Songwriting

I've been having a good run with songwriting lately. When I finished the album last year, the writing well dried up, but it seems to be back. I have about 6 new songs emerging and forming and becoming what they are. It is such an incredibly exhilarating process. What starts out as just me sitting in my den plucking away randomly, absentmindedly on the guitar somehow turns into a song with lyrics and melodies and choruses and different parts and different instruments...well, I never used to understand how it was done, but now I see that it just is done.

I've been writing with someone else, as well. A drummer/lead guitar player. It adds a whole new dimension to the process that I never thought I'd be able to do. I hesitate to call myself a musician. I know nothing about music beyond the chords I'm playing. I don't know how they are supposed to progress. I don't know scales. Anything beyond the 5th fret is a guessing game for me. He knows this stuff and, in my opinion, adds a professional vibe to the songs that is very much needed.

I'm such a crazy huge fan of music, which is a weird thing to say, I think, but I'll say it anyway. I've always just listened to songs and sang along and loved them and it's so strange for me to be writing

my own songs. It changes the way I listen. I hear things in a different way. I notice the tiniest little additions - bells, echoes, random background noises - that I never paid attention to before. And all it does is make me want to write more.

Without trying to get too sappy and self-help-y, I'll just say this: If there is anything you want to do that you are, for whatever reason, not doing...Do It. This music thing has changed my life. Even if no one else listens. If no one comes to my shows*. If no one buys the album(s). It has made me so happy just to do it. I truly believe everyone needs some sort of creative outpouring to be truly happy in life. Whether that's music or writing or painting or woodwork or building or dancing or coloring in a coloring book...find what makes you happy and just do it.

*Okay, it is really nice when people come to my shows. So, you'll be there, right?