Christian Songwriter's Network

I know that this is going to be a long journey. It won't be easy. There will be a lot of rejection. I am gathering material to send out. That process alone makes my heart pound just thinking about it. But I know that He is with me throughout this whole adventure. This is such a huge step for me, but He is with me ~ while I'm waiting.

Now, let me tell you. I am probably one of the most impatient people I know. I am not road-rage-y or anything like that. I am just not good at waiting for things. So this is a test of epic proportions for me. It's probably a really good thing I wasn't born during the Old Testament times. I would not have wandered through the desert for 40 years. I would have gone off on my own and died, not realizing that God was taking care of His people. It is so difficult for me to let go and let Him control my life. I know I am supposed to, and my life would be so much easier if I did. I guess putting it out here helps hold me accountable.

Music has always been an enormous part of my life. As a child I would play my parents albums over and over and over again and write down all the lyrics. My musical background is quite eclectic. I grew up listening to Sly and the Family Stone, The Animals, Neil Diamond, Carly Simon, James Taylor, The Doors, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Jesus Christ Superstar. A song can take me back to a time and place in my life - good or bad - and I feel propelled, like an invisible time machine. I can tell you exactly where I was in the adventure of life when I hear certain songs. I can feel summer in the middle of January when I hear anything by the Go-Go's, or despair and loneliness when I hear "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by YES.

I sang as a child, and as I grew, I knew it was something I was called to do. I have no vision of being a superstar. My dream is to travel and lead people in worship, like on the Women of Faith tour. The last time I came home from a Women of Faith event I cried for...

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With a large family the work is constant: dishes pile up, dirty clothes pile up, clean clothes pile up. Sometimes I just have to choose to ignore the unfinished works in progress when I feel I need to be still before God - they will always wait for me... Other times I find my still times in the mundane routine actions of these chores, or when my thoughts drift to God while driving the children somewhere...though more often than not, I think it is the case of God's thoughts drifting in on my preoccupation and my receptiveness to receive this transmission. Maybe being still in this context is less about the posture of the body and more about the posture of the mind, and an awareness of the spiritual, and a relationship with a Heavenly Father.

It's a new year and great things are ahead. And it is a wonderful time to consciously let old things go and to dream a little. But I feel also it is time to look back for the hidden treasures of the past. One of my first attempts at musical creativity was to change songs written in a major key to minor key - there is something very beautiful and reflective about good use of minors in the melodies. But for me it was almost a morbid fascination. A few years after a new encounter with the lover of my soul, I began to write songs. I'd almost forgotten about the ones hidden in my diaries from long ago. But maybe it is time for them to see the light again, and it may be that the Lord allows me to dust and polish them in a new way...

I’ve often been asked when I started writing music and how I learned, and it’s hard to say because it’s kinda like how I learned how to speak or walk or trust Jesus. People around me showed me it was possible & out of some combination of necessity, curiosity or boredom, and as a gift from God, it just happened. And much like my first steps, my parents could probably give you the play-by-play better than I could. A couple of memories come to mind though:



I’ve struggled with insomnia for most of my life and until about middle school, it seemed normal to me. I remember one night, when I was about 6, lying awake listening to the chorus of dogs outside, the rhythmic rain on the roof & whistling trees and making up a song to go with it. I think my Mom might have transcribed it the next day, but I couldn’t tell you any of the words except “drip drop”. Don't even know if you could call it a song ;p



The first “real” song I wrote was at about 7. As a pretty socially awkward ...

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