Songwriting is such a good lesson for how to live life.
Songwriting is often about giving an idea time. Recently I read all about the word "ruminate." That's the root of the word the Bible uses about meditating on scripture. It's also the root of the word that describes what a cow does when it chews its cud. I'm not a farm girl, but I know enough about that process to see the connection. Song ideas are like that. You have to ruminate on them a while. So that means that sometime you have to retreat with them or even from them. Life is that way too. Sometimes the best things just need more time. Just like I do with my granddaughter, God says, "Not yet" sometimes. And just like Violet, we usually respond, "Right now!" But giving things time is God's way more often than not, it seems to me.
Songwriting requires rethinking. I once heard songwriter Regie Hamm say that the test of a good songwriter is how far down one road he or she is willing to go with a song, discover that it's not working, and go back up that road to try a different way. That is so hard to do with a song. When we've invested so much in going a certain direction with it, we fight against starting over. It's just so hard. I can think of a lot of times in my life when I've done the same thing. I've invested so much in a certain desire or project or decision or relationship, the thought of giving it up and starting over seems unthinkable.
Songwriting is constantly about retrying. Small things like trying another word in a line. Bigger things like trying another point of view, trying another approach, trying another melody. Huge things like trying yet another pitch to get a song cut when it has been rejected. In some ways, success in songwriting is ALL about trying again. It's just that sometimes, we have to try something new, something different, something else, when we want to just keep trying the same thing.
Today reminded me that sometimes things you've planned fall apart. When they do, God has another plan. I'm believing that today… and every day.
So true, Sue. I had a hook with (what I thought was a strong) melody idea. I was struggling with the lyrical direction for a couple of months. One morning it came to me with a totally different melody, and the idea finally started taking form. What a nice surprise. I have found that being willing to wait on a particular idea and be flexible keeps me moving forward, otherwise I get discouraged and stuck which halts my writing completely. To quote Benton Stokes, "moving on feels pretty good!"