Meaning, Writer's Practicalities and Music Reviews
Some reflective thinking (and writing) on meaning, the writer's work life and a word or two on paid music reviews.
Meaning being what you think and do, I’m of a mind that being unemployed during many periods of your life makes it possible for you to have different meanings of who you are. If who you are is your identity, thoughts and status in life, that means who you are might be highly unstable. One day you’re this, one day you’re that. A state of confusion, if you will.
As a writer, meaning means starting and finishing projects (novels, plays, emails etc). When you’re done with a play, for example (I think I’m just done with one), the question is: what are you gonna write next? When? And what do you do in the meanwhile? These are the practicalities of a writer’s life.
You can think about other things: I listen to music, and I sometimes write about it. Yesterday I wrote and published a piece. Meaning is also asking: what musical article should I write next? This question arises regularly since articles can be as short as anything; unlike a novel which takes more time; a play being much shorter than a novel. You write about what you know; the music you’ve heard.
Yesterday’s piece was about R. Kelly’s The World’s Greatest. Possibly it could have been about any other artist. It could have been about Beyonce, Jay-Z, Pink 2Pac, Mafikizolo, Oliver Mtukudzi, Burna Boy etc, but perhaps not about Ed Sheeran since I’m not a fan.
This might mean that much musical writing is about famous musicians. But then other musical topics can be about the technicalities of listening to music. For example, how do you go about finding hot new music? Yesterday I drafted a piece of that nature.
I offer paid music reviews for my music publication, The Musician. So, I also get to write reviews. So, when musicians ask for paid reviews, that means they’re more or less directing what I should write.
The thing about meaning’s that you have to understand that there are thoughts in your mind/brain. You don’t have to understand most of them or at least be conscious of them, but you have to understand that on a daily basis, you’ll have an important thought or two. These you might have to be conscious of. The goal is not to overwhelm your mind trying to understand most of your thoughts. One is a good number. Two maybe best. Three becomes misery