Songwriting Zen V2.0 – The First 30 (+2) Days

Hello and welcome to my songwriting blog.

If you’ve been here before then you already know that Songwriting Zen is a place where songwriting and all things musically creative is the paramount topic of discussion.

If this is your first time here then please take some time out and explore and enjoy.

It’s been just over a month since I switched over Songwriting Zen from a WordPress.com subdomain to its own URL and just over three months since I started the whole Songwriting Zen concept from scratch.

I’m normally the type of person that overplans things. You know, I make great lists of things to do and put down onto paper my step by step goals but, in the past I never seemed to get anything happening.

I’m so glad I eventually got the courage to take the first step, to actually get Songwriting Zen going. It seems that once you start the ball rolling the momentum it generates make things a little easier to cope with.

I use this blog to put down my thoughts, communicate with other songwriters and establish some sort of global songwriting network so I don’t feel so alone in my own personal songwriting endeavours.

Putting up my work recently was a very confronting experience but the feedback I’ve been getting has been wonderful.

I suppose most importantly for me, Songwriting Zen has been an exercise in getting out of my comfort zone and upping the ante in my ongoing battle with my own inner voice.

Now that I have got that out of the way here is what I wanted to say to you all.

If you haven’t introduced yourself to me through contacting me or commenting on this blog, let me know who you are and how you’re going.

If you have any questions, thoughts, feelings, feedback, answers or you just want to say hello, contact me or go to the Songwriting Zen Forum and let it all hang out.

What type of articles do you want me to write about? What are some of your writing experiences?

I want to develop a community of people who love to express themselves through the craft of writing. Whether it be songs, prose or poetry, whether you do what you do for a living or to save money seeing a therapist it doesn’t matter.

In the coming weeks and months I have many plans for this blog but in the meantime I want to be able to create a songwriting resource that is up to date, easy to understand and most of all educational without being too serious and stuffy.

It’s a known fact that songwriters make this global music industry go around so lets share the knowledge because we’re all in this together.

Now that you’re here we might as well get to know each other.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, songwriting help, songwriting resource, corey stewart

Tags: Corey Stewart, Creativity, lyrics, music, song, Songwriter, Songwriting, songwriting blog, songwriting tip, Songwriting Zen, writing, zen

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 Songwriting News

6 Comments to Songwriting Zen V2.0 – The First 30 (+2) Days

Ben Walker says:

June 3, 2008 at 5:55 pm

Corey, everyone, I’m Ben.

I’m a songwriter and performer in Oxford (UK). I’ve enjoyed your last few articles and I’m looking forward to plenty more. It’s always reassuring to read that others are facing the same challenges and relishing the same creative experiences. And that’s why…

…I love process articles. How did you get from a title to a verse? Why did you use that chord progression? What kind of pencil did you scribble the idea down with? What software do you use? Or are you a notebook fetishist? The nitty gritty.

But hey, I’ll read anything you want to write!

songwritingzen says:

June 3, 2008 at 6:06 pm

Hey there Ben,

“…I love process articles. How did you get from a title to a verse? Why did you use that chord progression? What kind of pencil did you scribble the idea down with? What software do you use? Or are you a notebook fetishist? The nitty gritty”

Cool. This is exactly what I want to see here. Thanks for your feedback.

Just to let you know. I’m a stationary fiend and therefore I still love the old fashioned pen and paper however, I am dragging myself (kicking and screaming) into the 21st century.

I also like to know the nitty gritty of things. I will do my very best to give you what you want. In the meantime, keep the ideas and feedback flowing.

I’ve also linked to your site from SZ. I’ve only browsed through your site at this stage but I really like what you’re doing.

Corey

Jannie Sue says:

June 4, 2008 at 2:47 pm

Corey, congrats on “just doing it,” with your Songwriting Zen site which helps create that momentum you speak of. I enjoy your blog very much and find it inspiring.

Personally, I have bit the bullet to revamp my URL to get the “Comments” feature on my blog which my current server has always been too technically challenged to offer. Yay! It’s going to take some doing as WordPress doesn’t allow Google ads but there are other blogging options and I AM going to end up with the kind of site I want because I aim to write songs and blog until I am phyically no longer able to, hopefully a long, long time from now because I’m still relatively young. Just do it, eh! Starting it is always the hardest part.

You mention poetry here?? Funny, I posted a little something today on my blog which I’m going to copy here…

WAFFLE PLAN
I’m assuming that the daschund who
appears to be sleeping with his head
nesting on his forepaws, is actually
plotting when best to make his
move to steal the left-over waffle
from The Child’s table. Take
my eyes off him for a moment and
he’ll commando-crawl himself a half
centimeter closer to the prize. Turn
my back for four seconds to fluff up
my pillow and he’ll gain an inch. Leave
the room and that waffle’s toast.

All types of writing are so great to get those creative gateways open. (Haven’t been to a therapist yet in my life, not knocking that or anything, I’ve thought about it, but writing seems to get all the yuckies out.)

Another wonderful songwriting blog is Ninety Mile Wind, if you haven’t heard of him already. Great great stuff!

now to find out what process articles are…

Jannie

songwritingzen says:

June 4, 2008 at 4:49 pm

Hi Jannie,

There are adsense plugins for WordPress that you can download and install. Examples include:

Adsense Under Image
AdMan
Adsense Revenue Sharing
All In One Adsense
Adsense Deluxe 2

I personally haven’t tried them out so I don’t know if they work.

I love your poem. Did your dog ever get the waffles?

Corey

Jannie Sue says:

June 5, 2008 at 1:16 pm

That WordPress info is very helpful, thanks. And the links too – my goodness, you do go above and beyond, don’t you! I’ll have to tell the gal who may be doing my site developing about those. Hopefully between the two of us we’ll get it licked.

No, no waffle for the daschund but he did get a bite of wiener with his kibble. : )

Later…