Well, September has been a bit of a funny month for me.

To be honest, I haven't been doing a great deal musically. Life has got in the way a bit, mainly because I'm dealing with my mum and her dementia. You don't really appreciate just how difficult dementia can be until you're actually living with someone who has it. It's been a pretty rough time, and I'm doing my best to keep my sanity while trying to be there for her.

So music has had to take a bit of a back seat. But that doesn't mean I've completely stopped doing things.

Getting back to writing

One of the highlights of the month was getting along to an SPPS writing camp, where there was also a sync supervisor, Daisy Rimmer.

It was a really good day.

I got to work with Livvy Clarke, who I've worked with before, and we managed to come up with a really good song called Good Old Days. It's always great when you get into a room with somebody you've worked with previously and can pick things up again, but it's also brilliant meeting new people and finding out what they're doing.

That's one of the things I really like about writing camps. It's not just about the songs you write on the day. It's about meeting people, building your network and being around other creative people.

And, to be honest, when you're not feeling particularly great about things, getting out and spending time with other people can give you a bit of a boost.

Everyone seemed to be writing some great songs, and it was just really good to see everybody again, meet some new people and generally be part of it.

Sometimes things don't quite go to plan

I did try to get out to a gig last week as well.

Unfortunately, I managed to get a bit lost trying to find the venue. By the time I was wandering around trying to work out where I was supposed to be, my legs had started hurting, so in the end I decided to give up and come home.

It was a bit annoying because I was looking forward to the gig, but sometimes you've just got to accept that things aren't going to happen and move on.

It is what it is.

My Saturday escape

One thing that has really helped me this year has been Parkrun.

I started doing it earlier in the year, partly because I needed to get out of the house. Saturday morning gives me an excuse to get outside for an hour, get some fresh air, see some people and just switch off for a while.

When I first started, I was basically walking it. I think my time was around 57 minutes, so I was getting round in just under an hour.

This weekend, I managed to do it in just over 47 minutes.

That's about a ten-minute improvement in a relatively short space of time, which I'm pretty pleased about!

I'm now setting myself a target of getting down to around 45 minutes before the end of the year.

And I've gone and given myself another target as well — I've signed up for the London 10K next September.

So that's something to work towards.

I never really expected that starting out with a Saturday morning walk would turn into me thinking about doing a 10K, but here we are.

Still helping other people

Even though I'm not doing a great deal of my own music at the moment, I'm still keeping the MMMFS newsletters going.

I really enjoy doing them because it keeps me connected with what's happening. I get to see what friends are releasing, what gigs they've got coming up and what else is going on, and then I can share that with everybody else.

So even if I'm not particularly active myself at the moment, I'm still able to help other people in a small way.

And that's actually quite important to me.

You don't always have to be the person making the music. Sometimes you can help by sharing somebody else's music, putting somebody in touch with somebody else, or just giving them a bit of support.

You can check it out here https://mmmfs.uk/

Keeping the brain working

I also attended a Green Chair webinar, which is part of the SAFO Group, looking at branding and social media for artists.

It was actually really good.

One of the things I took from it was that a lot of the things I've already got in my head about branding and social media are actually on the right track.

It's always useful to have a refresher, though. Sometimes you can know something but still benefit from hearing it explained again.

And it also means that, even though I'm not currently thinking of myself as being particularly active as an artist, I've got a bit more knowledge in the back pocket that I can pass on to other artists I work with.

That's always useful.

Looking forward

So that's pretty much been my September.

It's been a difficult month, and music hasn't been as much of a focus as I'd like. But looking back, I suppose I have still managed to keep moving forward in different ways.

I've written a new song, spent time with other writers, kept MMMFS going, learnt a few things, got myself outside for Parkrun and, perhaps most importantly, given myself something to aim for.

Sometimes progress isn't necessarily about making loads of music or ticking off a massive list of achievements.

Sometimes it's just about getting through the month, getting out of the house, seeing some people and doing something positive when you can.

So I'll sign off there.

Hopefully October will bring a few more musical opportunities my way, but we'll see what happens.

Until next time!