How Do You Beat Writer's Block?

Waiting to feel inspired before you write a song is why you’ve got a folder of half-finished ideas and nothing done.

I know, because I used to do exactly that.

I’d show up to a writing session with a blank mind and wait for that lightning-bolt feeling before I’d even open my mouth. Some sessions it came. Most sessions it didn’t. Either way, no song was getting written.

What writer’s block usually is

Most of the time, writer’s block comes from walking into a session with nothing and hoping something shows up.

That’s a lot of pressure to put on one afternoon.

Looking back, some of my songs did come on days when the inspiration was at its peak. Others took way longer to finish than they should have. You can’t plan a career around lucky days.

Professionals walk in prepared

Here’s the difference I noticed between hobbyists and people who do this for a living.

Professionals don’t walk in blank. They bring three things with them:

1. A running list of ideas. Titles, phrases, melodies, things they overheard. Collected over weeks, months, sometimes years.
2. The audience. Before they sit down, they already know who the song is for.
3. Maybe even the topic. If the chorus idea is settled, the rest of the song has somewhere to go. (Here’s why I always start with the chorus.)

That preparation is what makes inspiration show up. It’s a lot easier to catch lightning when you already know where you’re standing.

Slow doesn’t mean stuck

The second thing that kills songs is walking out early.

Plenty of my sessions feel slow the whole way through. Labored. Every line fought for. I’ve learned to push through those anyway, because sometimes that grind is exactly what it takes to land on something great.

Sometimes it isn’t. But you don’t know which one you’re in halfway through. So you finish it and find out.

You usually do know by the end. Especially when you’re writing with other people. You watch their faces when a line lands, when the chorus finally clicks, when someone stops and says “that’s it.” (More on how my co-writing sessions run.)

That’s your real signal. Not how easy the session felt getting there.

Where I started from

When I came back to songwriting after years away, I hadn’t written a song in a long time. I didn’t feel particularly inspired. I had no system and no circle of creative friends to lean on.

Not exactly a recipe for a hot streak.

So I tested my process with a challenge: 30 songs in 30 days. I finished it, and 8 of those 30 were good enough that my manager liked them. He’s a brutal critic.

Nobody gets struck by lightning thirty days in a row. The challenge only worked because the songs got written either way.

Try this before your next session

1. Start an idea list today and add to it every time something catches your ear.
2. Pick the audience before you sit down.
3. Pick the chorus topic if you can.
4. Finish the session, even if it feels slow. Then decide if it worked. (Here are four tests I use on every chorus.)

Stop treating inspiration like something you need before you write. Treat it like something you set up in advance. Open your notes app right now and write down the first song idea you’ve got.