizing that I'd averaged about a song per month, I thought, That's my goal for 2002. 12 more songs.

And I did it. I churned out one song every month until late 2003, when I started a job that sucked up a lot more of my time. These days I average around four songs a year. Which is all right under the circumstances, but it means I need to set different goals for myself and for Cinder Bridge.

I haven't been sure how to go about it.

The 12-songs goal worked because I already knew I could do it. I just needed the extra incentive to keep plugging away. I don't know how to sell more CDs, or get more bookings for Cinder Bridge, or do more effective advocacy for ME/CFS.

I don't know which of these things should get top priority, either. Advocacy is certainly the more lofty goal. On the other hand, if Cinder Bridge gained a huge following, a lot more people would care about what I had to say.

Yesterday, the last day of 2009, I finally settled on one goal: to find our target audience.

We need to know what kind of people like our music. We need to know what other artists those people like. We need to find out where they are, and how we can reach them.

That's where we need to put all our efforts. We can't reach any of the other goals until we do.

Readers: If you have any ideas, please leave a comment. And enjoy the first day of 2010!

Hello, 2009

Happy new year! Woooooo! *fweeeeee*

I can't believe it's already 2009. The last year of this decade. And you know what that means ...

It means we only have 365 days left to think of an unstupid name for this decade before it's over.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be reminiscing about "the zeroes" forty years from now.

Anyway. Congratulations to everyone out there who survived 2008. Here's to love, hope, endurance, and great music for 2009.