We Interrupt This Fiasco of an Election Cycle to Bring You the Following Personal Update

In a few days, it will all be over. (Or not…but at least the immediate campaigning will stop.)

I wrote yet another huge blog post that’s still in my drafts–an open letter of sorts, kind of a last-ditch appeal to the evangelical church to rethink their choice for President–but I didn’t post it, either here or on Facebook, largely because I didn’t see the point. Most people’s minds are made up, and no one’s really listening to each other anymore. The divide is wide, the breach is deep, and it will take some time to heal when this is all over. Suffice it to say that this election cycle has exposed some very disturbing traits in the western Christian community, so as dormant as this here blog has been, I might have a few things to say in the coming days. 🙂

For now, however….[does the Hillary Clinton shoulder-shimmy]…in the midst of all this, some cool stuff has happened here in New York, so for those who are paying attention, it’s time to let go of election cycle woes for a long-overdue personal update.

After a summer filled with what I call “the grind,” some payoffs have happened. My personal goal since coming to New York has been to find a way to “break in” to composing at a professional level, to begin monetizing my craft. For someone with fairly few connections, the main strategy has been to find and attend as many networking events as I can, learn as much as possible from my peers, and look for opportunities in the meantime…all this while taking as many freelance writing assignments as I can bear, to keep the cash flow coming in the meantime. Not entirely unlike working on two full-time careers at once.

It turned out to be a sorrow-turned-to-joy kind of thing, beginning with bad news. Toward the end of September, I got word that I had not gotten into a mentorship program I desperately wanted. While there had been no guarantees, I guess I didn’t realize how much emotional investment I’d put into this one thing, and I have to admit I felt pretty broadsided over it. It was the first test for me to see if my peer group would acknowledge my craft, and I felt like I failed the test. For a few days, I floundered, wondering what my next step would be. I trudged to the next networking meeting more out of going through the motions than anything.

But at the get-together is where things changed. One of my composer friends had told me that he a music supervisor would be at the event, a supervisor who runs an exclusive music house feeding several television shows. I met him, we chatted for about a half hour and exchanged cards. A few days later, after the supervisor listened to my music samples online, I was invited to be a contributor.

It’s a small beginning, and I won’t see any compensation for several months–but my music will show up on TV shows, and eventually the royalties will grow as I keep sending in tracks. After a long summer, emotionally, it’s a win I desperately needed, confirming to me that I am on the right track in coming here.

The news is good for The Director as well. As you may recall, he has his own reason for being in New York–namely, to get his first feature film made. I need to be sparse about the details for the moment, but through another connection, we have an opportunity to get his script on the desk of a solid New York production company. It’s one of a series of things that will have to fall into place just right, but knowing how many good scripts never even make it through the front door, this is a huge development for him, as well. We’ll be following up this lead this week and see what happens.

So…with a bit of persistence and patience, good things are beginning to happen on several fronts. For those tracking with me here, I’d appreciate prayers for continued favor and provision as we  keep moving forward into this new artistic life.

More thoughts and updates to come…