Speed Up Your Songwriting, and Minimize Your Inner Critic

Speedwriting is an activity that can give your creative mind a shot of confidence.

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“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Deluxe Bundle takes the guesswork out of songwriting. Help give your songwriting technique a kick-start. Read more..

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Writer’s block is common in any creative field. As long as it’s a mild case, you’re experiencing something that all composers face from time to time. Once it becomes a moderate or severe block (2-3 weeks or longer), you’ve got to think of ways to get the creative juices flowing again. You can’t afford to sit, waiting for inspiration to suddenly kick in.

Research shows that most causes of a creative block relate to a fear of failure. Once you experience a few failed ideas in a row (this is not uncommon in any artistic field), a little voice inside you starts to express doubt that you’ll find your groove again.

Once that voice kicks in, you’ve got the potential beginnings of a moderate or severe block. One of the best remedies for writer’s block is: GET WRITING!

It may feel difficult, and even counterproductive, but going through the motions of writing as if nothing’s wrong has a way of jump-starting the creative processes in your artistic mind, as long as you remember the following:

1. Keep your musical tasks small. Do lots of writing that involves simply writing a short 1- or 2-bar hook, a line or two of lyric, a small melodic idea… that sort of thing. Avoid committing to writing full songs for the time being.
2. Write quickly. Try some speedwriting exercises, like this one. You may not feel the benefits of this tremendously important exercise right away, but you’ll start to see how advantageous it can be to gently force your brain into a creative state of mind.
3. Don’t be so critical. It’s a major problem with those who create works of art, whether they are songs, paintings, choreography, poetry or any other creative endeavour: you tend to be highly critical of what you’re doing, and that can make a creative block worse. So when speedwriting, just write quickly, and don’t stop to criticize your efforts.

All songwriters go through a block from time to time. If you feel that you just can’t get through it, and any effort to write is causing anxiety, take a few days off. A great idea for those who are really bogged down is to switch to a different form of artistic expression, such as instrumental performing, painting, writing short stories – anything that takes the pressure off.

You’ll be back to songwriting in no time at all!

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Written by Gary Ewer. Follow on Twitter.

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Bundle: $37.00 Includes “From Amateur to Ace: Writing Songs Like a Pro“.