Tag Archives: feedback

Circles and sessions and studios and … you

Posted on
24

The past two weeks have been packed with songwriting…

Packed with shiny new goals for my dream-chasing, inspired by a local songwriting circle:

  • spend 10 hours a week working on songwriting
  • read 2 songwriting books
  • write 25 new songs
  • re-write 25 old songs
  • send 6 songs to at least one publisher

Packed with co-writing alongside a friend and mentor who I highly respect… a man who has a voice in today’s worship music.

Packed with transforming a small utility closet into a place where I can create and record music.

I’ve never felt more like a “songwriter” than I do right now. Not even when I tipped those 102 last year. Not even then. And I know I’m not close. I know I’m just beginning to learn the craft, the discipline, the method of songwriting… and the songwriter in me.

But I’m setting a pace, and I’m moving forward. To what? I don’t know. I just know I need to move in this direction. I feel compelled. Pulled.

I have to. It’s like my soul is made of metal and music is the magnet.

So here I am. Here we are. Once again this blog will be wrapped in lyrics and half-songs and crappy demos.

And what I want to know is… Are you up for more requests to critique lyrics? To give feedback on demos? And to encourage me when I’m not feeling it?

Are you with me?

Y’all were right.

Posted on
30

“Right about what?” you might ask.

That I can’t tell you yet.

But, what I CAN tell you is that I had a long conversation yesterday with a publisher.

Not like a book publisher. A music publisher.

“What’s a music publisher?” It’s a person who promotes songs… Like a song agent.

(Here comes the part that gets fun.) If you were to ask me what I want to do with all this songwriting, I’d say that I want to get them in the hands of a publisher. I don’t want to go on tour. I don’t want a recording contract. I want these songs to be placed where they should be.

That’s what a publisher is for. I’m not sure if this contact with this publisher will ever go anywhere… I don’t know. But I do know that this publisher has listened to a few of my songs (insert excitement here). And this publisher has given me some very useful feedback (insert even more excitement here), and wants me to work on these songs and send them back (insert no-sleep-for-a-week excitement here)!!

Now, shall we return to the part where y’all were right? Well… The publisher seems to agree with some of you on some points of feedback. A few of the suggestions sounded familiar… until I realized that they were already typed out in the comments here on this blog… by some of you.

I’ve told you before that the feedback is unspeakably helpful. That you hear things I can’t hear. That you notice things that I don’t see. With that in mind, I will continue to post songs here. And I will welcome your feedback. So we can make these songs – these little messages – the best they can be.

And THEN I might submit them to the publisher.