The Funeral Dress

Posted on September 2, 2013 by belinda

One habit I developed a long time ago is that I write a song for nearly every book I read. I love to read, but I always used to feel guilty if I were reading and not working on a new song. (I’m so good at guilt.)

I remember the day I was telling my dear friend and fellow songwriter, Joel Lindsey, about it. He said, “Belinda, it’s research. Read as much as you want because you get ideas from books.” We were at South Street Grille here in Nashville, and every time I go there I think about our conversation. I came up with the Novel Theme Song Plan out on that patio.

Fast forward many years, and many Novel Theme Songs, to summer 2013. I was invited to be on staff at the Appalachian Young Writers’ Workshop at Lincoln Memorial University, and when the director told me that Susan Gregg Gilmore would be the fiction teacher, I was stoked. I had read her first book, “Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen,” and loved it. Besides, I’m always fascinated with novelists; how on Earth does anyone concentrate on one thing for so long?

After a week of living in dorm rooms again, eating cafeteria food and surviving middle-of-the-night tornado warnings, Susan is officially one of my favorite humans.

The Cool Part

Here’s a very, very truncated version of one of our conversations:

Me: So do you have a new novel in the works? (I know writers hate this question. I asked anyway.)

Susan: Yes, it’s actually coming out in September. I’m really excited about it.

Me: Awesome. What’s it called?

Susan: The Funeral Dress.

Me: There’s song in that title.

Susan: Oh, it would be so cool if you wrote a song for the book!

Me: I’ll totally write a song for the book. (Thinking: She doesn’t know that I’m not allowed to read it if I don’t.)

And then a week later, Susan leaves me the following voice mail:
“Hey, I talked to Random House about your writing the song. They LOVE the idea! Call me.”

WHAT?

WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE?

Gang, the Novel Theme Song has finally come into its own. And, honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of Susan and her novel. It’s so much fun for me to be able to add in even a small way to the release of, “The Funeral Dress.”

Today, I’m inviting you to check out your local bookstore (always support them first) or click here to order your copy.

And then you should write your own Novel Theme Song. You never know what could happen.

Here’s to supporting a fellow writer!

The One Critical Thing You Must Remember as a Songwriter

Posted on February 11, 2012 by belinda

In a recent interview, I was asked, “Belinda, if there is one piece of advice you could give an aspiring writer, what would it be?”

Background

I’ve been a professional writer in Nashville for fifteen years. We are a town of writers and dreamers, and the energy is magnetic. The creative energy has attracted so many of us that we’re practically tripping over each other.

Have you heard this one?

How do you find a songwriter in Nashville?

Just raise your voice and say, “Waiter!”

I love being around writers all the time and my experiences have run the gamut.

I’ve been in rooms with people who couldn’t carry a tune in a dump truck and couldn’t be convinced otherwise, and I’ve hung out with the best of the best. In my opinion, songwriters are the greatest people (insert my own bias here).

After living in this amazing writer’s community, I have noticed one thorn which consistently competes for a writer’s attention: NEGATIVITY.

A few years back, a successful songwriter friend of mine told me he felt like he was living in a black cloud. No matter where he went, people were complaining. “Nobody’s happy about anything!”

After he said that, I started paying attention, and, as it turns out, he was right.

Soon after our conversation, I wrote down in my notebook all the complaints I heard in one day at a publishing house where I was writing. I found the notebook last night. Here are just a few I wrote down:

[That artist] wouldn’t know a hit if it hit her over the head.
I’m so tired of my songs not getting demoed.
I hate the way they demoed my song.
My publisher just doesn’t get me.
I can’t get anything on the radio.
Everything on the radio these days is [mindless stupidity]. (Keeping the G-rating, gang.)

And on and on and on and on.

It’s so easy to get into a negative mindset as a creative person because the truth is sometimes an artist doesn’t know a hit. And sometimes our songs don’t get demoed, and sometimes our publisher doesn’t get it. And everyone complains about what gets played on radio unless it is their song (that’s just a general rule of thumb).

There are so many things to complain about. There are legitimate gripes, too. I get it.

There’s also one thing to remember, though, and that’s what brought us to writing in the first place.

Magic

There is a certain magic that happens in the true moments of writing something new. You know that feeling you get in your gut, the one that makes you forget everything else for just a moment and focus on the song that’s coming out of you. In those moments of pure writing, everything else gets lost.

I started writing because I love that feeling. I love the fact that I can think of things to write, and when I’m finished, there’s something where there was nothing.

It is magic.

And so what is the one piece of advice I would give to an aspiring writer?

We write because we’re writers.

All the rest of the stuff is NOT the writing. It’s just stuff.

Whatever you do, do not get the two things mixed up.

Fiercely, and I mean FIERCELY, guard the magic of writing.

To Your Adventure,

Belinda

Complaining, Whining and Gossiping, Oh My!

Posted on December 3, 2011 by belinda

Two days ago, I was having a particularly stressful day. It was one of those when I was nearly convinced by noon that the entire universe had conspired to irritate every last drop of goodness out of me. I was just plain mad at someone over a work issue, I was being cut off in traffic left and right, my cell phone wouldn’t quit ringing, I had a million things on my to-do list and I just big, fat wasn’t feeling any progress in anything.

Back story

A few months ago, I signed a No Complaint contract with myself. I actually printed it out and signed it. This contract stated that I would not complain, whine, or gossip for seven weeks. The rule was that every time I broke the agreement, I would start the contract over from day one.

Have you ever noticed how much complaining, whining and gossiping we participate in AND perpetuate? You sure would if you signed a contract saying you wouldn’t do it. By the end of the first week, I’d had to re-sign the contract every single day, and I was fully ashamed of myself.

While I’ve been making positive changes over the past several months, signing the contract has without question been the most transformative.

Until two days ago.

I’m not saying I haven’t had to recommit to my agreement multiple times, but most of those were accidental breaches. Two days ago, though, I let ‘er rip.I’d just been cut off for the third time by that shiny black Mercedes when I thought, “Stupid, stupid No-Complaint Contract. Who needs it?”

And off I went.

I preached an unholy sermon to my windshield and beyond all the way down the interstate. I complained about anything that came to mind. I fussed, and I fussed, and I fussed. And when people driving by started staring, I complained about them, too, for good measure.When I was done complaining, I transitioned directly into whining, and had anyone been in the car with me, I would’ve totally gossiped like a Rock Star.

That whole day was shot, not to mention the No-Complaint contract.

The next day I woke up in a terrible mood again, and no matter how many ‘happy thoughts’ I tried to think, I couldn’t shake the bad ones.

Finally, it was mid-afternoon—a good twenty-four hours after my rant—that I’d had enough. I went to the Greenway and took a walk by the river. It was cold out, but I didn’t care. I needed to walk someplace quiet and pretty. After a while I finally started calming down. It wasn’t till the next day, though, that I started to feel like me again.

When I look back over the week, I’m fascinated by what a profound impact letting a little negativity back in (okay, it was a lot of negativity—all of the negativity ever, maybe) had. I hadn’t felt so bad and discombobulated in weeks.

I Sound Like Oprah

I’m certainly not trying to pass myself off as some kind of ‘centered’ and all-peaceful guru. I doubt Gandhi posted a No Complaint contract in his office.

All I know is that I’m convinced.

I’m persuaded that staying out of negative conversations, and trying not to complain, whine or gossip makes my entire life experience better—mentally and physically.So, I’m in. I’ve re-signed my No Complaint contract and I’m in for another seven weeks.

Why don’t you try it for a week and just see what happens? You might be surprised.

To your adventure,

Belinda

Gratitude at 9

Posted on November 26, 2011 by belinda

A few months ago, I decided to set a daily alarm to go off at 9 PM. Every evening at 9 PM,my phone buzzes (because I typically have it on ‘vibrate’) and a notification comes across my screen that reads, “GRATITUDE LIST.”

When that happens, I immediately acknowledge three things for which I am thankful. Just three. I figured that even on the worst day ever, surely I could come up with three things which are good.

To date I’ve listed everything from being glad that my thirteen year old miniature pinscher still barks at insignificant noises to being glad that the radio in my car hasn’t worked for over a year. It’s a deep and varied list so far.The most interesting thing I’ve noticed is that what I might be most irritated about one day can be the very thing I’m the most grateful for on another. I would’ve never noticed that had I not started documenting it.

I guess we just never know from day to day what’s going to get us through.

I’ve also realized, much to my cynical self’s surprise, that knowing I have to be grateful for three things every day has made me pay close attention to the good things in my life. Whereas before something would’ve gone briefly noticed and forgotten, now I’m being mindful to remember it so that I have one item for the Gratitude List at 9.

Focusing on the good things has changed my daily perspective.I wonder if it would change your day, too.

Why not try it? Set your own ‘gratitude list’ alarm every day for the next week. I mean, it’s not like it’s that hard to set an alarm, right? And surely you could think of three things every day. How hard could it really be? Just three. …one, two, three.

Not convinced? Here’s a recent article from the New York Times which may prove interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/science/a-serving-of-gratitude-brings-healthy-dividends.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=gratitude&st=cse

Try it with me. Because, really, what have you got to lose?

To your adventure,

Belinda

Doubting and Dreaming

Posted on November 19, 2011 by belinda

I spend a lot of time with writers, both aspiring and accomplished. One behavior I see over and over with so many writers is self-doubt.

We doubt our ideas and doubt our words.
We doubt our melodies and our instruments.
We doubt our stories and our narrators.
We can doubt our clothes, our shoes, our cars, our homes, our yards, our neighbor’s yards and our neighbor’s dogs, if we have to.
If we could get paid to doubt, then some of us would be buying an island right about now.

The truth is that doubt is nothing more than a limiting belief. We keep ourselves comfortable by doubting. I would even say we think that questioning everything and betting on nothing keeps us from being disappointed.

It is spiral, and I know how doubt can take over quickly and fully. I’ve let it happen to myself plenty of times.

Doubting hinders dreaming.

I’m a dreamer. I drove into Nashville in 1997, looked at the cityscape and felt really, really small and insignificant. Still, for some unexplainable reason, I believed to my core that I was made for something that I was meant to find in the music business.

Through all the adventures, the highs and lows, the disappointments and the accomplishments, my core belief never wavered. I was supposed to write songs.

That’s one thing I still know for sure.

There is something about pursuing your dreams from a foundation of certainty that changes everything.

It’s the difference between shooting a photo of a beautiful landscape with your eyes closed and shooting that same landscape through the viewfinder. It can end up beautiful both ways, but you have a lot better chance at getting the shot you want with your eyes open.

This week I’m challenging you to reconnect with your inner dreamer. Identify that core belief—what’s the one thing you know about your creative self?

Be honest.

And once you’re clear about it, start taking beautiful pictures.

To the Adventure,
Belinda

Seeing Red: Randomly

Posted on October 12, 2011 by belinda

Random Fact: Red is my favorite color.

Blue-red, not orange-red.

That’s important. The darker one.

This leads me to thinking about songs with the word Red in the title. My first thought is Little Red Corvette (long live the 80’s.) Then Little Red Rodeo and Red Ragtop. I’m not going to mention Lady in Red because everyone else will. I like Written in Red, too.

If you were being surveyed for Family Feud (because surely you will be someday), what song would you think of when you think of titles with Red in them?

-b

Belinda Smith Creative

…before the song is the idea.

Tag Archives: Writing

The Funeral Dress

The One Critical Thing You Must Remember as a Songwriter

Complaining, Whining and Gossiping, Oh My!

Gratitude at 9

Doubting and Dreaming

Seeing Red: Randomly