I'm also copying a link to one of her guest blogs here: (Yes, this link is a duplicate, but folks have already linked to the other discussion).
Carlos Castillo has just added a guest blog from a Nashville-based songwriter who has been flirting with success for some 16 years and has some hard answers to common questions:
What You Want to Know: Top 5 Questions About Nashville, by Shantell Ogden
http://www.shantellogden.com/blog/blog/ ... -nashvilleUnlike Shantell, I haven't spent 16 years more-or-less beating my head against the wall in heart of the music industry, but I was aware of these formulas a very long time ago. That's why I have had a "day job" since about 1973.
That said, it's a whole lot of fun for a creative person to be doing creative things with other creative people. Can you adjust to the notion that the END game for you will probably not be blazing success, but living on that edge as long as you can before you have to come back and work for your father's insurance company or whatever? Because that frightens you and you want to avoid it as long as you can, you work hard and take care of yourself. The last thing you need is to crash and burn early because of some stupid reason like chemical addiction. And you will learn the hard way to have no expectations of the people you have given a "leg up." And you'll learn to bear them no bitterness, because you see most of them again on their way back down anyway. And you try to get your foot in the door just often enough to keep the dream alive.
If that life sounds just like what you want, go for it. If it scares you, get a good day job while you can.
La Vie Bohème, Nashville style.
P.S. If you check out the article, tell Shantell I sent you.