Thoughts on Songwriting

Dear You,

I wasn't feeling particularly inspired yesterday but I had nothing else to do so I thought it best to work for awhile. I watched some concerts on Youtube, specifically of a song I'm having trouble on, while practicing some chords that I'm horrible at. And heard Ed Sheeran say something along the lines of...

'When you're stuck you have to clean out the clog, just write for awhile and some dirty mud will come out but eventually you'll get clean water, you'll get something good"

Which I thought was brilliant and wrote for quite awhile and then added chords to a bunch of songs (which I've been avoiding) and I'm very proud of how they sound. And I'm proud of how much work I got done but it's not all sunshine and daises. 

I realize that songwriting isn't exactly taken seriously in the world. Some people think I'm just being stupid and others think I'm probably some stereotypical copycat writing horrible teeny-bopper songs. Which maybe I am, I don't know my songs sound to another ear. However it's not as easy as you'd think.

When I work, I'm taking every emotion surrounding a situation and attempting to put in words that sound intelligible, interesting, inspiring, and that rhyme. I have to find chords that are unique yet fit the situation. And taking a thought, a feeling, an event and trying to pair some random guitar chords to it may be one of the hardest things I've ever tried to do. I seriously wanted to throw something.

Songwriting is frustrating and sometimes while doing it, I just want to scream. But I still do it because in the end, creating a song is better than any feeling I could ever describe. It's some mix of proudness and vague interest and curiousness at how I even managed to create something that sounds so nice and sums up something that affected me in something so wonderful as music. 

There's a quote (of course) that sums it up perfectly from one of my favorite authors...

"That's what you gotta find - the things that tear you up when you suck at them, and feel pretty good when you're good at them" -John Green

For me, the only thing that describes is songwriting. Which is why, I'm not going to college this year, why I'm sitting at home writing on a blog, and why I cannot stop smiling right now thinking about the songs I just wrote. I am in love with writing songs. 

What is your thing that "tear you up... and [feels] pretty good"? Leave me a comment below!

Have an Amazing Day!

Mia B