Songs For The Struggling Artist

I am so used to rejections that when I saw the email in my inbox, I thought, “I don’t think I can handle that rejection today.” So it took me a little minute to open it and read it and see that was actually an acknowledgement that the play is moving on to the semi-finals and woot! To read more of Small Victories, visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 172 Song: Things Can Only Get Better by Howard Jones Image by skeeze via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/songs-for-the-struggling-artist/support

Look – I’ve always been a LITTLE bit weird. I wore my tutu with pants and an engineer’s cap to school when I was a kid. (I might still wear this, given a chance.) I don’t care much for social conventions or fashion trends or behavioral controls. I’m sort of constitutionally an artist and a certain amount of difference discomfort is just a normal part of my life experience. But recently, I’ve been feeling like I’m much weirder than I used to be. Or rather, I’m as weird as I’ve always been but I seem to seem weirder to the outside world. To read more of Be the Weirdo You Want to See in the World, visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 171 Song: Still a Weirdo by KT Tunstall To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/

In the bathroom at my local café, someone has written on the wall with chalk, in what I’m sure is meant to be an inspirational font: “Believe in Yourself!” I hate this note. I know it’s meant to be uplifting but I cannot imagine that anyone could look at a note on the bathroom wall and change their belief or lack of belief in themselves. In response to this cheery message, I may have given a bathroom wall the finger. I’m not proud of it – but I think I’ve been pushed to my Believing in Myself limit. To read more of "Believe in Yourself" visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 170 Song: Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. Had to do it.  Image by HassebPhotography via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.co

Are you having a party? Invite me. I would like to come. Can I guarantee that I will make it? No. Stuff happens and sometimes migraines happen to me. So I am unfortunately not a terribly reliable guest anymore. Also if it’s super late and the trains aren’t running again on the weekends, it can get a little sticky but please invite me anyway. To read more of Invite Me to Your Party, visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. Episode 169 Song: People's Parties by Joni Mitchell Image by Markito via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/songs-for-the-struggling-artist/support

Hey girl. It’s me, yourself from a few minutes ago. I’m just writing you this little post from your past so that you can refer to it in your future the next time you’re feeling bad or insecure or despondent about how no one came to see your show or read your blog or listened to your podcast or your music or read your book. I’m going to need you to remember the nearly three hours you spent in the audience of a musical I’m going to call Bike. To read more of In Which I Learn Again that Popularity Does Not Equal Quality, or a Show Called Bike visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 168 Song: Motorcycle Song by Arlo Guthrie Image of a Dumpster Fire via Wikicommons To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowd

They were doing a screening of Roma in my neighborhood so I went. The theatre was dotted with audience members – so everyone sort of had a little bubble of space for themselves. About two rows behind me sat two elderly Latino men. They were possibly the only Latinx people in the place. Once the movie began, they spoke to each other in Spanish. In a movie that is so much about atmosphere, their voices added to the experience. I was only sorry that my Spanish is not good enough to eavesdrop a little. But some guy on the other side of their row was not happy about their conversation. He shouted at them to be quiet. His shouting was very jarring. And he did it again about ten minutes later. He was really mad about those old guys talking. The third time, he shouted “Be quiet. You’re disturbing the movie.” To keep reading Be Quiet. You're Disturbing the Movie. visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 165 Song: Voices Carry by 'Til Tuesday Image by mermyhh via Pixabay To support the podcast:

When I first started making things, I thought the hard part of making things was the making of things. I was always reading about people who never wrote their novels or their plays or songs or whatever. From reading all these creativity books, I got the sense that just FINISHING something would put me ahead of the pack. This sense is often reinforced, even now. Just the other day I was listening to a podcast about writing and the guest and the host agreed that 95% of writers don’t finish their manuscripts. They made it sound like, just by finishing something, you were already well on your way to success. But I’ve been finishing things my whole creative life and I’m no closer to the front of the pack than I was when I began. Despite a large body of work behind me, I still feel like I’m running like mad to keep up. To read more of Finishing Things visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 164 Song: "Here's Where the Story Ends" by The Sundays Image via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give

We watched The Hangover one night, when it seemed like a couple of dumb laughs might be just the remedy for the world’s cruelties. A couple of dumb laughs were about all we got out of it in the end and half of them were from us about what extraordinary stereotypes all the “killjoy” women were. We cracked ourselves up adding lines, “That no-fun bride is mad we lost her fiancé right before her wedding. God! Women are so annoying!” My friend could not get over how conventional and conservative it was.......... Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a lot better a play than The Hangover is a movie. It’s funnier, too. But like The Hangover, it is remarkably conventional and conservative. To read the full Harry Potter and the Hangover visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 162 Song: "Goodnight and Go" by Imogen Heap Image via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook:

The interviewer had asked me about my early career as a classical actor. I was explaining the math I did after a few years of acting wherein I realized how terrible the odds were for me in classical theatre. I’d realized I had little interest in performing in contemporary work and that the jobs in Shakespeare for women were so few that I had really very little chance of continuing to work. Then she asked me, “Do you think it would have different if you were a man?” To continue reading O God, that I were a man! visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 161. Song: The Man by The Killers Image via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!  Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/  Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis  Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd  I

The café where I came up with the idea is long gone. I think it’s three to four businesses ago in that spot now. But the project that was born there took me through eight to nine years. It started in that café out of a need to goose my creative practice. I was finding my writing process to be a little less smooth than I liked. When I turned on the faucet, the creativity didn’t always flow the way it used to. I felt I needed a structure within my daily practice that might drop me in to a better state of flow. Hamlet came to me because – at the time – I was working toward playing the role. I had a goal of getting back to acting and Hamlet was the top of that mountain. I thought if I wrote in response to Hamlet, I’d tackle two goals at once. I could prepare to play Hamlet while goosing my writing practice. To read more of The Hamlet Project - 'Tis a Knavish Piece of Work visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 160. Song: Good Night Uncle Vanya by Emily Rainbow Davis Image via New York Pub

When I apply for artist residencies, I am almost always asked to describe the project I would work on while there. Sometimes a rather substantial word count is suggested for such things. I suspect that the application lives or dies based on my ability to pitch a possible project. (Mostly my applications die – so it would seem I am not great at this part. Either that or the application ACTUALLY lives or dies based on the résumé, in which case the project may not matter at all.) But the truth is, whatever I say in these project descriptions, I am just making things up. To keep reading I Am Literally Making All This Up, visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 159  Song: You Got Me by Emily Rainbow Davis Image via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!  Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/  Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon

What with the kids in cages, gerrymandering given a pass by the Supreme Court and civil liberties under constant attack, I found it a little difficult to work up any enthusiasm for the Fourth of July. I would have been fine to grab a pizza and watch TV, maybe try and squeeze in a little activism – but, sort of by chance, we ended up at Gantry Park in Long Island City, Queens, which is not far from where I live. It’s a waterfront park developed in the last few years and so a lot of people had gathered there to see the fireworks. We walked past people from all over the world. We saw families of a multitude of religions and races. People streamed into the park and while I don’t love crowds, I was actually grateful to be among so many people of so many varieties on a day like the Fourth. To read more of I've Got My Plans for July 4th Next Year Already visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 158 Song: America by Simon and Garfunkle Image via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars i

I have read endless articles and books on this topic and they all offer more or else the same thing in more or less optimistic language, depending on the publication. They all know that this is what everyone wants to know, so this is what they tell you, even though no one has the secret. I’m not going to lie to you – the reason why there are so many articles about how to make money from your art is because everyone wants the answer and no one knows how to do it, aside from the Steve Martin, “First, get a million dollars” way. There are some things to try, for sure. There are possibilities and methods. Maybe one will work for you but there are no guarantees. However – I don’t want to deny what you came here for – so at the risk of repeating what every other article about this says – I will, in fact, offer you some strategies for making money on your art work. I will be unable to avoid drawing on my experience and of other artists I’ve known, though, so you can expect, perhaps, an uncomfortable amount of realis

“I know you’re busy,” someone will say as we look at our calendars to pick a time to meet. Sometimes I just nod, and sometimes, I say, “I’m actually not.” Most people are a little baffled by this response. How could I not be busy? And how could I confess it? There are a lot of reasons for my retreat from busy-ness but confessing it feels more and more radical and more important all the time. To read more of I'm Not Busy visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 156  Song: I'm Busy Being Busy by Mister Rogers Image via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!  Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/  Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis  Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd  Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! --- Support this podcast: https:

Well, well, my fellow Gen X-ers. We have arrived. Again. The New York Times put out a style section spread on us and I tried not to pay attention to it because I was done, my Gen X siblings, I was done with weaving together the threads of all the Gen X articles I’d read and considered and so on. It came out a month ago but apparently I can’t leave it alone. To read more of Gen X Is a Mess?!? visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 155 Song: Kids in America by Kim Wilde Image via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!  Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/  Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis  Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd  Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/songs-for-the-struggling-artis

Here’s what I’m looking for: A Squad. A Posse. A Team. Specifically: a squad, posse or team that is ready to mobilize for protests and marches and events. Here’s why: I do not enjoy protests and marches. I’m a highly sensitive introvert with an aversion to crowds and shouting. But I know they make a difference and I often feel as though I OUGHT to go. Unfortunately, sometimes I just can’t muster the will. The main obstacle is that while there are many many things I am very happy to do by myself – protesting is not one of them. To read more of Posse. Team. Community, visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 154 Song: Solidarity Forever by Pete Seeger Image via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!  Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/  Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis  Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.

The man in an oxford shirt came up behind me at the narrow passage of the café and did not stop moving as he said, “Excuse me, ma’am” and walked on, scrolling through his phone. I muttered, “Don’t you ma’am me,” after he passed but what I really wanted to do was set him on fire with my magical fire-shooting ability. If you'd like to keep reading Excuse Me, Ma'am, visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 153 Song: Witchy Woman by The Eagles Image via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!  Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/  Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis  Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd  Instagram and Pinterest --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/songs-for-the-struggling-artist/support

So the body count thus far for this adventure included one public radio podcast and one non-profit podcast host. And maybe even a non-profit podcast? But this saga was not over, friends. No it was not. Because a few weeks ago, an announcement showed up in the Note to Self podcast feed. Note to Self was coming back.  To read more of The Podcast Drama That No One Is Talking About visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 152 Song: Listen to the Radio by Nanci Griffith Image via Pixabay To support the podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!  Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/  Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis  Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd  Instagram and Pinterest --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/songs-for-the-struggling-artist/support