Emma Holmes

I Love Washing Dishes*

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*When I have nothing else to do.

When I was on holiday I really enjoyed washing dishes.

I had nothing urgent to do at all besides enjoy the moment.

I took my time washing each dish.

I was not thinking where I was going, or of some place I had to be.

I had no plans.

The dishes loved it.

Each dish and piece of cutlery got washed and rinsed with care.

It also allows me to look out of the window and enjoy sights like this:

Sunset Over Dishes

The challenge I find is to take this approach in day to day life, when there is more going on and you have more places to be.

It is of course, great to be able to practice at least twice a day.
Something I am working on.
Happy Dishwashing.

Keep on Sharing

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Today I learnt a lesson.

Sometimes I wonder how much of an impact my work is making.

My desire is to help others through the mediums of writing and music.

Sometimes, what I do might not feel very groundbreaking or seem like is very important.

I am learning to ignore these false emotions.

Sharing my experience can provide insight and encouragement to others.

How do I know this?

Over the last 2 days I received 2 individual messages from 2 different people to say that some posts I had written had really helped them take steps with moving forwards and clearing out old work.

It is always humbling to receive these messages.

What is not new for me might be new for someone else.

Keep experimenting, keep sharing.

Thanks for reading today.

Deleting Old Creative Work

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I just deleted a whole load of old digital creative work that was sitting on my hard drive.

This included gigs and gigs of:

  • artwork
  • graphic design
  • website designs
  • website code
  • client work
  • video projects
  • music production
  • inspiration – others artwork and musings
  • ebooks

My reasoning: where I’m going, I won’t need it. The future is about creating.

The digital past is taking up way too much digital space and head space and there is no need for it.

My old work is simply not up to the standard I see in my head moving forwards and although it can be useful to reflect on past work, I think it is way more useful to move forwards.

Why was I hanging onto it? 

Thoughts ranged from:

  • What if I need it in the future?
  • Keep it just in case you go back to that kind of work and need a portfolio
  • I might need it to get inspired
  • What if I want to publish it as an archive in the future? It could be valuable!
  • What if I don’t make anything as good in the future?!

This to me is The Resistance at work. Extra baggage that halts the creative process and stops me from creating something better. There is also an element of fear and having a backup plan in there somewhere. Pure nonsense! Get over it, I told myself.

I burnt all bridges and moved ahead.

DELETE.

Gone.

Ahh, and relax. Feel the space. Time to create something new.

Keep pushing, keep striving, keep making.

Now THAT is exciting!

What are you hanging onto that you could let go of?

I Untethered from Vinyl

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I recently made the decision to untether* from my vinyl collection.

I first bought records when I was a kid.

I started to seriously buy records in 1999 when I started to DJ at uni.

I bought a whole load of records over the next 5-8 years, mostly via mail order from Turntable Lab in NYC. I remember the day I actually went there in the flesh. It was like a mini pilgrimage to the birthplace of the music I loved. I took many records back home.

I loved everything about vinyl. Taking a record out it’s sleeve, being careful not to touch the surface, blowing off any dust, setting it on the platter, lifting the needle across and letting it drop gently, before hearing that familiar warm crackle and the music began. Ahhh. Bliss.

Great things about vinyl:

  • the artwork and packaging
  • they are very tactile
  • there is a certain calming ritual you carry out with the simple act of putting on a record
  • they force you to slow down and really listen to the music
  • I never skipped tracks, but listened intently to whole albums
  • the warm sound

Compare this with the flipside.

It’s never easy negotiating a full record bag through airport luggage systems and I always worried whether it would arrive at my destination. Many a fellow DJ lost their entire record collection including rare gems whilst travelling, when they would mysteriously disappear on route before baggage claim. But still I kept on buying.


The not so great things about vinyl:

  • it’s sooooo heavy
  • it collects dust
  • its not portable
  • it takes up alot of space
  • some is very valuable – one more thing to be precious about
I made the switch form vinyl to Serato a few years back. Serato is a digital vinyl system, which allows me to play mp3s from a laptop using 2 real vinyl control records. It’s the best of both worlds. I couldn’t face another airport trip with the weight of vinyl hanging off my shoulder. I love the freedom this brings and it has allowed me to travel to gigs abroad with the minimum of hassle.

I have already sold a couple of crates over the years, pairing it down to the best of the best that I used all the time. This numbered around 70 pieces:

The last of my collection.

I have made the decision to part with this also.

I will miss my vinyl in many ways but feel I have made the right decision. I always have the memories of the positives.

At this time I am not sure where I am going to be for how long and love to be as portable as possible with the minimal amount of kit.
The only vinyl that remains with me is the bare essentials that allow me to create for Studio Scratches:

  • 2 Serato control records for use with my laptop (mixing)
  • A few real scratch records. (Real always sounds better than digital control records for scratching.)

The ebay bids are rising on my collection as we speak and I have ordered some boxes to mail them safely.

I am glad that someone else will get pleasure from them for a while longer.

I feel lighter and there is more space to carry on creating and doing the real work.

*Note – I borrowed the term “untethering” from Ev Bogue.

Hello!

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Hey!

My name is Emma.

I write here to keep track of things I have been doing and have done. It’s mainly for me but if you find value and benefit in reading it and maybe then applying some action then I am happy about that too.

At the moment:

I help people learn to scratch DJ and make video and music resources for them @ Studio Scratches

I also like to encourage people to live life on purpose and create the life they want @ Deliberate

I also work a full time day job.

My writing here mainly falls outside of things I would write about for the above 2 sites, but it also might end up inspiring it too.