BECAUSE YOU ASKED...

I've been listening to you, and in response, I've lowered the "Choose Him Again" group bundle price to $4.99. I want to make it as affordable as possible. I hope that's helpful.

And since I'm on the topic of listening to you, here are the 4 most frequently asked questions from my customers, and my answers:

1. Why isn't your music free? (We're used to getting Church music for free) 

Okay, nobody's ever come right out and said exactly those words, but they've asked it indirectly many times. And believe me -- I've asked the question to myself many times. I wish I could give it all away, but I can't, and this is why:

I don't arrange, perform, produce, or transcribe the music. I just write it. So I have to pay other people to do all that. Without their help, you'd never be able to hear the song before you ordered it, and you'd only receive a piece of hand-written notation paper with a melody line and a few inaccurate chord symbols. 

I won't say how much it costs to produce one song, but I will say that I've only ever made all my expenses back on two of my songs. And I bet you can guess which ones they are. :)

If I don't charge -- and charge enough -- for the music, then I can't keep doing this.

2. Do you sell CDs?

I tried that. And it was a colossal waste of money and time. I did everything myself -- including designing the booklet insert and shipping everything. I even had a little 'shipping station' in my garage. Every time I received an order, I'd have to go out there and package, label and tape everything up, then drive to the nearest Post Office and send it. What a pain! (I'm not com-plaining -- just EX-plaining. Well, maybe both.)

Anyway, after a few days of that, I almost dreaded getting orders at all. And another week down the road, I vowed never to do that again. And I haven't.

3. Can I get your music on iTunes?

Yes! (Most of it, anyway.) Search the iTunes store on my name and the name of the song and you'll be able to download directly from there!

4. Why don't you write more music? 

Well...that's a loaded question, and it has two answers:

Answer #1 is I do. I have lots of songs I haven't put out there yet. Some of them I plan to post during the first few months of the year:

SEND ME (about missionary work),

FOREVER IN MY SOUL (about grief and how we can find solace through Jesus Christ), and

CLOSER TO HEAVEN (a Mother's Day song).

I'm also working on a series of children's songs...so keep watching for those.

The 2nd answer to 'why don't I write more music' is that this is just a part-time effort for me. I would like to devote more time to it, but I have a busy life outside the music.

If you've read my blog before, you'll know that I refer to myself as "the accidental songwriter." Because I never planned to write music at all, let alone put it out there so other people can sing it. So I'm just grateful for this little 'miracle' in my life, and trying to keep moving forward, as time allows, writing a few songs here and there. 

Please let me know what you think I should write about next.

And thanks for listening,

Shawna