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How Much Time Does it Take?

Like so many things with songwriting, it varies. Jimmy Webb says he focuses on the writing for 35 minutes or so, then takes a 5 minute break and returns to the work. I once read that John Hiatt treats it like a job. He gets up every morning, has his coffee and breakfast, kisses his wife goodbye and goes to work. He even rents an office near his house where he goes to work. Neil Young has stated that he only writes when inspired, but when he does, he doesn’t allow anything to interrupt him. He said everything else can wait.

Seriously, one of the biggest challenges that any songwriter faces is simply starting the process. I know in my own life that there always seems to be something more important than songwriting for me to do. And yet when I do sit down to write, I never regret it. What’s with that? While I was happy to learn that I wasn’t the only one who found it hard to get started. I once read that Willie Nelson said that the most difficult thing about songwriting is pulling out the guitar.

The great songwriter, John Prine, in the January/February 2010 edition of American Songwriter Magazine, when asked, “Is it easy for you to get to that place where songs start coming?” His response was “No, it’s a very elusive and you gotta to learn patience. I know that I’m basically a very lazy person. As much as I enjoy writing, I would rather do anything in the world but sit down and write. But once I get into it, I’m into it. I mean, if you said, ‘Let’s go get a hot dog first,’ I would always go for the hot dog. I know that about myself. You have to balance out my patience waiting for the right thing to come along with my laziness, knowing I’m trying to avoid working.”

I’ve been writing for a long time, and my approach has been to always keep it a pleasurable experience in my life. I try to see if the muse is with me on a regular basis, but the term ‘regular’ varies depending upon my other responsibilities. If I sit down to write and nothing comes to me in around 20 or 30 minutes, I’ll usually put the guitar down and walk away, or perhaps I’ll play some of the songs of my songwriting heroes. I may not try and write until the next day, the next week, or even the next month.

From my point of view the benefit of this approach is that songwriting is always linked in my mind to pleasure and enjoyment, and not one of drudgery. I’ve seen too many of my colleagues give up on songwriting and music because it becomes “too much” in their already busy lives. They end up looking back on the art form as something they used to do. I think I’ve avoided that pitfall by always staying positive. I never feel guilty for not working on songwriting for periods of time. I minimize discouragement by not pressing the issue when nothing is coming to me.

Songwriting is isolated hard work. It’s not something that most of us can focus on for long periods of time. Often at the end of grueling day one starts to get diminishing returns. Keep that in mind when you’re getting frustrated. It could be something as simple as taking a break or coming back to it the following day that can make a big difference.

Try to find what works for you; 35 minutes at a time, treating it like a job, working on it only when inspired, whatever. We all have different solutions to this very real and practical challenge.

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