Songwriting Saboteurs

As songwriters we all have this ongoing battle with our inner critic. Bring him in too soon and you’re done. This guy is the most evil of the saboteurs out there. I like John Brahenys idea that writing is like a trip and you lock the inner critic in the trunk until you get there . In coaching songwriters over the past few years it’s easy to identify the things that sabotage their writing but sometimes harder to see my own.

The voice inside my  head that says ” who’s ever gonna cut this?” before the idea has had time to develop. Sometimes it’s impatience, rewriting is too hard! Or the little things I do to not have to sit down with a blank page . For me the Internet is one of the main culprits. So easy to start a lyric and check last nights baseball score, email, Facebook , Twitter and every device I own hoping some communication is gonna keep me from having to actually… start!

I heard a great story about Winston Churchill and his love for painting . The old boy got pretty good at it later in life but always had trouble tuning out and getting started. Sure he didn’t have the Internet and only had the pesky WW2 thing to distract him ,but he found a simple way to push the voices down. He just threw some paint against the canvas. Simple but once he did that he was in.

There are Saboteurs around every corner , some don’t want you to start , some don’t want you to succeed, self doubt, too much analyzing , too much information , feeling like you have too little information, even too much experience  at times. Always wondered why kids create so fearlessly. Could it be because they don’t know enough to over think it? It’s a great goal to approach writing more like a child and I’m still trying to learn how. They don’t know from Saboteur , I’m betting they can’t even spell it. I can …well…I can now .

What are some things that sabotage your writing?