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All songwriters, from beginners to established professionals,
sometimes suffer from writers' block-- so don't feel bad if you
keep staring at an empty page or computer screen.
Over the years, I have found most song ideas form an emotion
or experience too intense to keep to yourself.
This can come from three potential sources --- good news, bad
news or what I like to call "the news"; Something so wonderful,
terrible, or relevant that you just have to tell someone else.
Good news is a universal expression of goodwill coming from some
peak experience like falling in love, making a new friend, winning
or earning a lot of money, or some other of life's windfalls one
wants to share.
Bad news is the reverse; losing a lover, losing ones money or
job or the farm, or having the blues over one of life's many disappointments
that one writes to help get it off one's chest.
"The News" is some juicy, poignant, or otherwise human interest
story about what's going on in the world--from the good, to the
bad, to the ugly.
When I have trouble finding song ideas from any of these three
sources, I then turn to a recording of one of my favorite songwriters
for inspiration. Listening to someone like Joni Mitchell
or Bruce Springsteen usually sparks my imagination with
their incredible word paintings and character portraits. Usually
within a short while I am spinning off on a character portrait
of my own.
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