Monday Storytime: Magically Collide by Jamie Pennelly

I write a lot of songs. They are all based on an experience I’ve had whether it was an actual situation or just a feeling. I love that process. I’ve decided to start this thing called Monday Storytime to give me some space every Monday to share the story behind one of my songs.

The first story I want to share is how I came to write my song Magically Collide. I decided to share this one because just today, as I arrived home and got out of my car to go into my house, I caught a glimpse of the sky and the stars. They were so beautiful. In just that glimpse, a sense of peace came over me. I just got back from work and felt a bit stressed and my stress went away even for just a moment.

There have been so many instances where the sky was able to give me that feeling of healing. This song shares that experience. This specific song, “Magically Collide” was written on a day where the sky had colors I don’t see too often. It caught my attention because it was a mix of like a soft peach color on top and then it blended with some light purple, then ended with a nice darker purple. Those two colors are actually some of my favorite colors, so of course seeing it put a smile on my face. =)

Right when I had a break in between jobs, I penned “Magically Collide.” The first part of the chorus goes “Let the skies above light up. Put a show for us to see. Let us see the colors magically collide.” I went on an awesome month long road/camping trip with my husband and we stayed at a campground. One night, I woke up in the middle of the night and again caught a glimpse of the sky and was in awe. It was so clear, so blue, and filled with so many stars. I think of nature sometimes putting on a show for us.

Despite all the craziness that can go on in our world or in my life, pretty skies have the ability to bring me back to a good place. I like that.

Songlist for the Soul

Meant To Fly: “She doubted what she sensed cause no one else believed. But still the truth inside her heart just would not leave.”

You Belong: “You are loved, you belong, you are treasure found. You’ll be whole, you’ll know who you are.”

I Need A Moment: “Life is a struggle sometimes I just wanna take a break. Another moment and I worry I might just break. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way.”

The Antidote To Being Human: “I want a spell to make the pain go away. The antidote to all the ails of being human.”

Things Will Change: “Even when I doubt, without a doubt things turn around eventually.”

Lost Now Found: “You’re a masterpiece of the maker of the universe. That shows you just how great you are.”

My Spaceship Zooms: “No longer strange…just me.”

Hey Pain: “Hey pain, how about you and me be friends.”

I Smile: “I smile and my worries go.”

Changing Things Up

I just started singing and songwriting several months ago and I was already feeling unmotivated and bored. This didn’t make sense to me. I had such enthusiasm when I decided I wanted to learn how to play the guitar better and write inspirational songs about living your life to the fullest, being you, and all that good stuff. I was writing one song a day, day after day, I was so inspired, I was having a blast. Then a little over a month ago, I lost all the zest. When I would share my songs at open mics, I would just go through the motions. I wasn’t having fun anymore. I decided to pursue this passion because it made me come alive, so this was a problem I needed to understand and fix. 

I was skimming through The Artist’s Way which is a book I just finished on learning how to unleash your creativity, and I noticed something I underlined. The author was making a point about how it’s so easy to fall into the trap of following a formula including your own formula. I came to understand this as doing something a certain way because it worked in the past and continuing to do it because it worked in the past even if it’s not working in the present. Pretty much, sticking with what you know. When I saw that, the lightbulb went on. I was sticking to what I know and holding onto it and not wanting to let go. My formula was this: write songs about the inspiring experiences and lessons I was having at the moment. I was going through some major changes in my life just several months ago and I had a bunch of experiences like that to sing about. But now things are starting to settle down. The new life is setting in just fine and things are pretty stable at the moment. The old formula doesn’t apply.

I didn’t want to give up that formula because I felt I was giving up on the reason I decided to pursue my passion – to sing songs that call people to wake up and live. But at the same time, I would be giving up on my passion for singing and songwriting because I currently am experiencing something different at the moment. I decided to shake off the feeling of having to do something a certain way – having to follow the rules. I’ve never been fond of following rules. I’m not a typical rule breaker or law violater, but I’m just someone who doesn’t like to follow the crowd when it comes to doing what you know is right in your heart for you. I feel many people fall into conformity and don’t live the life they want to live, have the job they want, think what they want to think, or say what they want to say. In that way, I break cultural or personal norms.

So, I’ve decided to allow myself to change things up and write songs about whatever my heart wants to write. Over the past several days, I’ve written songs about sweet treats, singing in the morning, and also wrote a couple songs with a different style than I normally write in. The result, a happy budding artist. I’m letting my creativity run free. =)

Never Give Up

One of my passions is singing and songwriting. I started singing and songwriting just 4 months ago. When I started writing this blog, I was going to write that it was my hobby, but I wrote passion instead because I just realized that’s what it is. You see, I’ve had many hobbies. I’ve had many things I’ve been interested in. I’ve learned how to crochet, make beaded jewelry, I’ve taken various dance classes, I got into painting, and then sewing. One thing I used to brag about is how I’ve tried many things, but one thing I started to realize recently is that I’ve never stuck to one thing. I started to get uncomfortable about the fact that I haven’t pursued one hobby and set goals to get really good at it.

What I’ve realized is that I’ve actually never really had practice in sticking to one thing and getting good at it. I’ve never really practiced the act of practicing actually. I was brought up to believe I should just know something. I was pretty talented, so things came to me a bit easier, so I was just expected to do it. As a result, whenever things didn’t come easily, I just moved onto the next thing. Instead of calling it quitting, I looked as it as adding another thing to my repertoire of other things I’ve done. It became a collection of things I’ve done to brag about. 

In hindsight, it’s nothing to brag about at all. At the beginning of this year, I’ve become determined to learn a hobby and stick to it. I searched for the one hobby I wanted to stick to it and it ended up being singing and songwriting. I didn’t figure this out until the middle of this year though. I guess that fact is not that important. As long as I found the hobby, that’s what matters. Besides, I have plenty of years ahead of me of singing and songwriting. =)

I decided to write this post because that habit of wanting to give up has started to come up in my mind. Like I shared, I don’t have much experience in sticking to one thing, so naturally this desire to give it up and move to something else would come up. I feel what I decide to do at this moment can change the future of pursuing this passion of mine. Thankfully, I remembered a video I watched from youtube during the first month I started practicing. I came across ascap’s youtube channel and the speaker was talking about how to be a successful songwriter. He said to show up, be nice, and never give up and you’ll be in the top 2%.

I was very motivated after watching that video, but it also made me think how easy it could be to become a successful songwriter. Wow, just don’t give up. Is that it? But from my experience, not giving up is not an easy thing to do. It’s so easy to give up – to just drop doing something like it never happened. One thing I have going for me is that when I say I want to do something, I’m actually pretty good at following through. I’m pretty determined once I set a goal. Because of this, I’m very careful when I set a goal.

I am going to set one right now. I will not give up on my passion for singing and songwriting. I will continue to practice, I will continue to put my heart into the songs I write, and I will continue to share my passion with others. I’m going to take it one day at a time and before I know it, I would have been doing this for 5 years. I will take it one day at a time.