The one thing that really stood out for me in his post was the following quote at the beginning of the last paragraph:

“My final piece of advice was to not consider the song finished, instead think of it as evolving.”

Wow! That line stood out for me because, for some of my songs I have an ongoing argument raging in my head regarding the its finished vs its evolving concept, so much so that at times it prevents me from getting on with the next songwriting idea because I get stuck on what I’ve already done.

Sometimes, we as songwriters tend to forget that our chosen craft shapes a product from a flexible, malleable and intangiable medium called music. A medium in which nothing is ever truly absolute.

A song I perform will sound different to the way another artist will perform it. Everything about our craft is subjective and based on interpretation of the songwriter, performer and the listener.

I remember (all those years ago) when I first started out writing songs and playing in bands I had to make sure everything was perfect. The songs had to be “just right” and the band had to wait for the “right time” before it started playing gigs.

I learnt pretty quickly (after being involved with a number of bands who formed and broke up without playing any gigs) that everything about the art of songwriting and the music business is constantly evolving.

As soon as you think you’ve “made it” or that you’ve “finished”, something else comes along that inspires you to change your mind.

The way I look at my songs changes all the time depending on my mood, health and state of being. No song performance I do ever sounds the same the only difference is how much energy I spend on each song.

I know songwriters who obsess over every song they write. They tend not to write too many new songs because they are trying to make their old songs sound perfect.

If you’re one of these songwriters then STOP! This obsession will only make you unhappy and artistically unfulfilled.

For me, some songs are more finished than others. These are the ones that I allow to evolve naturally, through performance or being inspired by the feedback of others. While others I’ll actively work on, re-writing bits here, changing arrangements there until they get to a stage where I feel “comfortable” with the song.

If you look at your songs as something that is evolving rather than something that needs to be finished, then perfection becomes irrelevant and believe me, letting go of perfection is one of the biggest weights an artist can relieve themselves of.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

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

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It’s given me a forum to share with you my thoughts and feelings about the wonderful craft of writing songs. It’s also enabled me to get to know other from all over the world, the networking opportunities are endless.

One of the most interesting sides of running a website/blog is the statistics that you can collect and the conclusions you can draw from that information.

Below are the 10 most popular posts/pages over the past 12 months and the amount of views these posts/pages received:

• 11 Ways To Eliminate (Song) Writers Block FOREVER! – 305
  
• Aleve® “MOVEMENT” Jingle Writing Contest – 267
  
• Using A Thesaurus To Conquer Songwriters Block – 202
  
• Music – 149
  
• Songwriting Tool – Free Worksheets For The Songwriting Guitarist – 134
  
• The Singer/Songwriters Toolbox (Book 1) – 128
  
• 50 Songs In 90 Days – Can You Do It? – 124
  
• Songwriting – 120
  
• My New Songwriting Tool – Zoom H4 Handy Recorder – 120
  
• Contact – 117
  

What does this mean? People are looking for information on songwriting and the creative process. People want to tell the world their stories through music and that they are using Songwriting Zen as one of the websites that provides them with what they are looking for.

What are people looking for when it comes to songwriting information? Well, here are the top 10 keyterms that people are type into their search engines that lead them to Songwriting Zen and how many times these terms have been keyed in:

• song writing ideas – 150
• songwriting ideas – 129
• songwriting – 106
• songwriting help – 77
• jingle writing contest – 49
• songwriting prompts – 45
• songwriting zen – 44
• songwriters block – 40
• jingle writing contests – 40
• song writing – 36

People are looking for songwriting help, songwriting ideas, songwriting prompts and ways that they can beat (song) writers block. It’s heartening to find that what I’m doing with Songwriting Zen is on the right track.

As a songwriter I find one of the most important skills is listening. By using your ears you pick all sorts of phrases, rhythms and quotable sentences that make for good song lyrics.

When running a website/blog, the way you listen to your audience is either through your communication with them via comments and forums and/or your web statistics. I intend to write more about the songwriting process, creativity and useful songwriting tips.

This year however, I do want to expand into writing about songwriting theory and the business that surrounds the songwriting craft. More on that in the near future.

I also want to enlist your help a whole lot more. If you have any songwriting question that you want answered or have an idea for a songwriting article (or you want to write one and have it published on Songwriting Zen) then contact me and we’ll have a chat.

I’d love to hear from you. I want to listen.

Here’s to the next 12 months. Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

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

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You come across a possible song title that jumps out at you and after writing the first line of the first verse, a first draft is suddenly completed from start to finish.

Sometimes writing songs is a puzzle solving exercise.

You take a piece here, a song title there, a bit of a verse here and a half written phrase there and, after discovering the common thread that connects everything, a song is eventually completed.

Sometimes writing songs is like incubating an egg.

You finish writing a chorus but find you can’t go any further however, after leaving the half finished song for a period of time something triggers in your mind and the song magically completes itself.

Sometimes you start writing from the beginning and work forwards, sometimes you start from the middle and work outwards and sometimes you start at the end and work backwards.

It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you start somewhere.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

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

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As mentioned last year in my post “My Plans For 2009″ I moved my external office back home again. I took last week out to do it and finished everything by the weekend.

What a load off my mind.

Why did I do this? Well, I needed the change and even though I was able to seperate work and home by having an external office, I realised that my work (singer/songwriter/musician/webdev/blogger) was doing things that I love to do and therefore, my work is my life and not external of it.

I found that after a while, working away from home made me feel isolated from my homebase and the demarcation between worklife and homelife became a hinderence to my creativity and not the enhancement that I wanted.

I also realised that being creative requires a commitment from me to being present in my life. My previous work situation prevented this from happening. Some songwriters work well in an external office environment but I don’t, and it took me just under a year to figure it out.

Living and working at home has made writing songs a lot easier. Already I’ve started to pick up the guitar again and noodle around some songwriting ideas. I feel more inspired by being at home, work seems less functional and more holistic and creative.

For me, writing songs isn’t something that I can clock on and off to. Songwriting is my life and my life starts from the security and comfort of home. I’m glad I’ve figured this out now because I just know that great things are going to be happening this year.

A secure and comfortable creative environment can only lead to inspired output. Even though I may from time to time, travel into uncharted territory and steer myself out of my comfort zone in my quest to be as present in my life as possible, it’s good to know that I can always come home at the end of the day.

Home maybe where the heart but for this songwriter, it’s also where the muse lives.

Have a great 2009.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

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

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It’s a great blog, check it out

She quotes author Philip Pullman’s response to the question “What do you do about writers block?”

“I don’t believe in it. All writing is difficult. The most you can hope for is a day when it goes reasonably easily. Plumbers don’t get plumber’s block, and doctors don’t get doctor’s block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working, and then expects sympathy for it?”

I agree. This is a great example of how pearls of wisdom from an author can still be relevent to a songwriter. Writing is writing regardless of the end result whether it be a short story, a song, a novel or a technical paper.

Some other noteworthy quotes from Philip Pullman:

On where ideas come from

“… I can’t believe that everyone isn’t having ideas all the time. I think
they are, actually, and they just don’t recognise them as potential
stories. Because the important thing is not just having the idea; it’s
writing the book. That’s the difficult thing, the thing that takes the
time and the energy and the discipline. The initial idea is much less
important, actually, than what you do with it.”

His advice to anyone who wants to write

“Don’t listen to any advice, that’s what I’d say. Write only what you
want to write. Please yourself. YOU are the genius, they’re not.
Especially don’t listen to people (such as publishers) who think that
you need to write what readers say they want. Readers don’t always know
what they want… “

On inspiration and the process of writing

“… if you’re going to write anything that will last – you have to realise
that a lot of the time, you’re going to be writing without inspiration.
The trick is to write just as well without it as with… “

The last word I’ll leave for Vikki Flawith herself

“IMO the antidote to writer’s block is… to write.”

Amen to that.

To everyone who have read these pages and contributed in some way either by commenting, giving feedback or just by being yourselves, I thank you and wish you all a very Merry Xmas and a wonderful 2009.

I’ll see you next year.

Until then, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

PS: Speaking about writers block, click on the link to download my FREE eReport “11 Ways To Eliminate (Song) Writers Block FOREVER!”

Keywords: vikki flawith, songwriting, songwriter, writing, songwriting zen, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, songwriting resource, corey stewart

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I know it’s been a long time between drinks and for that I sincerely apologise. I had to take some time off because I just burnt myself out and I couldn’t physically keep up with all the demands I was putting on myself.

You see, I have a problem with saying “no” to things and because of this, I stretch myself and my resources to the very limit and burn out to an inch of my life in the process. My two month “break” was the end result of one of these episodes.

How could this happen? Well, in my case I didn’t know I was burning out until I was in the middle of it. I’m not very good at catching myself out early enough, but I am learning.

Boy, am I learning!

The reason why I’m telling you this is that, because of what has happened I’m forever reminded that being a songwriter is more than just being able to write songs. It’s also about being able to function as a whole creative being.

Having a healthy mind, a healthy body and a healthy creative space goes a very long way in having healthy, creative outcomes. Being able to balance your creative life between work, family, partner, friends and is vital in maintaining some sense of clarity of purpose and sanity.

Sadly, I was lacking in all of these areas and I suffered for it.

I have spent the last couple of months purging a lot of activities from my life and/or finishing up some projects in which I had inadvertently bitten off more than I could chew. I’m happy to say that I’m feeling a lot better now and I’m feeling like writing again.

I did miss posting to Songwriting Zen over the last couple of months but at the same time I just couldn’t bring myself to do so. Until now.

I have learnt a lot of lessons of late and I’ll be posting them here from time to time. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt is that I can’t be all things to all people. It’s ok to say NO.

As songwriters, we need to be true to ourselves in what we do and that means if we have to say NO to something in order to maintain that truth then, so be it.

Don’t do what I did and wait until it’s too late.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

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

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These products and services will either be developed by me or come highly recommended from the huge list of songwriting products out there on the web.

Let me tell you, there is a lot of stuff out there.

In saying that, it’s with great pleasure that I introduce you to the first songwriting tool to use Songwriting Zen as its means of online distribution:

For me, Cal Williams Jnr epitomises the stereotype of the working artist.

He is totally devoted to his guitar and to the craft of songwriting. So much so in fact, that he wrote The Singer/Songwriters Toolbox as a way share his thoughts on how to create a welcoming environment for the muse through everyday life.

He is also a performer who captures your imagination and leads it on a beautiful journey through his songs.

Cal has agreed to release a sample chapter The Singer/Songwriters Toolbox called “The Creative Mind” as a FREE gift for Songwriting Zen readers and everyone interested in exploring both the creative and practical sides of songwriting.

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I don’t know what it is about 2008 but for me, it’s been a year of constant change. First the setting up of an office and now, setting up a house.

So far, it’s been an exciting and stressful time all rolled into one. Exciting because the house that my partner and I are moving to is a bigger house in a great location for both of us and stressful because of the sheer amount of stuff we have to move.

The positives that I can glean from this situation is that the move is going to give the both of us the opportunity to purge a lot of clutter from our lives and, by doing this is going to give us a feeling of freedom and a sense of starting over.

Sometimes to get the best of ourselves we need to purge all of the clutter in our lives, external and internal. For me, this move will allow me to re-invent my creative space just like my office has done.

This can only mean a more creative and happier me. I’ll let you know how it all goes.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

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

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The manifesto was conceived in 1998 by Bruce Mau, the creative director of Bruce Mau Design, and the founder of the Institute without Boundaries. It’s purpose is explained on his website as follows:

“Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements exemplifying Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations. Collectively, they are how we approach every project.”

From what I have seen Bruce Mau knows what he’s talking about.

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Lately I’ve been coming across some songwriting articles talking about the concept of “writing what you know”.

Andrea Stolpe describes this concept in her blog “Career Songwriter” as something that “…sounds so obvious, but in fact it’s one of the most difficult ideas when trying to make a living writing songs.”

I think what makes this concept such a challenging one to maintain is that it makes the assumption that the songwriter knows him/herself intimately enough to write in this way.

My advice would be to use the craft of songwriting as a means to get to know yourself. Use the art of writing songs as a way to explore the many different facets of what makes you, YOU!

Sure, you can write songs about what’s happening around you but what about what’s happening inside of you.

You see, most people are afraid of who they really are. They spend years hiding behind masks and making up different characters so they can protect their real selves from hurt and rejection.

As songwriters, we’ve chosen a craft that requires of us a certain degree of nakedness and venerability to make ourselves more connectable with our audience.

In essence, to be a good songwriter we need to be willing to expose who we really are to the world whether we like it or not.

So how do we find out more about ourselves? Well, we can start asking our family and close trusted friends to describe to us who they think we really are.

Contemplate and then reflect on the answers you receive and think about your life through their eyes.

Start writing your reflective thoughts and feelings in your journal if you haven’t started one already but remember, this is not an exercise in comparing yourself to others but an intense examination of the self.

You’re creating a self portrait based on your own experiences and the experiences of others who love and trust you. You’ll also find out that how you see yourself is not necessarily how others see you.

Almost always, this realisation is a very positive and liberating experience for the seeker.

Socrates once said that “an unexamined life is a life not worth living.” I couldn’t agree more. Every experience both outward and inward, can be made into a song if you want it to.

Make an effort to get to know yourself (for your songs sake at least). I know it takes a whole lot of courage but the end results from the risks you take are more than worth it.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

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

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