It’s a new year and in keeping with tradition of making resolutions, I’ve decided to go all Woody Guthrie in 1943, and make a few for myself. Most of them I’ll probably never keep past next week, (exercise most likely) but one of them, I decided last night, I will remain determined to stick to:
Write and record at least ONE song every week.
I was utterly inspired yesterday by the friends and artists from the Sunday Songwriting club who took on the 20-song challenge the other day and attempted to write 20 songs in a single 12 hour binge. While I’d never be able to dedicate that amount of time to myself these days, it did get me thinking about making time for creativity as opposed to snatching it when the opportunity arises.
2020 saw me having less time to dedicate to creativity. As a result, when the chance arose, I found myself trying to cram in as much as I could over a three of four hour binge with alarmingly poor results. It seems, the pressure to use the time effectively had the opposite effect of the aim. I found myself picking between scraps of ideas worrying about not having the time to finish anything when I’d not even really started any of them, and more often than not, walking away in disgust and disappointment in myself.
Then a lightbulb moment of inspiration hit me. Would less time but more often work?
So I’m proposing to myself that I dedicate only ONE hour per day to creativity, with the aim of giving myself a full week to write and record ONE song. That should hopefully mean 50-odd songs by the end of the year. No album, no theme, no pressure, anything goes.
As I only came across this idea yesterday, I have kinda cheated with my first one. All I had to do with it was mix it today in my ‘hour’. It’s one of about three songs I wrote all last year. I debuted it last February, the last time I performed live (cheers Covid-19), supporting and also then playing with Jonny. A few people afterwards commented positively on the song, so I guess it’s fitting that it’s the first thing I should put out there since the madness of 2020 destroyed nearly all of my drive to make music.
I have to admit, I’m already excited about what will be next week’s song. The possibilities are suddenly and once more endless. A little time to think and a little perspective. That’s all we need sometimes.
Anyway, here it is. It’s called “Where”.
cheers,
Stu
KiDD 