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My friend Rob

My friend Rob is an amateur musician.  In saying this I mean it as the highest recognition for his art.  We often distinguish between being amateur versus professional which, I believe, is sad.  Be professional only means a person is paid for it and doesn’t reflect on the art.  The word amateur comes from the Latin amare, to love.  Rob loves music.

As friends we share many things and chief among them is we share creativity.  Rob writes his own lyrics and music.  We can spend hours with him playing guitar and singing and me listening.  Recently I was listening to several of his new songs and commented that the song should end at a different point than he wrote it.  He stopped, went into deep thought for a few minutes and then played again ending the song where I suggested.  He smiled, you’re right.

Rob read the draft manuscript of Murphy’s Troubles about a year ago.  He was so excited to be a beta reader.  We got together over tea and sweet treats at my house.  One of the first things he said was that it fascinated him how betrayal was a theme in the novel.  He liked that the protagonist, Ian Murphy was both betrayed and a betrayer.  I had to admit that in writing the manuscript I hadn’t consciously written the plot with that it mind – but he was right.

Rob and I share the creative process each in our own medium.  I consider myself lucky having Rob as a friend and a key to our friendship is having honesty in our respective creative processes.