Scheduling Time
In order to write at the professional level you will need to devote massive amounts of time to the art, the craft, and, eventually, the business of songwriting. Unless you are independently wealthy and willing to live like a monk, this means scheduling your time wisely to get it all in.
Time to WriteFor most songwriters, this is the easiest part of the job and the most pleasant. Still, have you ever spent forty hours in a week writing songs? How about twenty or even ten? If you get a publishing deal, you may be expected to sit down in an office with a co-writer for three or four hours, twice a day, five days a week, and come up with something good regularly. This means being able to work through writer's block and writing well even when you are not particularly inspired.
Why write when you're not inspired? Ask an Olympic medalist if he or she competes and trains only when inspired. It's usually an inspired performance that earned the medal, but that performance wouldn't have been possible without years of training every day and competing in hundreds of events.
So, schedule writing sessions and stick to them. It's easy to let yourself slide because a favorite show is on or your friends are going out somewhere. Remember, if you don't work, nothing will get done. Make a minimum hourly commitment to songwriting each week. If ten hours a week is all you can do, then start there and build on it. You'll be amazed at how much better you'll write after a year of writing more often.
Try sitting down and writing for four hours. It's a lot harder than you think. You may have to work up to it, but it's worth the effort: Writing
In addition to writing songs, spend time learning more about songwriting. Even hit writers spend time studying the craft. There are books and magazines galore about the different aspects of songwriting and publishing, and there are songwriting forums on the Internet where songwriters from all over the world “talk shop,” discuss craft and technique, and critique each other's work.
Analyzing the craft aspects of current hits is another great source of information. Set aside some time each week to learn more about songwriting, then make a point of applying what you have learned when you sit down (or pace the floor) to write.
Time for IdeasSet aside time to generate ideas and to compare the kinds of ideas you've been using with the ones on the radio. What types of hooks and styles of storytelling are being used? Even better, what kinds haven't been used? Some ideas require weeks of incubation before you know how to incorporate them into songs. Sometimes an idea will stick in your head and demand to be written. This is a good sign.
Time to EditFor many songwriters, the hardest part of the writing process is editing and rewriting. It can be difficult to go through a beautiful song that came in a rush of inspiration and sort out what to cut, what to keep, and how to fix the broken or missing parts. For this reason, most songwriters have huge piles of works-in-progress and a small stack of finished songs.
Paying attention to how co-writers approach things can be a great source of information because you get to see things from inside the process. Don't let it distract you from your own work, but be aware of what's going on across the table.
If you believe in a song, don't let it sit there, gathering dust and slowly going out of style. Schedule time each week to rewrite, fix, polish, and finish songs. Remember, it doesn't matter who's ahead halfway through a race, or even an inch from the finish line. What matters is who finishes and when. To win, you must finish, so focus on the finish line.
