Run by the good folks at FAWM (February Album Writing Month), the premise of the challenge is really simple: Write 50 songs in the 90 days starting July 4th until October 1st. It’s a simple concept but incredibly hard to achieve.

According to the 50/90 challenge website the challenge is:

“… (a) club. Each summer, 50/90 forges a collaborative community where musicians of all walks and skill levels write a slew of new music material in only three months. That’s roughly one tune every other day. Participants are a mix of music professionals, students, homemakers, and folks who work day-jobs but rock nightclubs”.

Sounds great!

I tried it last year and failed miserably (well, that’s how I saw it) but hey, that’s the great thing about the 50/90 community. It’s a community where everyone helps each other, where there’s no failure, just a lot of fun, networking and good songwriting.

Doing the 50/90 challenge last year really showed me that I had very little control over my inner critic and my need for absolute perfectionism. This realization caused a great deal of initial sadness which caused me to question whether I should continue with this songwriting blog.

I was thinking to myself things like: “How can I write a blog about writing songs when I find it hard to write songs myself?”

Thankfully I got over myself very, very quickly.

I’m going to participate in the 50/90 challenge this year but this time I’m going to not take it so seriously and just have fun with it. If I write 50 songs in 90 days then great, if not then at least I’m writing, which is something I really love doing.

Give the 50/90 challenge a go and see what happens. It maybe the kick in the pants that you’ve been looking for.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

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Keywords: 50/90, fawm, songwriting, songwriter, writing songs, songwriting tip, songwriting blog, songwriting help, songwriting zen, sonwriting idea, corey stewart

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It’s almost that time of year again where we sharpen up our pencils, clean out our ears, tune up our instruments, calibrate our home recording equipment and prepare ourselves to test our songwriting processes to an inch of its life.

Yes, it’s FAWM time.

For those who don’t know, FAWM stands for February Album Writing Month and the deal is, to write an albums worth of material in the month of February, which is set at 14 songs in 28 days. You can find out more about this brilliant songwriting concept by going to www.fawm.org.

On the FAWM website it describes the concept in this way:

“This is the club. Each February, FAWM.ORG forges a collaborative
community where thousands of musicians of all walks and skill levels
write an album’s worth of material in the shortest month of the year.
That’s roughly one tune every other day. “Fawmers” are a mix of music
professionals, students, homemakers, and folks who work dayjobs but
rock nightclubs.”

The website is easy to navigate and is very straightforward with its information. My suggestion is that you sign up (it’s free, no catch) and participate. Later on in the year they also run something called 50/90 (50 Songs In 90 Days) but we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes.

There is no real point to FAWM. It’s not a contest and no-one gets judged, it’s a concept which tests us as songwriters. How is our songwriting process? Are we ready to tackle inspiration, the muse head-on?

I’m going to give it a go, are you? Let me know if you do.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: fawm, 50/90, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting process, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting zen, songwriting blog, corey stewart

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I can only sit here and contemplate why I’ve only posted five songs on the 50/90 website.

I know that the world isn’t going to end because of this so, instead of beating myself up over it (which I tend to do in these situations) I’m going to try and put a positive spin on it and work out what I’ve learnt about myself through this 50/90 experience.

You see, when I started the challenge I was hopeful and confident that I’d be able to do it. I had a lot of encouragement from friends and Songwriting Zen readers (thanks guys).

I had lots of songwriting ideas floating around my head, on MP3 and paper and I was positive I’d be able to make the time necessary to write, record and post the songs on the 50/90 website.

So what happened?

I started the 50/90 challenge with all guns blazing, then I got a couple of reviews that were constructive but not overly positive. This was all the evidence my inner critic needed to start undermining me.

There were many, many times where I tried to marry a musical and lyrical idea together only to have a little voice inside my head say things like.

This is absolute crap
You’re not going to make it
You’re a fraud
Call yourself a songwriter?
You can’t write hooks
This sounds like another song
Give up now

I got scared. I was scared of writing bad songs. I got scared of what other people thought of my songs. I got scared of the possible feedback.

I lost the battle with my inner critic. I gave up.

There is a real difference between challenging yourself and being competitive with others. In hindsight I should’ve seen the 50/90 challenge as just that, a challenge. It’s not a contest to see who gets to the goal first.

So what have I learnt about myself through taking part in the 50/90 challenge?

1. See the 50/90 challenge for what it is, an outlet to write songs
2. Learn to take contructive feedback and/or critisism on the chin
3. Use all experiences as a learning experience
4. Don’t do anything that I don’t feel comfortable in doing
5. Don’t make promises to myself and others that I can’t keep

Lessons well learnt I reckon. What was your experience doing the 50/90 challenge?

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

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

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I’m not going to be blogging until Monday July 7th which also means that I’ll be three days into my 50/90 challenge when I return.

My intention over the break is to relax, enjoy myself and not be near any computer and mobile phone for that time. I will make one exception though.

If a songwriting idea comes into my head I’ll be phoning my answering machine either at home or the office and leaving a message. I’m anticipating a lot of songwriting ideas on my return.

What a way to catch up on the three days I’m missing out on.

You know I’ve probably said this before but the answering machine is one of the best songwriting tools around.

There are some situations when it’s not very practical to carry a recording device or even a notepad around with you however, you’ll always have your mobile phone (or cellphone if you’re in the states) close by.

When a songwriting idea pops in your head just excuse yourself and use it.

Call home and hum the idea. Beatbox the rhythm if you have to. Do whatever you can to preserve the moment.

That’s what I’ll be doing.

To all you taking on the 50/90 challenge I wish you all the best. Lets all help and support each other to achieve whatever goals we set for ourselves. My biggest challenge is not musical ideas but writing lyrics.

Any lyricists out there that want to help me out, let me know. In the meantime, my getaway awaits.

See you all Monday.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: fawm, 50/90, 50 song challenge, songwriting contest, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

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One of the biggest challenges I see myself battling in 50/90 is having to come up with constant flashes of inspiration all the time.

Through my experiences and lots of online research, I’ve come up with or discovered a number of ways to court the muse however, you can never have too many of these techniques at your disposal can you?

I was talking to a couple of writer friends about this on the weekend and they both said to me that they have a book or a website of writing prompts on hand to turn on their brain’s inspiration switch.

Writing prompts! Hmmm, I needed to look into this concept a bit further.

From my research, writing prompts are little snippets of information that a writer can use to start a work of prose, poetry or whatever.

I typed in “writing prompts” in Google and the first site on the search results was www.creativewritingprompts.com.

What I found was a site specifically geared towards creative writers and journallers with over 300 prompts on the front page.

I thought I’d pick a prompt at random and see what it said. I chose number 29 (my lucky number).

“Begin a 500 word piece on… ‘If I had the power to change something, I would change…’”

Using this prompt I could see myself using the 500 word piece as a means to create a song on how I can facilitate change in my life.

Using external stimuli like writing prompts, mindmaps, oblique strategies, newspaper headlines and brainstorming possible song titles to set your creative wheels in motion is essential not only in completing the 50/90 challenge but in maintaining your own songwriting process in general.

If ever there was a time for me to exercise my songwriters mind, it would be now.

Here are five other writing/journaling prompts sites to consider:

Writers Digest – Writing Prompts

Journaling Prompts

Random Daily Writing Prompt Generator

Over 700 Journal Prompts

Creative Writing Prompts

In ten minutes I found these links by typing in “writing prompts” or “journal prompts” in Google. However, when I typed in “songwriting prompts” I found nothing.

What a great idea! A writing prompt site for songwriters. Must look into that one.

If there are any other writing prompt sites that you want to share with me please let me know. In the meantime wish me luck for the 50/90 challenge. If you want to join me, register online.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: fawm, 50/90, 50 song challenge, songwriting contest, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

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It stands for “February Album Writing Month” and the idea is that you write an albums worth of material in the month of February. This equates to writing a song every second day.

FAWM started in 2003 and for the past five years it’s successfully inspired songwriters from all walks of life and skill levels to get out of their comfort zones and chase after the muse rather than wait for it to happen.

To me it looks like FAWM embraces the concepts of Songwriting Zen and puts it into practise.

A couple of days ago I found out that the creators of FAWM have devised another songwriting exercise called 50/90.

That’s 50 songs in 90 days from July 4th to October 1st.

According to the 50/90 website the 50 song challenge is:

“… a group whose purpose is to challenge members to write 50 songs in 90 days. Between July 4 and October 1 of any year, in the company of others, you can engage in some harmless songwriting mayhem. The prize is the pride in writing songs that may never have been written otherwise.”

What a fantastic way to try out all of the different things you’ve picked up from reading this blog.

I’m going for it and so should you.

I registered with the 50/90 site yesterday so all I have to do now is  wait for July 4th and start putting what I write into practise.

Not that I haven’t been doing that anyway but even for me, just the thought of putting down 50 songs in 90 days seems like a daunting task. However, it’s a challenge I’ll take on with great pride.

What a great way to face your songwriting fears and battle your inner critic head on.

Consider registering for the 50/90 challenge. We can do it together.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: fawm, 50/90, 50 song challenge, songwriting contest, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

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