Song Tip Tuesday #19 – Blocked – Stuck – What Do I Do?

Today’s Song Tip Tuesday is about the unpleasant feeling of being blocked or stuck when writing a song. It is a subject that comes up often in my workshops and from my private songwriting students.  

It goes like this: SONGWRITER (with a tone of dismay), ‘I am stuck on this song…completely blocked. But I love this song and have to finish it.’ What should I do? 

When this happens, I suggest you WRITE ANOTHER SONG. It doesn’t mean that you are abandoning the current song you are writing. I think of it as a necessary vacation/respite, or possibly a needed diversion to get you far away from the creative hole that you are stuck in. The new song can be about anything. Just write something else. After a period of time when you return to the song that is stuck, you might find that you have a revitalized approach and can look at this stuck song with refreshed eyes and ears. This ‘write another song’ fix for writers block works! But, sometimes, even after a healthy separation from a stuck song, you are still stymied. Then I suggest you start asking these questions about your song: Do I believe the words I am writing? Do I know enough about the subject I am trying to write about?  

If you answer yes to either of these questions, I suggest you put the song away until you can answer them. And, then, WRITE ANOTHER SONG.    

The art of writing is rewriting. 

Randy Klein