But I continued to play the song. It reminded me of everything I had planned. So for me, songs inspire dreams. They help you to make a move (though I didn't go through with mine back then). It also sparks the memory. Think of your favorite song, and I'm curious why it became your favorite song. What was the moment? What were you doing?
That is where my initial passion for songs started; when I realized how powerful they could be. But being shy more than anything is why I had to start writing songs. When I was 13, my church youth group went on a field trip to a roller-skating rink in Southern Massachusetts, Skatetown USA. While waiting in line at the snack bar, I noticed this gorgeous looking girl with a curly-haired ponytail, and a red shirt. I could not take my eyes off of her. I played it off like my friend was the one who wanted to know her name, and the girl's friend told me. Naudia. You can guess what happened...I didn't do anything. Didn't ask her to skate with me. Didn't ask if I could buy her some ice cream. But I did write about it when I got home.
Writing became my outlet. Instead of kicking myself and enduring sleepless nights because of what I didn't do, I wrote about her. The only way I knew how to record at the time was to have two tapes rolling on my karaoke machine. When I recorded on one, I would move that one over to the play-only side, and have the new tape on the record side to record while the other was playing. Sounds confusing but it was very simple. So it began.
In songwriting, what's more satisfying than a five-paragraph e-mail from a fan of mine telling me how much one of my songs changed her life, or having someone tell me that something I wrote made them cry? And all off of songs inspired by personal situations, of what myself or others have been through. To be able to put my feelings and thoughts out there, and have that much of an effect on people...that's why I write.
