Whatever happened to those Christmas songs?

Recently I wrote about committing to posting some Christmas songs I had written, then backtracked on it:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-gift-of-song.html

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-gift-of-vulnerability.html

I was bogged down by technical difficulties and not sure where to start. It seemed like trying and failing had the most immediate importance, but that it was still something I should do, with a less certain time frame.

A few years ago, I bought a bunch of comics through Humble Bundle.

Humble Bundle does a lot of fundraising things where you can name your price for several books or programs.

At that time, it was a group of comics that had main characters of color raising funds to fight racism. That was the Be the Change bundle, created from an idea Gail Simone had.

In general, the bundles relate more to gaming or software development, so it's rare for it to be something that I would purchase. I am on the mailing list. Recently this came through:

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/piano-and-more-for-dummies-wiley-books

Home Recording for Dummies, eh? And composition and singing. That sounds relevant.

No, I am not buying it. I have switched to pretty much all checking out from the library now, but the library has the relevant books. 

Anyway, I am going to do some reading and figure out some of the more insurmountable-seeming obstacles.

The other thing that may be pertinent is that I have recently started going through the hymnbook as part of my scripture study. 

For our hymnal, things you have on a page include the lyrics and music, of course, but also the writer and composer, maybe the copyright date, and a couple of pertinent scripture verses. Studying for me means that I will look up the scriptures, sing the hymn if I know it, or listen first if it doesn't sound familiar.

I will also try -- well, it doesn't sound right to say "leading" or "conducting" if I am the only one there -- but you know the movements the chorister makes showing the meter and tempo? I do that for at least one verse.

I had this other short term project that I was finishing, and it occurred to me to do this next. It felt right, so here I am.

I am on hymn 21 of 341, so I am going to be at this for a while. The point is that I am thinking about music in different ways. It may be something that serves the original goal, and it may lead in other directions as well.

Anyway, it couldn't be healthy to only think about this administration.