If songwriting was magic, that would be easy.

Everyone could purchase the little black hat, the magic wand and the paper with the magic words to say:  “Abra-Cadabra…….Out of the hat, i will draw, a song to astound, one and all”……and poof, the song would appear!

Somewhere in the tiny recesses of my mind, it seems like there is hidden this false belief that songwriting IS about magic, and i’m the only one who doesn’t have the magic wand.  It’s easier to believe that when i’m sitting at the piano and working on a song and it’s not getting anywhere.  Somewhere that little belief pops up that says “oh that’s right, you’ll never finish this song until you get that magic wand”. 

That’s why it’s so important for me to be able to attend these writing workshops.  I sit in a class and listen to very successful songwriters as they share their tips and treasurers about writing and i’m ready to take notes and find out what store they go to to purchase that magic wand and where they find the hat.   And then that crazy little voice is hushed as i listen to them talk about the drive, dedication and plain old hard work it takes to write good songs.  

Maybe most people would be surprised to learn how hard writers work to develop their craft.  I know my mailman was.  We have a “street mailman” that delivers mail to our office every day about lunch time.  We usually chat a little every day about this and that, and i had told him on Friday that i was going to a writing conference.  So yesterday he asked me how many songs i’d written at the conference.  I explained to him that the conference was about me attending classes and learning to write.  He laughed and said “classes?  they have classes on writing?”

Writing isn’t about some 1-2-3- formula that you learn to duplicate over and over so you can write the perfect song.  Writing isn’t about finding that one key that will unlock all of the amazing songs that are hiding behind a secret door.  Writing is about living.  Writing is what happens every day….sharing lunch with friends, laughing with my kids, working my 9 to 5 job, running errands, seeing the homeless woman brush her teeth as i was driving home yesterday.