Correction - I will find the words.

[linziellen]

Thank you all, I hit a personal rock bottom last night and my eyes are so heavy today. I have an emotional weekend coming up and I guess it got the better of me. I do very often struggle to write when I know what my heart wants to say, it's as if my heart and head don't get along very well because I just get bogged under!Remember the thread about support, I remember saying black coffee was my biggest. That was SO not true! If it weren't for the backup I get here I'm not sure I'd be writing with such determination. Coffee just gives me the shakes nowadays, but you guys are my rock.Thank you, wonderful ideas and words above. I love the scrambled egg idea, I'm going to try that just for the fun of it. Just a little breather over the weekend and I'll be back in gear again. Linzi

[jchitty]

Hey, Lindz, here's what I do. Like Mojo said, I get the bones of the song down first. I tend to write a song a week, but I don't finish a song until three or four months later if that makes sense. In other words, I have all these songs simmering until they're ready to be fully completed. Right now, I have ideas for about 30 songs, but most of them won't be completed until November or later (really no time limit), and other ideas will pop up as well. So I'm constantly using my 'ole yellow tape recorder to record those ideas, lines and melodies, so I don't forget them. Then eventually, they evolve into a fully completed song.I think the best writing is from our subconscious....sometimes, it takes a while for your best lines to surface. I am writing a song that just doesn't want to be written for some reason....for the last several months, it's been giving me fits. Sometimes, the song just wants to write itself no matter what you want for it. Anyway, because I let songs simmer and let the words come to me, (not me try to force anything) I ended up with one of the best lines I've ever written...it just popped into my head yesterday after weeks of struggle.I agree about taming the inner critic at first...Vikki had really good points about the stream of conciousness idea (Suz's post about Paul McCartney too)....just get the song out there if you can....you can work on fine tuning it along the way.The one thing we songwriters suffer from sometimes is being too anxious. If I find myself getting too anxious, I go out and take a walk or do something relaxing....I remember that music isn't my whole life, and that it's not the end of the world if I couldn't come up with a line on a particular day. I find that if you don't force your creation, your best lines will surface eventually.

[linziellen]

OK cool, thank you Chits Perhaps I am trying too hard. I think maybe a song only has to be about one simple moment, rather than a life time of lots of different ones. Yet I still try and pour it ALL out onto paper. I ask too much from myself, and eventually I crumble from the pressure. Bones, yes that's good. I can't count the number of verses I have on the go anymore. I constantly go from one to another these days, catching them by surprise! What I could start to do is build simple stories from those verses, even if they don't fit exactly, it would give me a rough idea of where I'm headed.Do you guys agree with the idea that we have to become vulnerable to become good song writers? That idea has been haunting me lately.Thanks guys

[jchitty]

Aug 22, 2008, 5:51am, linziellen wrote:OK cool, thank you Chits Perhaps I am trying too hard. I think maybe a song only has to be about one simple moment, rather than a life time of lots of different ones. Yet I still try and pour it ALL out onto paper. I ask too much from myself, and eventually I crumble from the pressure. Bones, yes that's good. I can't count the number of verses I have on the go anymore. I constantly go from one to another these days, catching them by surprise! What I could start to do is build simple stories from those verses, even if they don't fit exactly, it would give me a rough idea of where I'm headed.Do you guys agree with the idea that we have to become vulnerable to become good song writers? That idea has been haunting me lately.Thanks guys Okay, Ms. Lindz....glad we could all help. I owe you a PM and I'm gonna answer it ASAP.

[suzdoyle]

Excellent ideas on this thread!I would add that the act of creating anything (including songs) requires stepping firmly into the unknown, which requires great courage and vulnerability. A paradox, really. The other piece is "getting out of the way" when songs come . . . disengaging the linear, editor mind and saying "Yes" to whatever wants to come through in a more free flowing, abstract way. After the general flow part of it is finished, then it's time to tinker with it from a more critical editor's eye.At least that's one way the process seems to work well. ,Suz

[geo]

Aug 21, 2008, 4:13pm, linziellen wrote:Guys, I'm confused You know when you have all your ideas lined up in your head, you have a story you want to tell, you can almost see it on the paper, in fact you already know exactly what you want to say...BUT NOTHING COMES OUT! Nothing feels right, nothing looks right, nothing can compare to what's going on in your head. What do you do, how do you get it out?I seem to have so many mystery lyrics trapped up inside and I can't help think I'd feel better off without them. Looks like I might be fighting the perfectionist again. I don't think this is writers block it's just the pain I experience when I'm trying to say something that doesn't want to be said.Any thoughts? I'm baffled. PS - Don't Cha Just Hate Creative Thinkers!!!Blah blah blah, melt down, ignore all that -I WILL FIND THE WORDS Hey Girl!! How you doing? I often have a similar experience.... although with me I will hear this great arrangement, chord changes, lyrics etc... but am unable to translate that to my guitar (I'm a below average musician) .. so I just start banging around chords mumbling lyrics and I normally end up with something close.... but not what's in my head..... but I'm normally happy with it.... Peace, geo

[linziellen]

Guys, thank you for all these wonderful posts. I actually read them a while back, but for some reason I didn't reply. I found some words, whether they mean anything to anybody else is yet to be seen! I'll probably post them up one day. Thank you for all the inspiration and advice.I'm sure this will crop up again at some point

[suzdoyle]

Excellent suggestions, Lee!Re: NSAI -- er, you're referring to the Nashville Songwriters Association International, right? Not the other interesting groups that use the same acronym when I googled NSAI ? !! Love the storyboard idea!Suz

[squids]

Hi Linzi, I'm really late to this thread and no doubt you've moved on from the block (yay!! ) As regards vulnerability......I believe one of the requirements of a good songwriter is to be vulnerable to your own emotions and to your imagination. If you can feel empathy for a character in your song, that's vulnerable enough, imho. As for writer's block.......well, I don't have all the tricks I've read here. I do most of my writing in my head, I try to spare myself pen and paper, it's one more obstacle between me and what I want (finished product). If the lyric isn't coming, I mark where I'm stuck and go on to something else. If I think I'll forget the lyric, I write down what I have, then put it away and go elsewhere, do something else. I try not to do that, it helps keep the song in my mind if I memorize what I have. But I do it that way because less pressure = less likelihood of writer's block. But that's jes me..........I hope you find what you're lookin' for, honey! Steve's right, you're vulnerable enough, sweepea.