Winning the war with your critical inner voice is one of the main keys to getting the most out of your composition, and starting a journal is one of the best strategies to do so.
However, there are some conditions attached to this journal writing exercise.
1. It should be done every day.
2. Set a minimum number of pages or words to do every day (say, three pages or 1000 words)
3. It does not matter what you write as long as you write the number of pages and / or words that you said you were going to do.
4. Allow your writing to be good, bad, or indifferent.
5. Pay attention to your inner voice, perhaps writing what it says.
6. When you’re done, just stop and move on to something else.
The way this exercise helps you in your battle with your inner voice is that you will eventually break down the walls it puts in front of your creativity. You will be surprised what your inner voice will tell you as you write.
However, instead of succumbing to the temptation to stop, keep going until you finally get rid of the doubts and instead there will be a flow of ideas, confidence and inspiration.
I’ve been writing magazines for years, but I didn’t experience the real benefit of magazines until I read “The Artists Way” by Julia Cameron (a must for any songwriter. If you don’t have it, GET IT).
In the book he talks about the ‘morning pages’. Three pages of automatic writing first thing in the morning and boy, what a powerful tool.
It was that book that allowed me to piece together all the loose ends in my own writing endeavors, and therefore I base this journal writing exercise on the concept of the morning pages.
I can’t stress it enough, it should be done every day. You need to make time for it. It’s a great investment for your songwriting process.
By doing this every day and setting a productivity goal, you will establish the discipline you need to be a prolific songwriter.
Allowing what you write to be good, bad or indifferent will prevent you from assuming that everything you write has to be perfect and, paying attention to the noises in your head will help you recognize your inner voice for what it really is, a source. endless negativity.
What’s next Well, here is a composition exercise.
Start writing in your journal for a week. It’s seven days of putting aside your thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, fears, aspirations, inner conversations (whatever, put it down) and see how it feels to do it.
I think it will feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.
At the end of the seven days, I can guarantee that you won’t have so many things flying around inside your head because everything will be written down and who knows, maybe there will be some songs in there too.
We will get to what happens next.
