The Commonplace Book Project
Billy Gibbons (Wikimedia Commons)
“Until you learn to play what you want to hear, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
— Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top
Kevin and I went down to a park in downtown Warren, PA and watched a band called the Ozone Rangers play tonight. They’re play Southern rock and, specifically, are a ZZ Top cover band.
For forty years.
I looked up a Billy Gibbons quote tonight, of course. In honor of ZZ Top, after hearing at least half a dozen of their songs played live tonight. And I love this one.
We all start out trying to create what we think other people want to hear or see or read. Until you get past that and start ringing your own bell, like Billy said, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
And the biggest danger of barking up the wrong tree? It might work. I know more than one miserable writer who hit it big writing something that wasn’t what they wanted to write. And now money is rolling in, maybe even a lot of it, and they are stuck.
Or at least, they think they are. Because giving that up is hard.Really hard.