Herein Lies the Personality

Hello All,

After several weeks of toying with WordPress, I returned to Blogger to put this long-needed site together. While it'd be nice to make this as aesthetically pleasing as possible, my focus is the content. Nearly every writer or freelancer that I know has their own site, so this is my official conglomerate. After all, a resume can only say so much about who has put me on their payroll and where I got my start(s). Herein lies the personality. There won't be any relationship rants or personal dramas, but when you're a writer it's natural for the wide variety of events in your life to converge.

Music - the business of it - has been my life for so long. I've grown up and around so many brilliant local and popular musicians that have dedicated their life to composition and performance, and it's always been an inspiration to someone like myself; someone who has been standing proud backstage making sure things run smoothly. The camaraderie I've developed with some of the most inspiring music writers of the last ten years have taught me so much about myself, and without that I couldn't have grown beyond my borders and into various other writing fields and career opportunities.

I remember when I was a publicist - one of the best careers I've had to date - I finally saw "the fence." By that time I'd been a solid music writer for about four or five years, and hadn't actually dealt with publicists too much after my college graduation. Much of that communication was taken up with my editors and then passed on to me. In any case, here I was standing on the other side of this see-through barrier, and more and more were editors telling me that it was a huge conflict of interest to balance freelance writing and a salaried publicity position within the same industry. Looking back, I don't believe this to be entirely true, but it takes a certain kind of mental dichotomy that simply can't exist within the realm of music fandom. There's too much personal investment and self-motivated drive needed to succeed on either side, let alone both.

To be a good publicist, you should believe in your product(s), and there are simply so many people that carry out this job with little passion. To be a writer, you have to believe in yourself, and knowing that your opinion is worth being paid for, read and considered by countless fans who choose not to write about music is key. Over the years, and throwing in many other projects and experiences into the mix, I've come to feel that a person who can play either side of the fence is better off committing to one, but the reward of having resided on both sides at some point is invaluable.

So with all this said, I ultimately welcome you and hope that you check this site often. Predetermined formats and categories might make things a little easier, but my life has never ever had such a helping hand so you're along for the ride. Thank you!

VGS