Sometimes all you need to do is put the pen to the page

I've felt for a few years now like I had lost my voice. I wrote twelve songs in twelve weeks, but that was four years ago, and since then I've written about two songs, maybe three. I don't know why I've been so blocked. I've done a lot to try to figure it out. This blog was a part of that at various points, but here is the number one thing that I have learned, and it only came about because I have nearly completed writing a new song recently, and I've been working for about four months now with no luck before the breakthrough.

Write Without A Plan

I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who can have an idea for a song, and write a perfectly good song out of that idea. I'm not one of you. When I write, I literally have to just listen to the music, and write one word, and then another, and then another after that without any idea what the song will be about. I wrote one of my favorite lines in a long time just because I thought it'd be cool to write a fast chorus kind of reminiscent of Relient K. (The line, btw, is, "Between you and the thought of you, I'll always pick the latter." It's good, right? anyway...)

I tried for a while recently to write songs that expressed my feelings about the two relationships I was in in the course of the past twelve months, and while I was able to get some feelings out, nothing of any quality ever came from it. Also, side note, I managed to really upset one ex-girlfriend, and alienate at least one other friend, though that friend never approached me about it, and I had to hear second-hand, which is even worse. So that's another part of trying to write with a goal in mind that just doesn't work for me.

When I look back on it, that's how I've always written. My first songs weren't about anything in particular. I mean, they had themes that were pretty obvious, but they were never about situations. Do you know why? Situations are small. I don't want to write about small things. Small things don't really make a difference. Maybe I'm just here to entertain, but I've never looked at it that way. That was very apparent in Stand Your Ground, when our band had a message, but even in Some Might Say, when our biggest message was to have fun and stay young, my lyrics were laced with themes of inclusion, and forgiveness, and not holding grudges. I didn't really do that on purpose. It just came out of me.

So that's my big epiphany this week. It isn't, "Write what you know." It's simpler than that. Just write. Let one word follow another, and when you've put enough words together, take a step back and relax. You did it.

Then tear it apart, because editing is a whole different story.

Perhaps the road was better left untaken this time

If I ever did you wrong, or hurt you, please forgive me
That "if" is so rhetorical, I know.
I get so caught in my own point of view

For every time I thought that I could just ignore you,
Say I knew better and let's move on
Please don't just discount me like you clearly want to

I'm not sure if I can be a better person
I'm not sure if those were better days
All I know is that I'm trying hard as ever
Even harder since you and I parted ways
Even more than I had thought, since we have parted ways

I don't pretend that if we tried to start things over
I would be any better than before
I don't propose that that's our forward course of action
I don't want another romance to become a chore
All I want is my friend back.
That's it.
I miss you is all.
Nothing more.

Don't rhyme every time...

So it is once again the weekend. Happy Easter. I have been thinking about what to post here this weekend, to kind of kick off these weekly talks. Lucky for me, no one reads this, so I can go on about whatever I want. I had thought this weekly post would be more about substantive things, but I suppose stylistic things are good to talk about from time to time as well. So, this week's topic is just going to be about writing. Specifically, I want to talk about

Rhyming

It seems simple, right? Poems and songs rhyme. That's just a part of what you do when you write. Of course, it's not that simple. First of all, some really great poems don't rhyme. I've had friends over the years tell me that they hate rhyming poems, because they sound trite. I've gone through phases of my own where I both praise and denigrate rhyming. These days I see it simply as a tool. When something rhymes, it makes your brain kind of latch onto it. It's a great memory tool, and just in general fun to do. It is entertaining for readers and listeners.

So why wouldn't you want to rhyme? Well, it's surprisingly easy to choose the wrong rhyme. Certain words just feel cliche when you rhyme them, and sometimes if you stick too hard to the rhyme, it can convolute your message. Since one of the goals of good writing is to clearly communicate your message, this would make rhyming a bad idea in some cases.

I'm not going to offer examples of bad rhyming. You can look through my past posts and find plenty of examples, both good and bad, if that's what you're looking for. And the truth is, it's all subjective anyway. As with any art, there are things that are generally considered good, and the opposite is true as well, but in the end, if your end product communicates the idea or feeling that you were trying to portray, then whether or not someone else likes it is completely on them. It's important to listen to criticism, but it's also important not to get so caught up in making everyone like your work that you lose your unique voice.

So just remember when you're trying to decide what rhyme to use, or whether you even want to rhyme:
Does this word choice help convey the feeling or idea that I'm writing about, or does it just sound like I needed a rhyming word?