Hey guys, this is Rachel Hollis and a quick word on doing something just for you.

Alright, I have started a new hobby.

If you have listened on podcast or watched on Rachel Talk, then you have possibly heard me talk about songwriting.

I started songwriting at the end of last year. I wanted to challenge myself. One of the things I want to do as a writer is to challenge myself to write in as many categories as I can in the course of my life.

Because what I've learned, having written fiction books, cookbooks, nonfiction self-help, I have written journal, I have done a planner, I have done a screenplay, written a screenplay now, more on that later.

And I thought, okay, what's my next iteration of writing? Because what I've learned is that every single time you write in a new category, you really have to challenge your brain to work in a different way.

Writing a screenplay was incredibly difficult for me because you get so few words, kind of your only writing dialogue. Like you can't explain the room and you can't describe the character. It's a lot, guys.

But it was such a challenge and I was so proud of myself when I did it. So the newest thing I wanted to try was songwriting because that's even shorter. Forget, you know, a screenplay that gives you 100 pages, now you've only got two verses and a chorus to like get the story across.

And as a huge music nerd, I just thought it would be fun and I would like geek out over it. And I started writing and country music because country music really allows you to storytell. I hope in my life I get to experience writing in other categories because they're all going to be their own challenge, but I started in country music because I love country and also let's be honest.

There's no other category that tells stories as well as country music does. So this is where I start. I figure out how I, you know, take a deep dive or call people and like who can explain this to me.

I start going to conferences. I start reading books and watching documentaries and that's how I learn everything. I just jump on in.

And I'm nerding out and I'm absolutely loving it. And the first time I connect with another songwriter because essentially what they do is I write lyrics and someone else writes to music and then we work together and we make a song.

And the very first time I partnered up with someone to do this, I was telling her the idea and then OK, now we have a course and now we have this thing and she starts playing and singing and I start bawling because I've just never seen this before I've never seen my words like just put to music and it was so fun.

Shout out to McCall Chapen. She's amazing and we had such a blast. We've gotten to work together a couple times now.

But I loved the process and then I was like, OK, I'm going to start taking trips to Nashville. I am big fan of Nashville. Always have fun there. But that is the heart of country music.

Frankly, it's the heart of a lot of music. And I can go in and sit down and writing sessions with other writers and collab and it's fun and the whole thing.

I am having the best time. I am just living my best life. I'm literally sitting in rooms with people. It's so creative and I'm like, how, how is this my life right now? How do I get to do this? This is crazy.

And all of this is going on, loving it, living it, learning every time, every person I work with. I'm like, my mind is exploding. I'm learning a ton. And at first people like, that's cool because I was learning to do this thing and I was also, I am also learning guitar and all of it.

And at first people like, that's cool. I mean, some people were definitely like, what? Go write another book. Like, go, you know, do the thing we know you to do. But most people were like, that's great. Love this for you.

And now I've officially hit a point where I've had like six or seven people lately. People I work with, people I know, friends, family, whatever. Ask me, what are you doing?

Why are you doing this thing? What what what what people keep asking because back in the day when I hadn't had a lot of commercial success, people ask you, what are you doing in a very different way?

Back in the day, people would be like, what are you doing? Like, who do you think you are? What are you what? What? It was that now that I have proven that I have launch products, books, podcast. I've had success, right?

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