Songwriting Zen

I started Songwriting Zen on February 29th and already it’s April 1st. Time does fly when you’re having fun.

I wanted to reflect on the first month of this blogs existance because doing Songwriting Zen has really made a difference in my life. I wanted to re-focus my online music marketing and start from a clean slate.

I know that I am doing that and a whole lot more. I’m writing everyday again and I feel much more creative and centred in what I do.

It’s a liberating feeling.

If you look at my first post “How To Unscramble An Egg” I mention that I’ve been moving my information from my old songwriting blog “Corey Stewart Songwriting Tips” on the Quikonnex network to Songwriting Zen on WordPress.

This is because with WordPress I’ve found a much better blogging platform with more features and funtionality. Best of all, WordPress is FREE!

Quikonnex has a yearly fee.

Right, now that I’ve given you some more background information about the existance of Songwriting Zen, here is a recap of the first 30 (+2) days.

The total amount of time Songwriting Zen has been visited is 613 times. I had a rough goal of 500 so my expectations have been exceeded straight away.

The top 3 posts in page views so far:

1. Mindmapping Your Songwriting Ideas (44 visits) – I was surprised how popular this post was. I think the concept of using a mind map in the songwriting process struck a chord (pardon the pun) with everyone. I would love to know how people are going with their own mind maps.

I will definitely be adding more mind mapping information to the mix in future posts.

2. The Anatomy Of Construction (42 visits) – I was personally very happy with this result as this is the name of my good friend BT Cassidy’s writing blog. Having this post come in at number 2 showed me that my “songwriters can learn from writers of other disciplines” theory is a sound one.

3. What Comes First? Words Or Music? (21 visits) – The first question that every songwriter ask. It didnt surprise me that this post was in the top 3.

To everyone that has visited Songwriting Zen, read the information provided, made a comment (or two), linked to Songwriting Zen from their website or gave me words of encouragement and support.

I say a huge THANKYOU.

For me, this is only the beginning of a new journey. In addition to my own songwriting efforts, marketing music online is uncharted waters. With Songwriting Zen I’m taking a great leap of faith.

I’m very glad to have you on this journey with me.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, writing, songwriting zen, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Tags: bt cassidy, Corey Stewart, Creativity, mind map, music, Open Mics, Songwriter, Songwriting, songwriting tip, Songwriting Zen, writing, zen

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 Songwriting News

6 Comments to Songwriting Zen – The First 30 (+2) Days

mychelle.music says:

April 1, 2008 at 4:57 pm

A huge “Thank You” to you, Corey!

Congratulations!

Corey Stewart says:

April 1, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Thanks very much Mychelle. You have been there from the very beginning. I really appreciate your support. All I can say is the best is yet to come.

Watch this space

JP says:

April 3, 2008 at 2:09 am

Hi Corey,

Very nice blog. A good read indeed with plenty of inspiration and helpful tips!

Corey Stewart says:

April 3, 2008 at 5:18 pm

Hi JP,

Thank you for the feedback. I’m glad you are getting something out of Songwriting Zen.

If there is anything that you want me to cover or any questions you want to ask, just let me know. I’m all ears.

I’d be interested to know what info on this blog you have found the most useful so far.

I wish you all the best, keep on writing and stop by anytime,

Corey

JP says:

April 7, 2008 at 9:36 am

Hi Corey,

I think I connected with the “songwriting fears” post most.

“I wrote my first song at the age of 12, but it took me until I was into my thirties before I faced my songwriting fears and conquored them.”

I can relate to this. I’ve tons of tapes and ideas collected over the years of what I think are good ideas, but it’s seems like an impossible task for me to see anything through towards a finished song. I either put off finishing it (likely out of the fear that you talk about) or run up against the brick wall of not being able to finish the “bridge” or some other section.

Anyway, thanks for the writing and I look forward to reading more about how you overcame your “fear” of writing and specific steps you took to make writing a more substantial part of your life.

Corey Stewart says:

April 9, 2008 at 10:55 am

Hi JP,

I, like you have tons of snippetts and half finished songwriting ideas on tape and folders full of paper ready for me to finish.

Every now and then I go through them all hoping my eyes and ears are fresh enough to see and hear these ideas in a different way. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

For situations like this, I reckon it’s really important that every songwriter have a collaborator that they use from time to time.

It could be a friend or a band member or whatever.

The fresh pair of eyes and ears that we look for may not necessarily be on our heads.

More stuff on fear in songwriting and how you can make songwriting a more substantial part of your life coming soon.

Watch this space…

Corey