patience

i want to let you all know that i had a great opening line for this blog, but at the exact moment that it popped into my head, my 16 pound boston terrier just farted right next to me and the by the time i was done wafting the smell away, my genius opening was long gone.

ok, now that the potty humor is out of the way, it's on to more important things.

i'm very pumped because today the Now Hear This Vol. 6 compilation CD was released and on it is a track from my wife's worship record that i've been producing for the last few months. the song is called "Lean" and we wrote it with @sarahhart. sarah was just nominated for a grammy for writing the amy grant song "Better Than A Hallelujah" (watch your feet, i'm dropping names). anyway, we first started talking with the label about this project almost exactly a year ago. it's hard to work on something day after day and progress only inches every day in what seems like a 26.2 mile marathon. i've never been a patient person. i fidget a lot and find it hard to sit still. doctors said i had ADD as a kid and i even had to take ritalin. who knows whether i actually had it or not. i could have just as easily been an energetic kid who didn't want to pay attention in class. all that to say patience isn't my strong suit. i remember a few years ago asking god for patience, and even though i have far to go, he's been using my own ambitions for recording to teach me.

why do records take so long? well, first come the meetings with the label. multiple meetings to get approval for the record, choose producer and work out budget. then the hardest part starts. the writing. the first demo we worked on was in december of 2009. we wrote off and on until september of 2010. we went through about 50 rough ideas, used those ideas and wrote 15 songs in co-writing sessions. we also had over 100 songs pitched to us from different publishing companies. the recording has only taken a few months. then there's mixing, mastering and a few months of lead time to properly market and promote the CD. and finally we arrive at the release date of June 7, 2011. about a year and a half after we first conceived the idea.

when i was a kid my dad and i would build model rockets. the process was agonizing because even though we could assemble it in a few minutes, when we painted it, we'd have to wait a WHOLE DAY for it to dry. i wanted to launch the rocket NOW. my dad once bought me a model car to put together. i didn't even finish it. now, years later, i understand that it's more about enjoying the process and not only looking for the satisfaction of finishing. but i'm definitely satisfied with how this project is turning out.

nothing worth doing is ever easy.