How often should I write songs?

Question by Drew:


I'm busy. I work almost 10 hours a day. Sometimes it seems impossible for me to find the time. Although songwriting is the most important thing in my life, the only time when I can be alone to work on my songs is at the weekend. And not the whole weekend (that would be a dream come true...) but only 1-2 hours on Saturday and Sunday.

So I'd need a little songwriting help! How could I schedule my time better so I can become more productive?

Thanks for the advice in advance!


Answer:

Hello Drew, 

First of all, thanks for choosing HitJerker-Songwriting.com to ask for songwriting help. 

About your question: 

There are few people who feel that they have all the time in the world. Doing songwriting 1 or 2 hours a week isn't much, I know. However, it's still better than doing nothing. Most songwriters procrastinate for as much as a year (or years) before sitting down to write. You're already ahead of 90% of the other songwriters! 

I know that you're frustrated because you'd like to write as much as you can. I suggest that you get up one hour earlier every morning or a couple of days a week so that you can work. Or if you feel that it is the evening when you're the most creative and productive, set aside an hour then. (In my experience, writing is easier to do when everybody else is asleep therefore there is no-one to disturb you.) It's difficult to get yourself to get up earlier but in a week or two you'll get used to it. You can also try to go to bed earlier. You might miss some TV shows but that's the price you have to pay for the songwriting career. 

Most songwriters think that if only they didn't have a day-job, they could work so much more on their songs! It usually isn't the case though. If you have too much free time, you'll find plenty of other things to do and rarely sit down to work. Believe me. By the way, having a day job has one more benefit. If all you have to do is write all day, what's gonna inspire you? What are you going to write about? 

Well, these are my thoughts, I hope it helps. Let me know if you have other questions or comments. 


PS. A quotation by Lucille Ball: "If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more things you can do." So true!