you are allowed to start now
and a 🎪 swoopee 🎪
I thought I’d have to wait for someone to hand me a ticket that said, “YOU ARE ALLOWED TO RECORD AN ALBUM NOW,” before I went ahead and did it.
But apparently, I can do whatever the hell I want!? Since when!?
After releasing ‘Happy New Year’ in December, I needed a new project. January was a month of “what should I do?” and I had a list of projects I could have chosen from:
a driving, indie rock single release
turning 100 Tiny Songs into an EP of longer, less tiny songs
a general EP of songs which have been sitting in a backlog since 2020
or… the geology album
If you’ve been following this newsletter for a while, you’ll know that I’ve been writing songs on geology (and sharing some demos here) for about a year now. Out of all the projects above, it was clear which one was really appealing to my heart. But I felt like I wasn’t ready yet. Where was I gonna get the money? How was I gonna make it? Am I allowed to make an album?
Over the years I have learned the following:
There truly is no man or organisation important enough that can tell you what to do with your creative life. There are helpful advisors! But no one person or authority can tell you what is best for you. Keep a pinch of salt on you at all times and stop pretending everyone with 10k+ followers is God.
If you get people excited about the project, you will have enough momentum to get going, and keep going on days you feel like you’re lost.
You’re not supposed to always know what the next step is, but you can make a well-educated guess. If you mess up along the way then you’ve learned something new for next time. And there will be a next time.
People are way more generous than you’d ever expect. And if they’re offering to work pro rata or at a reduced rate, it means they believe that you’re gonna be successful enough to work with them again someday & pay a decent rate when the big bucks inevitably start rolling in.
You are gonna benefit 100% more from making something than not making something.
So with all of that in mind, and after a conversation over olives and virgin cocktails with Sarah aka Bryde, I decided to go for the geology album. Follow my heart, and all that.
I did not really have a clue where to start, and I started about 5 different typed out lists and several written ones of Things I Needed To Do. I sent a couple of emails like this, to geologists I’d met in person:
And then I took a big scroll of paper, wrote out a giant mind map and just put everything down.
This is it after sitting on my desk for about a month. I highly recommend making a giant mind map and turning into a tablecloth. You just sit with it all day and the project kind of osmosis-es its way into you.
The geologists directed me towards a fund which I applied for, and let me tell you, there’s nothing like a funding application to get you focused down to what your project is really going to be.
I am currently waiting to hear back on the verdict from funding application number 1, today is the day they actually review my application so THINK GOOD THOUGHTS AND CROSS YOUR FINGERS FOR ME AS YOU READ THIS. Thank you. If we don’t get that, then we move on to the next application and keep going.
This album is going to happen this year regardless. And I think that scares me a bit. But also, I am glad that I’ve decided to just make it happen, for me.
🎪✨SWOOPEE✨🎪
Here’s a half-baked idea that I’m running with: SWOOPEE.
Are you a creative person? Are you working on a project right now, like a book, a song, a comic, a play, a website, a newsletter, a podcast? Do you just want someone to talk to about it with who isn’t your colleague/dad/dog?
Enter, THE SWOOPEE. It’s a 1 hour(ish) zoom call where you and 4 other people talk about your projects and then offer each other an ear or even some advice. Sometimes I feel like all you need is to just talk to get the ideas going again but having someone on hand who can maybe recommend an approach, a book or even a contact is even better!
If you are interested, fill out this form and I’ll be in touch:
things i liked this month
✶ I have been watching a lot of Grey’s Anatomy. The fact that Grey’s Anatomy exists is probably not news to anyone, apart from me. But I am seriously enjoying it right now.
✶ Music-wise, I love this song:
✶ Stupid geology meme:
✶ Finished reading Leigh Bardugo’s Hell Bent, the second in her Ninth House series. If you like books about Ivy League schools and trips to Hell (literally), you might like it too!
✶ MY TWO FAVOURITE TV SHOWS FROM LAST YEAR ARE COMING BACK AKA YELLOWJACKETS AND FOUNDATION (is this an excuse to have Lee Pace in my newsletter? yes, yes it is)
Alright, that’s yer lot. See you in April with more news and things! And things! Glorious things! Creative advice! Album updates! More Swoopees!
As always, leave a comment, or click the ❤️heart❤️ button and claim your prize.
Bye for now,
Olivia 🌈✨