I was having a chat with a young songwriter recently. She was telling me about her song writing process. She described how she loves the songs she writes where she’s really inspired and feels they are well crafted. She also shared that there are other songs she’s written that feel less inspired but those are the songs her friends really like.
It’s the fascinating way of popular music.
Many of the songs artists become well known for aren’t their best songs (usually in their opinion) or they didn’t really think such-and-such song would be a hit.
Can’t Pick A Hit
I remember reading Richard Marx’s biography a couple of years ago and hearing him recount the story of hanging out with Kenny Loggins. They were listening to some of his songs and he played Richard “Footloose”. He was more interested in another song he’d written and thought it would be a hit (sorry I can’t remember the other song). Little did he know …
Richard Marx also admits in his biography that he underestimated and overestimated a number of songs that he’d written when it came to which ones would be popular.
The point is, they just kept writing songs. That’s what song writers do.
Now It’s Writing Time
I just finished reading Dune by Frank Herbet. As you do when you enjoy something you want to get a feel for the creator of the work. I was reading through his wikipedia entry and found this great quote:
“I don’t worry about inspiration or anything like that…. later, coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, “Well, now it’s writing time and now I’ll write.””
Frank Herbert
There’s another great quote by Chuck Close which I chose for the title of this post:
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.”
Chuck Close
I would add to this that doing “the work” actually becomes the most rewarding part as you embrace the routine of it.
Even to this day I have those moments when I get up early to “do the work” and wonder what I am doing up this early. After 5 – 10 minutes, I am immersed in a wash of creativity and problem solving as I work on a mix or arrangement and I love it.
The Takeaway: Learn to love “the work” more than the idea or results of the work. This way you’ll actually produce things. Set a time and place to do “the work”. Be realistic. If you can manage 30 mins 5 days a week, just do that.
p.s. If you want more tips on developing a song writing habit you can sign up for the 10 week mini-course.
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