Songwriting Hack #7: One at the time, or finish what you start

My wife used to play tennis in leagues. They were very strict in their policy of "no coaching" from the sidelines. So there were only about three things we were allowed to yell out from the audience. One of those was "One at the time!". I'm still not exactly certain of the meaning of that, but of course I, being the eternal smart aleck, would constantly shout out "One at the time!" whether it was appropriate or not. On thinking about it, I suppose that little piece of encouragement says that you can't try to win a tennis match with one point. But if you focus on winning each point, you will soon look around and realized you've won the match.

Over the past few months, I've made a couple of tiny changes in my life which have reaped enormous benefits (Isn't that usually how it works? Always the little stuff...). One of them has involved my reading habits. A year ago, I was literally swimming in magazine subscriptions. And I'm the type of person who feels like they have to hold on to a magazine just in case it may contain a piece of sage advice to be used down the line. Add that combined with my love of going to the library and checking out more books than I could read in 6 months with the idea of reading them in three weeks, and you've got a recipe for disaster. Then right before Christmas, I made the decision to get rid of almost all of my magazines (I canceled the newspaper about a year ago, a move I still don't regret.). The time I normally spent skimming through magazines I started using to read all the books I hope to get around to. And instead of checking out 80 books from the library in one swoop, I try to keep a running list of books I want to read at some point. It's amazing what this has done for me. I've read more books in the first five months of this year than I read all of last year. And most of the books that I feel like I have to read tend to fade away. Those that don't, I end up reading eventually.

What in the world does this have to do with the creative process? Well, much of that I will explain in hacks 8 and 9. But the rest can be explained with the other tiny change I've made this year. Just as I've focused on finishing one book at a time, I've taken the same approach to songs. In the past, whenever I came up with the initial nugget of a song, I would say, "That's cool. I'll have to work on it at some point." Then I wind up with about 7 songs in my head that may or may not be good, but that will be worked on "at some point". The change I've made is that I now say "That's cool. I'm going to work on that for as long as I can focus on it." Then, over the next hour or so, I can get the song to a complete enough place where I can play it for somebody else. Where I can look at it objectively later and decide if it's good enough to finish.

And you know what? An amazing thing has happened. Not only have I had more complete ideas than ever before, getting these songs out in the open have revealed other songs which are equally good, if not even better. It's a phenomenon called "the idea behind the idea" which I think should be credited to creative writing guru Natalie Goldberg, but I'm not sure. An example of this phenomenon can be found in "When the Rain Comes" off of the Come Together album. I had been working for several weeks on some song and getting basically nowhere with it. I finally broke down and recorded it on a little 4 track cassette recorder. When I was done recording that, I started playing that descending guitar line which became the intro to "When the Rain Comes". If I hadn't have recorded the other idea and gotten the closure on it, I never would have written "When the Rain Comes". And that's just one example.

So as you write, try your best to finish what you start. At least to the point where you can have closure on an idea. You never know what other ideas are patiently waiting behind it.

Comments

[Tracy]

I think Pam may be on to something. Here are some discussion questions for any Nora Roberts read:

1. Compare and contrast the writing style of Nora Roberts with J.D.Robb. What about the writing style puts them in different genres?

2. Why do you think Nora Roberts writes so many trilogies? How does she achieve connectivity? What could be changed to make it better?

3. Pick a book from each decade of Nora Roberts career. How has she evolved as a writer in your opinion?

4. What makes the romance genre so popular?

5. How are real life relationships like/unlike the relationships in romance novels? Should they be?

See, even a light-hearted read can have some serious discussion. ;)

[Kara]

Philosophy for My Lifetime by Dr. Mark Lee... that's what I'm getting from this blog. And it's too stinkin' true! :)

[Pamster]

That is good to know :)

Oh you should see my bookshelves, and the boxes of stored bookshelves...

and some of the selections...it is giving me the giggles just thinking about it.

Mark, you read any Nora Roberts? *giggle*

[MarkLee]

Don't you fret, because my Summer Reading Club is coming back, and I do intend to read some books off of you guys' bookshelves...

More details to come.

[Wendy]

Well all I can say is I am truly amazed and blessed when you put pen to paper and write songs!

And you know my New Year's Resolution (yeah I made one just to break it! :) ) was to read all the books I have on my book shelf. Well I "joined" your book club and haven't read a single one yet. Now I have read the books you've recommended. How about I tell you what I have on my shelf and you pick from them? LOL!

I truly look forward to seeing what you have worked on and being blessed once again by the gift God gave you!

[Mr. Elwood]

Very nice. I fell like I’m getting a “critical thinking” class for free.

I haven’t been keeping up with these posts recently and I’ve missed out big time. If they have all been like this, I bet someone is finding this to be a revelation of music and thought for them.

Very nice post...