My own pat on the back.
The entire purpose of what I do, the things I say, write, and demonstrate, are really all about "teaching a person to fish." I try to demonstrate by doing, elements of writing, the follow through of that writing. One of the main enjoyments that I have are watching people I have worked with "come into their own" when it comes to writing.
One of the people that have really stepped up and done that is OD.
We have not heard a lot from OD recently as he has been in his own quiet time. He feels some times he can "get into the beer" and make observations that he might rather keep to himself. That is something we ALL do, and many people never realize that. The entire internet is made up of people that should "think before they press 'SEND.'".
I have always found him to be a great friend, very instinctive and very funny. We have a really interesting bond. He came to me after he had spent many years and dollars going off in directions it probably would have been better if he didn't do. But he learned with every mistake and constantly worked to better himself, sometimes even despite himself.
We still write a bit online and he has gone from just writing down some blathering words, to really honing in on the craft of lyric writing. Most of the songs I have either done a lot of changing and adapting, and some I suggested he just leave them in the "Good idea at the time" pile.
But recently he has started to send me some lyrics that really are hitting the mark. A current one is really very well done and I am putting some music to it. I have not really had to change a thing outside of some changing for meter, but the meaning of the song is very well stated.
Since so much of the time I am just talking about what NOT to do, it is good that sometimes they show me WHAT TO DO. And OD is now really doing that consistently.
Just wanted to give credit where credit is due.
MAB
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