There’s so much more to songwriting than just writing, recording and pitching tunes to win the imagined brass ring of fame and fortune. At its very essence, the process of songwriting is truly healing. When given enough room to freely express yourself and your feelings, songwriting is a magical, blissful experience for those who live for the simple joy of creating music.

Unless you’re an established working songwriter, chances are good that songwriting is something you do in your spare time. Whether you’re doing it for fun, to complete an album or EP project, or you hope to win a Grammy one day, it’s important to establish a regular writing routine. But how can you do it in the midst of a day job, band, family responsibilities and walking the dog? In this post I’ll give you five strategies to help you block out distractions so you can effectively focus on following your dream.

Rewriting a song means accepting that the beautiful inspiration you just poured out of your soul might need some extra work. It takes courage, humility and patience to rewrite a song effectively. Here are 10 reasons why rewriting your latest song is a good idea.

Writing good lyrics is hard, and where they come from is often a mystery. While everyone has their own unique approach to writing a song, here are seven tips that may help you jumpstart your lyric writing process. Let me know what you think in the comments.