Ok, so you have survived the holidays, (so far) and are bracing for the new year. Work, family,friends, loved ones all require your attention. So does songwriting, the loneliest struggle for mass attention ever invented.
So where do I get off trying to tell you to volunteer? For SAW? With other songwriters?
There is a not so secret truth about songwriters. We are, put kindly, a solitary lot. The best of us are often painfully shy and self-absorbed. It helps to whittle your way to the whip smart words if you have a rich interior life. Hyper social loners are a tough breed to herd and very hard but fun group to know.
But there are stories, meaning and self-knowledge to be found in the simple act of volunteering. Ask anyone who does. To help run a show, to arrange a song circle,to serve a meal at SAW serves (Sat Jan 13th in Reston we serve dinner and sing…read about it here) to write with another songwriter, fundraise for SAW. To just show up at an open mic, toolbox or other event and participate well. All these things make you better at being a songwriter and understanding how to reach people with your words and music.
Our goal for this year is to do more for, be more useful to and learn better from….you. Each of you collectively and individually have things to share and give. More than you know. Less than your fear. SAW needs you to be a working part of things. And SAW plans on being a better part of your process, access and insight.
So make this the year you give more than you take. Help SAW become the volunteer powerhouse that brings light and attention to the idea of songwriters, the reality of creativity in our midst as a way to make ourselves and our creative work…better.
To find out how to volunteer and where, write to president@saw.org.
