Writer’s block. It is like being 9 ½ months pregnant and nothing you do puts you into labour. It is like seeing something in your peripheral vision but when you turn your head there is nothing there. Have you been in this place?
Maybe you have decided that you want to add your own compositions to your repertoire of cover songs but the muse isn’t speaking to you. Maybe you have written songs already but you have hit a dry spell; the music is just not flowing. What have you done to get past a writing stalemate and re-enter the creative current?
Post your tips below for breaking out a song – the first few get a limited edition Open Stage Adventure guitar pick (apologies to my non-guitar playing friends).
Ian Tamblyn wrote not to long ago that you need to write constantly in order to be ready when the muse strikes. I had a short dry spell recently and when my wife remarked upon it I thought I’d better sit down and at least try. What I did was pose a question – “What if?” I found a chord pattern/melody (pretty standard one at that) and interesting point of view that seemed to work and built the song around the question. What surprised me was the speed with which I completed the task. I’m beginning to realize that with a little thought and direction the process becomes a whole lot easier. Muse be damned, I’m grabbin’ my gueetar!
I, and others, were cahllenged in the spring to write fifteen songs in the month of May! I managed to get out six! Some folks did much better. Some of mine still need editing of some kind, but all have been performed. I went in circles fro a bit, and then, forgoing my usual method of having a melody first, created tentative titles. I would revisit these and begin playing. Melodies and the first line jumped out of some of them! Then the songs just seemed to write themselves. But: I have only written on new one since. Just waiting for the next song challenge, I guess.