This is just to announce a small revision to my blog. I believe it is a major improvement…

You can now click on the word Archives over there in the sidebar to the left of this text, and you will see an INDEX of all of the blogs I’ve written. They’re listed by DATE POSTED and TITLE. (Before, they would just all appear, text and all, in order. It was completely overwhelming.)

Go ahead and try it. I’ll wait here til you come back.

See? Now, wasn’t that easy? And so much fun! And so much cleaner and more organized.

(Feel free to write a comment below about how easy and clean it was for you.)

You can also click on any of the MONTHS below the word ARCHIVES to view just the articles for that particular month. All blogs are listed by title and day of the month they were posted.

So, if you’re a new reader and you wish to go back and look at the articles you’ve missed, click away, and share articles with friends.

(Plinky background music begins.) We here at the corporate offices of Christine Kane are always working hard to make things a little easier for you, our loyal customers.

(In fact, if we were an airline, we’d still give you pillows. Unlike the airline that flew me (Pillowless! For four hours!) to Salt Lake City this weekend.)

By Christine Kane
www.christinekane.com

I’m a baby blogger. A blogling. (Okay, I’ll admit it — I just made myself laugh.)

I’ve been blogging for less than three months, and I’ll just say right here that the last time I learned this much stuff I didn’t want to know was when my college boyfriend made me take a Business Law class with him.

This time, though, I love it. (I got a C minus in Business Law.) For the past 13 years, my world has consisted of intuiting and creating and sitting quietly, communing with songs to “get a feel” for if they are done yet, OR for if that last line of the chorus says exactly what I want it to say, OR if I should cut the 8-bar bridge down to 4, just cuz it “seems” to work better.

Now, joy of joys, I have entered a world where, tucked within simple “less-than” and “greater-than” signs, sharing the space with happy little exclamation points here and there, are all of the answers to whatever might be wrong. Everything can be explained, resolved, changed and fixed from within those signs. No one will ever look inside those “less than” and “greater than” signs and make a face and say, “You know? That just isn’t workin’ for me. Maybe you could add a few more exclamation points or something. Or maybe a question mark‚Ķ”

My language has changed, too. My friends don’t recognize me anymore. The other day I said, “I’ve gotta go figure out this Technorati stuff and then I’ll claim my blog, and burn the feed, and read up on this social bookmarking thing cuz I so do not get delicious.” My friend Beth, a Celtic musician, just stared at me. She looked like the RCA Victor dog. Head cocked, and listening for some sound to let her know that her friend Christine was still in there somewhere.

Diva Illusions

There was a day, about three years into my career of performing and songwriting, when I was discovering the massive amount of business work that goes into an artist’s career. This was before I had set up my company, and before I had hired anyone to do anything for me. I was booking my own shows. I was managing my own mailing list. I was waiting in Xerox lines at Office Depot. And I called a friend and whined, “All I ever wanted to do was write songs and perform them! What is all this other stuff!?”

The other stuff is the framework. It’s the stuff you do so that you can write the songs and perform them. Every artist, at some point in their career, reaches the place where all the other stuff makes them want to run. If I may be very Stevie Nicks about it, the other stuff can make you cry make you break down and shatter your illusions of love. You wake up and realize that yes, you can write songs, and you will have the time of your life, and your dreams will come true. (See also, my song Right Outta Nowhere). AND that there will be lots and lots of other stuff to do to make a career of it, and not just a few weekday open mic nights.

Blogging Illusions

I call Brent “my web guy.” (He probably calls me “the annoying songwriter girl.”) I told him I wanted to start a blog to keep in touch with the world while I take a little time off after five years of heavy duty touring. (And other reasons too.) Brent is new to blog stuff, too. The other day we spent several hours getting an RSS feed for my blog. I was heading out of his office and he leaned out the door and said, “When you wanted to start a blog, you had NO idea what you were getting into did you?” And I said, “Nope. All I wanted to do was write things.”

Only this time, my illusions of blog are only mildly shattered. I’ve been here before. This is the other stuff. The framework — SO THAT you get to write and post and be on the web. No problem.

So, when Darren Rowse at Problogger challenged bloggers to post their goals for all the world to see, my mind went into my “Starbucks Venti” mode… Okay, there’s learning about AdSense, and I still don’t get social bookmarking at all, there’s that plug-in to automate the amazon affiliates thingee so I‚Äôm not cutting and pasting, there’s Guy Kawasaki’s whole thing about planning your blog schedule in advance (cuz after all it’s not just a diary), and you want the Clean Archives look and that code is not going to write itself you know‚Ķ

And then I stopped and do what I always do when I get overwhelmed. I took a deep breath.

My One and Only Goal (to rule them all)

I have WHAT goals. And I have HOW goals. WHAT goals consist of lists, like above, only a little less frenetic. WHAT goals are about songwriting, making demos for my publishing company, releasing a new CD. WHAT goals are about my record label office and all of its requirements.

But the HOW goal is most important. And the one goal that rules all of my WHAT goals is this: (I will write it in my new blogling language…)

(less than-sign)Goal (equals sign) ! to go at my own pace ! (greater-than sign).

by Christine Kane
www.christinekane.com

So, this is a new page on my site. I used to have a “Notes From the Road” page. I got tired of writing “Notes from the Road.” Performers and songwriters and bands (oh my?) all seem to have them. And you get the basic idea… life on the road is zany, tiring, tedious, draining, fun, and filled with bad meals and very scary truck stop bathroom floors. I wasn’t often moved to write about the road — which is why the last time I had written was in the summer of 2004.

So welcome to my blog. The word blog opens the doors so I can write whatever I want about whatever and wherever I want. Besides, I’m taking more time off this year and I won’t be on the road as much to document the latest Taco Bell burrito lunch.

So, here’s the deal: I’m not a coach. I’m not a psychologist. I’m not certified in any way. Of course, I know a few psychologists who have never gone to therapy. Zoinks. Isn’t that a little bit like going to see a priest about your marital problems? If someone hasn’t lived it, I don’t have any desire to hear him pontificate about it. I’ve lived what I’m writing about here. Which is why I don’t write anything about, say, venture capital. This is a “What I’ve learned from thirteen years as a singer, songwriter, performer, artist, writer, business owner, employer, traveler, manager, managee, occasional drama queen, and wannabe mystic” blog. I truly hope that it helps anyone who visits this site.

I used to think I was the poster child for moving ahead in spite of fear. I wasn’t encouraged to play music professionally. I was so terrified at my first open mic that I left the club without even getting onto the stage. I was equally as terrified at my first paying gig. I’m pretty clear that this path I’ve taken has been more about challenging me to play a bigger game than I ever believed possible than about anything else. Because of that history, and because at some point I left behind a lot of those old tapes playing in my head, I wanted to help other people do just that. I have mentored beginning artists of all types. I’ve taught many workshops. And I facilitate a retreat for women (non-artist-types, and artist-types alike) twice a year. These writings are largely about the kind of things I talk about in these scenarios.

I went from being an unhappy administrative assistant at a PR firm who had just graduated from college with debt, an eating disorder, and more depression than I care to remember — to living in a city I adore, playing music professionally, running my own business, writing songs alone and with other writers, dealing with good reviews, bad reviews and an occasional stalker-type, finding my way through cities and towns and mapquest, and really opening up to happiness and purpose. In other words, I got a life. It has taken a long time, a lot of work, and lots of commitment. My perspective has expanded enormously. Not just on music and performing. This is about living consciously and taking full responsibility for the shape and scope of my life.

I’ve been encouraged by people (who seemed to like the Notes from the Road idea) to write a book of essays. Rather than do that, I want to do this. I am so passionate about the things I’m writing about that I’d rather just let you read it on line and hear back from you. When I asked myself about writing a book, it just didn’t feel right yet.

Let me know your thoughts, either on the comments link or at christine@christinekane.com. This year, I am taking a lot more time off from touring so that I can write songs (and blogs!) and see what’s next, so I’ll be able to respond a little more promptly than I have in the past.