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kriselda jarnsaxa

I think you have an excellent point here, though I'd never thought about it before. I first started learning to play guitar when I was about 10 (though I didn't really start SERIOUSLY studying it until after I discovered the wonder that is Alex Lifeson of Rush and realized that you could get ALL SORTS of sounds out of a guitar), and continued with it until I was about 20. When I entered college it was my goal to major in music and be a professional guitarist - probably a studio musician (because female rock stars have to be a lot more attractive than male ones, and sadly, I'm not) - but I found it almost impossible to find the time I needed to practice because friends were always dropping by - even when I would try and hide myself away in one of the music departments practice rooms, they'd come find me to go running off on one of their crazy exploits, and I'd been so lonely in high school that having people seek me out in college was too good of a feeling to pass up.

By my early 20's, I hardly touched the guitar at all because I always had things to do with my friends. After I stopped living in dorms, I ended up selling all of my guitars for rent money. That was pretty much the end of my creative life until recently. For the last 5 years, I've been homebound, and have NOTHING but free time on my hands, and when my husband is at work, there's no one to distract me from anything. Then about 18 months ago, he decided he wanted to learn to play guitar, and I started remembering how much I loved playing it myself, so we split up our income tax refund and each got ourselves a nice, shiny new electric guitar. I've since bought 2 more, and in the time since then, I've probably progressed 10 times as far as I ever did when I was first learning. Because I have nice long stretches of uninturrupted time, I can work on the hard parts of songs all I want with no fear that anyone will hear just how awful I sound on the first thousand tries or break my concentration when I'm trying to figure out just how I'm supposed to make my fingers do "that". :) I may eventually even get to a point where I could revisit my dream of being a studio musician (health willing) - just because I finally have the time to myself in order to really learn what I'm doing with this thing.

While I would never wish my situation on anyone, I do hope you can find some way to get a nice block of time to yourself each day so that you can work on your writing without having it hurt any of your relationships. What you post here is excellent, and I think you have the ability to really take your writing somewhere if you get the chance.

urban

It is not exclusively American phenomena, it is also Australian and Irish and maybe generally human. There are people that cant understand that being alone doesnt mean lonely.

Daryl

That's probably why Superman had his Fortress of Solitude built in the Arctic. Couldn't find solitude in America.

On the other hand, is entering a comment to a blog post defying the idea of letting someone be alone with his or her thoughts?

harry near indy

one problem with the lives of american artists is that they let the creative side -- which is child-like, in the best way -- get in the way of life outside the art.

plus, the resistance by american society to any sort of artistic endeavor because it isn't beneficial (that is, you aren't assured to make money from it) or not masculine enuff (do you want people to think you're a sissy?) or respectable.

resistance to deep and strong pressures from the social tyranny does tend to unbalance you.

Lance

Harry, yep,yep,yep,yep,and definitely yep!

Daryl, There used to be a nice tradition called "at home." People used to have calling hours, times when everybody knew they were "at home," which meant free to have visitors. I consider the comments section my "at home."

urban, I think you're right, it is very human. I was just mad at Americans this morning, particularly those Americans who have the gall to be my friends and relations and want to talk to me. Like I'm supposed to believe they really like me.

kriselda, I think aspiring musicians have the hardest time of all. Very few people understand how many hours have to be devoted to practicing. It's a great thing you've got your guitar back in hand. Good luck with it.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying the page.

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