Writer's Block

1. WRITER'S BLOCK If you've read my e-book, "The Essential Secrets of Songwriting," you know that I am actually not a big fan of waiting for inspiration when it comes to writing songs. There's something to be said for making yourself write, whether you feel like it or not. By forcing yourself to come up with something musical when you don't feel inspired, you are in fact using your sense of "songwriter's craftsmanship." And this is a tremendously important skill to hone. So here are some quick tips for coming up with songs when you feel like writer's block has you in its grip: i) Set aside a regular writing time every day, or every second day. ii) Listen to recordings of other writer's songs every day. Try to verbalize what you like and what you don't like about the songs. iii) When songs seem very hard to write, give yourself little challenges that are easier to meet: Set a timer for 15 minutes or less, and see if you can come up with a verse, a chorus, a 4-line poem, or any other small component. iv) Take the following chord progression: A D Bm E F#m D A (or any other strong progression) and see how many melodies you can create. Set yourself a short time limit to add an even greater challenge. v) Try creating a melody that uses only two notes, or perhaps three. You'd be surprised that by limiting the number of notes you use, you'll start to find that your songs gain a sense of cohesiveness that they didn't have before. vi) Get into the habit of recording your own songs and listening to them. These ideas really work, because they take the pressure of writing a whole song away. You'll find that writing small bits of songs as a little mini-challenge will make you feel more satisfied and more successful right away. Writer's block will become a thing of the past! Above all, don't wait for inspiration. It's nice when it happens, but it certainly isn't necessary.