I successfully completed this songwriting challenge in both 2020 and 2021. I'm uncertain as to when I'll do it again. I really want to work on improving my guitar skills, as well as my production and recording skills. I also am a serious long distance runner, so July 4 to October 1 is prime race season for me. I have big goals, such as ultra races. So, my mind is thinking about how I'd like to be able to do 50 miles, not 50 songs, hahaha! Yeah, I'm *that* type of person...I know I'm weird. It's very hard to have the bandwidth creatively while working so hard physically. I do plan on doing February Album Writing Month, hopefully annually. That one is more do-able for me, given my schedule and it being winter where I live.

My passions are singing, playing guitar, and songwriting. I just want to do it because it makes me happy. I also want to record my own, original music, in a more polished way. My mission in life is to make people laugh or cry, since to me, those are so healing for us as humans and music lovers.

I have been a musician all of my life. I began my guitar journey though later in life playing electric guitar. I've been trying to make friends with the acoustic guitar, but of course, my skills aren't up to what I desire as of yet. I also confess to really hating hearing my singing voice, but I've been trying my best to embrace its girlie nature. At my first open mic in 2015, a friend said, "You sound like a punk rock Emmylou Harris," which makes me happy now, but truthfully, I wish I sang or sounded like Aretha Franklin (don't we all?!).

I enjoy playing at open mics and since 2019, I've begun to share my original songs at those. I have very eclectic taste in music as a fan, which I am sure influences me in some ways. I would consider myself a typical hippie folk artist, but I have never let go of my punk rock side, haha! I think I contain multitudes as a musician. I vacillate from day to day, with some days being me plugging in my Les Paul Jr. into a Marshall amp and other days, I play quiet acoustic music.

Personally, I have dark humor at times, along with snarky or silly humor in there and I'm sure annoyingly, that translates into my lyrics and style. I'm a laidback nature loving person, a homemaker, nobody special and I love animals. I just try to be authentic and loving in my day to day.

I've had so many losses and failures in my life, so at times, music can be a scary thing for me. I've been working on turning around my mindset as a musician, instead of allowing myself to live in fear or anxiety. Every day I pick up a guitar, it does scare me, but I feel happy and inspired the most when I do so.

When I'm not making music, I'm spending time with my sweet, chivalrous hubby and my cute hamster boy Hammy Cash, along with enjoying time in nature, as well as running, hiking, walking, feeding squirrels, looking for critters in nature, cooking plant-based cuisine, daydreaming about places I hope to travel to one day, journaling, writing poetry, attending concerts and local live music, doing mixed media art and art journaling from time to time, reading mostly non-fiction books, and spending time with good friends. I enjoy time wandering around in the city where I live, my college town, which is my favorite on the planet (I am so lucky!). I find a lot of inspiration from a variety of things, such as flowers, trees, animals, architecture, and everything in my city.

P.S. I've done open mics in the past in person, but 50 in 90 in 2020 was my first time sharing my demo recordings online, haha! Oh so scary for me, but I guess that is how you grow as a person, right? I wanted to wait another 20 years until I have better guitar skills. Darn!