An Open Letter To Amy Grant

Dear Amy,

I want you to know how very deeply I am moved by your new record. Jennifer gave me a copy two days ago and it promptly became the CD that repeats over and over in my car as I run around town, mostly doing mom things. As I listened I was transported back to my childhood on "Arms Of Love." I was struck with just how long you have had an influence on my life. Unlike the vast majority of your fans, I have actually known you personally since the early 80's. We have lived similar lives (except for the fact that you became a celebrity). We both grew up in Nashville and we both grew up at Belmont Church where both of our fathers were elders. You went on retreats with our youth group and spoke in our Sunday School class. I will never forget the day that you let us help you and Michael teach "Thy Word" to the congregation.

You and I have never been close but have always had a friendly relationship. I have had a unique opportunity to watch you live out your faith. Sometimes it was up close as I babysat your children and did "The Loft" with you. A lot of the time it was from afar but I was always watching. Being six years younger than you, I thought of you as a role model. As I grew older I realized that you were not perfect. But what you ARE is way more important. You are genuine. I would tell your listeners that you mean every word on this new project. What you are singing about it so unique to you, yet SO universal at the same time. Thank you for saying the hard stuff. The vulnerable stuff.

The different circles that we run in often intersect. And I am thankful when they do. But in case I don't see you in the near future I wanted to go ahead and thank you for inspiring me as a fellow songwriter, mom and woman of God. Our ages don't seem that far apart these days and as I listen to your music, I recognize that we have arrived at similar places in our lives.

I am so glad you made this record. It's just what I needed and I think it's what the rest of the world needs right now too!

Love,

Julie

P.S. Meet me at Bread & Co. 10-12 years from now when our last little birds have left the nest! Maybe we can catch up then!

What If

I broke my self-enforced vow of songwriting silence today. It was time. I had put it off long enough, even going to such great lengths as writing a cookbook to keep from having to write a song. I was a little rusty, but I had expected to be. My co-writer, Phil Madeira, was as gracious and funny as ever and I am sure this helped to ease my nerves.

I am still trying to figure out all of the reasons that I felt betrayed enough by songwriting that I would consider walking away. The music industry is one of the few businesses where talent and hard work don't always add up to success. It is hard to know that some of your best work will never see the light of day. That shows you right there that I don't necessarily write for the love of writing. I admit that I want to be heard, to be recognized. Most of all, I think I just got tired of feeling like I was spinning my wheels.

Writing the cookbook with Point Of Grace reminded me about the joy of creating. I can now hold in my hands a beautiful, hardback book full of my heart and soul and words where six months ago there was no such thing. I had an idea and said, "What if....?" Well, what if I approached my songwriting that way? What if I didn't worry about "commerciality" and trying to compete? What if I actually had fun with it again?

After chatting for awhile, as songwriters tend to do, Phil and I wrote a very irreverent, bluegrass funeral song! As Phil and I talked about his good buddy Tom Howard's funeral, I distinctly remember Phil saying, "Hey, what if we wrote a song about directions for your own funeral?" Even with my semi-phobia of funerals, I whole-heartedly agreed. And the song turned out great. Special, even. There was a time that I would have tried to talk him out of it, that I would have pushed for something a little more practical....and commercial. I would have missed out on being part of a great song.

The melancholy side of me sees the glass as half empty. I appreciate that darker side of myself and draw from it often in my writing. But that is also the side of me that answers the question, "What if?" with "It would never work."

If I appeal to my lighter side, the side of myself that has seen doors swing wide open lately, then I would answer that question with a resounding, "Yes! What if!"

Following

Now that I am re-committed to my own blog, I find myself wanting to read other blogs, especially those of my friends. On the other hand, when I am NOT blogging, the guilt - and probably envy - keeps me from reading anybody else's. If I had realized how inspired I would be by the blogs of my friends, then I would've started "following" their blogs ages ago!

"A Life In The Arts" is Phil Madeira's blog. It reads like a novel, reminiscent of Pat Conroy. Phil is a studio musician, producer, singer/songwriter and a visual artist, as well. His writer's "voice" is beautiful in the same way that his singing voice is beautiful: deep, gruff and hauntingly familiar.

"lovinglorilee" is Lori Loving's hilarious new blog. It is full of wacky, embarrassing, true stories that will have you snickering in front of your computer one minute, and the next minute you will be reeling from the impact of a spiritual truth. She weaves the sacred and the humorous together beautifully and will leave you wondering what will happen next!

"The Flip Project" is the brave undertaking of Nicolle Clawson. On January 1, she gave herself the mission to shoot a short video EVERY DAY during 2010 and write a blog to accompany it. Twenty eight days in, her blog is already a huge success. Her videos and blogs have included a car on fire, suspected polygamy next door and the ups and downs of building a career as a singer/songwriter. Intriguing, huh?

"Reflections On Being Present" is Jenna Schrader's blog. The title of the blog speaks volumes. Jenna chronicles her quest to learn about God, life and herself through her nature walks. (and trail running!) Peace emanates from her pages and they read almost like a devotional. She posts beautiful photographs, mostly of her beloved "heart rocks," which she collects. This blog makes me want to commune with nature more often!

"Vacation Boy" belongs to Joel Lindsey. He started keeping the blog several years ago when he wanted to record his 30 day writer's retreat in Cape Cod. He used the blog for accountability. He still uses it for accountability (just the other day he posted that we'd be running the Half Marathon together!), but its highest appeal has to do with his honesty about the music business. And his encouragement. You will read his blog and start believing that you can reach your dreams, too!

I highly recommend all five of these blogs. I can honestly say that I feel my own creativity creeping cautiously back. Thank you to ALL my friends (and family members) who inspire me. (You know who you are.) But thank you especially to Phil, Lori, Nicolle, Jenna and Joel who have fed my soul with their beautiful, unique words these past couple of weeks.

I'm glad to be following you.

Blogging About Jogging

Twelve years ago my roommate and I would jog energetically down Belmont Boulevard. We would carry on rousing conversations and laugh and goof off. I felt so alive. We loved to admire the quaint cottages that lined our route and speculate about what the lives of their occupants were like.

Today I found myself in the same neighborhood and barely had the strength to look at the passing scenery as I urged my very out of shape body down the sidewalk. I am training for the Music City Half Marathon. I have been officially in training for only a week and it is killing me. I was excited when I heard that we (my running group from church and I) would be running in the Hillsboro Village/Belmont area today. Last Saturday we ran the Shelby Bottoms trail and it was beautiful, but there was not much to look at besides the river and the overgrown brush. Today there was a LOT going on: people were walking and running and pushing strollers and sitting on front porches. It was sunny and almost 50 degrees. And I BARELY got through it. I did not enjoy a minute of it. Oh, I felt great afterward as I sat drinking coffee at Bongo Java with the "twenty-somethings." But I was in pain for my entire run. I only ran 3.5 miles and it baffles me to think that I will run almost 10 miles further than that on race day in late April. You may wonder, "then why do it?" And I would tell you that I want to do it to prove to myself that I CAN! I'm also a little inspired by "The Biggest Loser." Those contestants usually run a FULL marathon at the end of the season. If they can do it, I know I can do it. My friend Joel actually pushed me over the edge when I was trying to decide whether or not to commit to it. He is one of those people who can do most anything, whose attitude is "why not?!" We are going to do the half marathon together and don't even get me started on how envious I am that he gets to train in Santa Barbara, running along the beach!

Anyway, the theme that seems to be running through my life right now is that anything worth having is worth working really hard for! There is a part of me that wishes things were easier, that wishes I didn't have to have hard conversations and wrack my brain for song ideas and exercise regularly and use every ounce of discipline to stop eating junk food! But I just have to keep telling myself that they WILL get easier if I keep pushing through the hard stuff and DON'T GIVE UP!

I wonder where we're running next Saturday?!

Sometimes Things Pan Out

In this industry where things seldom pan out, I am very blessed to announce that the Point Of Grace cookbook (Cooking With Grace) has gone to press and their record (with my song on it) is "in the can!" The record and cookbook are due out on March 2nd!

One of the most exciting things that can happen to a songwriter is to be invited to the studio to hear your song being recorded. Well, that happened to me in October, just two days after my birthday. I wrote "The Greatest Show On Earth" with the girls in Point Of Grace and Cindy Morgan. Another thrill that day was meeting their producer, Nathan Chapman. Yes, THAT Nathan Chapman, of Taylor Swift fame! The song sounds amazing and I am proud to be on the record.

The cookbook has been a labor of love. Point Of Grace's record label Word/Warner decided they wanted to publish it and furthermore, wanted it to be released in conjunction with the new record. We found this out in late November. Suddenly we were on a December 23rd deadline. You have never seen such scrambling and hard work. There were many nights that I could send out an email at midnight and receive 3 or 4 responses immediately. Point Of Grace was a dream to work with, as was Chuck Hargett, our designer, and Jill Tomalty and Tim Marshall from Word Records. If you are still waiting on a Christmas gift from me, just rest assured that I have a cookbook for you. I barely even had time to be Santa's little elf this year!

Now, it wouldn't be a Nashvegas Native blog without a little melancholy. Don't get me wrong. I am SO happy and thankful for these promising developments. I just have to admit that I am feeling a little lost now that this HUGE project is over. The photo shoot for the cookbook cover was last week and the book went to the manufacturer two days later. The next two days were "snow days" and then it was the weekend. And then reality set in this week. It is January and I don't have any resolutions or projects or writing appointments. Everybody is inspired and motivated and I just feel tired. I feel the need to refuel and relax. I'm trying to convince myself that it's okay to take some time for myself. After all, while everybody else was going to Holiday parties and Christmas shopping, I was frantically wrapping up the cookbook all during December. Or maybe I'm better off when I have a project. Maybe it's a little bit of both. Maybe I need to relax while figuring out my next project!

Actually, I do have one resolution so far. I want to blog more regularly this year! Please give me a really hard time if you haven't heard from me for a couple weeks!