Booking

The only stress on the road comes from the computer. Sometimes I wake
up to 50 emails about the next tour, but I have to catch a train. It
leads to that nagging feeling of being behind on things which I hate.
- - -
One good thing I've learnt from constant travelling and never having
time and not coming back to the same places is that you know if you
don't do things immediately they will never get done.

You have to finish a song in one sitting because you won't be in the
same mood again, it's only interesting to work on when it's fresh; you
don't have time to work on it later; and when you do have time there
will be another fresh idea in it's place. Otherwise you are left with
scraps of ideas you need to work on and that nagging feeling if being
behind.

They also get lost or forgotten which is even worse. The same goes for
the blog. I never have time to change entries so they have to be done
at once and in time. I used to have a journal but left it in a bus
station (I hope some poor sap didnt have to read it) so I changed to a
blog, which is harder to lose.

It goes for everything. For example, when I had a house I would keep
newspapers, which I find take a long time to read. There are lots of
inspiration in them, and I'd get halfway through and keep it for
later, only to buy a fresh one the next day. Soon there were piles of
newspapers I'd have to go through, cutting out the best ones for a
scrapbook of ideas. Pleasure becoming chore. Now I leave it on the
train for someone else, and if something was genuinely interesting I
know I will have remembered.

I can think of a hundred more examples of self-imposed stresses,
constraints, constructions, arrangements, relationships, commitments
and trappings that came about. All because I was not able to cope with
everyday life. Before I was even out of bed I would be exhausting
myself with things I had to do in the day. When people ask if I find
travelling tiring, I say 'you have no idea'.

Touring is a life of beautiful simplicity. It doesn't just make you
carry less physical baggage, but also less mental one. You have to
live in the moment. I still haven't got the hang of it. It will take a
few more years for me to stop worrying about my day. A Booker would
really set me free. Until then...