There are times when you may find yourself feeling stuck. Your dream of being a songwriter doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere while time just ticks away. But you can use that time to create something that will pay off later. If you do one thing that could get you closer to your dream, you can make the best of your downtime.
Here’s a list of 9 songwriting tasks you can do on your own or with cowriters. When things pick up again, you’ll be glad you did them.
- Add to your list of potential titles, inspired lines, and song sections.
- Write a verse and chorus based on an idea on your list.
- Find and study successful songs. Here’s how.
- Pick up your songwriting speed with these ideas.
- Revisit a song you never finished and get it done.
- Learn a new songwriting skill. (I’ve got eBooks full of them.)
- Sing along with a singer you admire and learn their phrasing.
- Work on your home recording skills.
- Organize your songs into a catalogue with information on musicians, singers, pitches, etc. (Yeah, I know you haven’t done it.)
Get to work
Choose one of the 9 songwriting tasks in the list above or another songwriting task you want to focus on. Try to work in 30-minute chunks. You’ll be surprised how much you can get done if you work for a short time but do it everyday.
Find out more about 30-minute songwriting workouts.
Make a deal with yourself: Stick to at least one 30-minute songwriting session a day for five days then assess how much you’ve accomplished and how you feel about it. I promise you’ll be inspired to keep going. Choose you tasks for the following week and dive in. You can do this!