DAY - 214-216

Good week so far.  I had a great writing session yesterday with Cheyenne Medders.  We finished up the song we started a few weeks ago.  I LOVE how it turned it out.  The song has a unique title, ton of fresh imagery in the lyrics and is set to some non-stop energetic music and melodies.  Cheyenne is a super-talented writer/artist and he happens to be a pretty bad ass producer so he's going to be demoing the song at his studio here in Nashville.  Can't wait!

Over the past couple days, I've decided to start follow ups.  I've met a bunch of fantastic music professionals since I've been living here and I need to make sure I stay on their radars.  Monday, I reached out to VP at ASCAP LeAnn Phelan.  I asked LeAnn for a meeting to come by and play her some new music!  Yesterday, I reached out to Jeff Skaggs at Kobalt Music Publishing.  I told Jeff about the recent Chase Likens cut. (Caught In A Storm)  I said, I have a ton of new music and I'd like to play a few songs for him.  We shall see.

Today, I'm going to J Fred Knobloch's studio to mix our new song!

Lesson learned:  Every now and then I'll post a lesson I've learned along the journey.  It may not be helpful for everyone, but this is something I found really helps me.

I've begun to treat my writing sessions like a sporting event...

First, what does every athlete do before he hits the field?  Warm-up!  I've started doing the same.  Before every session, I do what I like to call "pre-writing".  What does that mean?  For me, pre-writing is like writing exercises.  For example, I'll pick a topic at random and start writing about it using all the five senses.  Every sentence I write I'll try to describe what I see using fresh imagery. To make it even harder, I'll try to rhyme every sentence or every other sentence. (I didn't make that one up, google Brent Baxter "Diving In") Another exercise I'll do is with the guitar.  I'll start playing a chord progression and making up melody and lyrics on the spot.  No over thinking...just let it rip!   This exercise helps me open up the channels of creative flow. (I did create that one) There's another exercise I like that Brent Baxter has on his blog manvsrow.com called word prompts.  He posts a new one every Thursday.  Check it out!  If the writing session I'm going to is to finish up a song that has already been started, I will do all the things above, then take out the song, re-fresh and start building new ideas to bring to the session.  

Second,  No athlete goes onto the field and sits there like a lump.  They run out, fired up and raring to go!  Likewise, I make sure I bring a ton of energy to each session.  I'm pumped to be doing what I love.  I'm excited to have a writing session and work with talented people to create something from scratch.  I'm going to show it!  I'm bringing energy in the room.  Even if my day sucks up to that point, I'm leaving the worries at the door and bringing the positive vibes into the room.  Even if I come away with a crappy song, I'm gonna have a blast writing it!

Cheers!