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January, 2009

"Happy and Prosperous New Year"

by Webmaster

Happy New Year! I've been sending out wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. Michi Regier sent wishes for a "for a kinder, gentler 2009 for all of us." I believe that healing energy is in the universe and we can channel it. Reiki is a form of healing energy. So is prayer. So is blessing people and sending wishes for positive outcomes. If we all work together, perhaps we can effect change for the better.

Speaking of which, I've been overwhelmed with blessings.

For the last five years, I've been planting seeds. That's what I call building a business by trying different things and seeing what takes root and grows. And, I've been building several businesses at once, concentrating on music and web site development. My professional interests also include creating art (in various forms including photography), teaching (bass, computer classes and songwriting), and writing (songs, poetry, stories, humor). I've been lucky: I've had success (sales, publication, etc.) in most of my endeavors.

One of my personal interests is rescuing animals, mostly Collies.

Since August, I've gotten two more rescued Collies (bringing the total to three Collies and a cat), six more web clients, and two part-time jobs (one teaching computer classes in an adult education program). In addition, I have an opportunity to pitch some songs in Nashville and have an e-Book publisher interested in a not-so-short story I wrote many years ago. And, there has been some talk about me joining two more bands.

I've been overwhelmed. It's been a challenge to do all these things at once. Fortunately, my web clients are the most supportive and patient people I could ever hope to find! And my friends and band-mates have done all they can to help me.

By pursuing all of these options at once, more doors have opened for me. Now I'm looking at making movies on my computer. I started by enlisting help to make a YouTube video for one of my web clients. A band-mate did it and showed me the general method. A student in a class made a comment which worked with the movie theme: I can take some of my songs and use them as the basis for movies. I can do an excerpt for YouTube and try to download the full-length movie for money.

To make movies from some of my songs, I had to copy songs from cassettes to digital files. I learned to copy from LP's first, then from cassettes. When I mentioned this to some of my friends and web clients, they expressed an interest in hiring me to do that for them.

So, more seeds got planted and they are growing and blooming faster than I would have expected.

But, because of time and the economy, I've had to put some long-range goals on the back burner. It will be a while before I get to finish the CD of my original songs. I'll keep working on it as time and money allow. I won't let that dream die.

There's an ebb and flow. Things I can do to enhance and promote my music that don't require a major outlay of money have come along when I no long have the money to record. New band opportunities have come along to replace some bands that I don't play with anymore. Web clients and teaching computer classes have replaced my corporate job.

And, because of all my blessings, I did not have time to do a complete make-over of AcousticByLines for the new year. But, because the site was well-designed (yes, I'm tooting my own horn here), I was able to give it a new look without spending a huge amount of time. I hope you like it.

Thanks for visiting AcousticByLines.com!

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