My First Demo!

A couple of months ago I took a trip to Nashville. I stopped by the office of Paramount Song and today I received my Democratic from them for the song I Can't Have Christmas Without You. It sounds wonderful and I am so excited to finally have a demo that sounds professional and is ready to be presented.

I wrote this song when my brother first joined the Marines. It was our first Christmas without him because he was at boot camp. It inspired me to write a song about spending Christmas without someone you care about and this song was the result.

As I prepare to present this demo, my next step is to determine which songs I would like to make demos for next. I will most likely make them as I can afford them, but I have a list of about five songs that I plan to make priorities. Completing song fragments is going to be on the backburner for a little while. I am ready to focus on moving forward!

Using a Song as an Explanation

There is someone that I love and I find it difficult to explain why. I started a song about him a couple of years ago. It's just a chorus and the song is called "Dream". And even though what I have to work with is obviously not a lot, I like what I have and I'm anxious to finish it.

It's one of those cases where the emotions are hard to explain, even though I want to explain them. I have a list of reasons, a list of reasons why I feel the way I do, why I admire the characteristics that I admire, why I am attracted to the features that I'm attracted to, why I want the things I want, and I why I don't want more or less. At least I have my thoughts organized on the matter...somewhat.

Sometimes when you care about somebody it's not just about something that they did or said or something that you expect to get from them. Sometimes it is simply a matter of appreciating how someone makes you feel and recognizing how important that person is to you. And if it's simply a matter of those things, it should be easier to explain.

There are so many factors in this, the majority of which do not make sense to me. How, then, can I break down my thoughts, emotions, and feelings into a list of reasons or a simple explanation? Should I write a song that's twenty minutes long? Should I sell myself short and sacrifice a realistic sense of what I feel in favor of a simplistic rhyming pattern? Or should I make light of the gravity of the situation just so the song flows the right way or has the right appeal?

Human beings can act simple minded sometimes, but we are not simple. We are anything but simple. And as frustrating as it can be, sometimes we are more difficult to explain than we would like or hope for.

~Eliza

The Purpose

I have heard so many people say that they love songs and love music because it makes them feel happy. That is certainly a good thing, but I have to disagree when I hear them say that the purpose of songs is to make us feel happy. I believe that the purpose of songs is to make us feel and happy isn't the only emotion a person can feel.

Writing lyrics makes me feel happy no matter what emotions led me to write them. Songwriting can help me express my happiness or help me deal with my sadness. Above all, it is the best way I know how to truly be myself. Maybe it will never take me anywhere and maybe no more than a few of my friends will ever appreciate anything that I write. That's a very real possibility, although I hope it's not the case. Either way, writing these songs didn't just help me feel happy. It helped me feel. And I am so grateful for that.

Sharing what you have to say is a powerful thing though. And knowing that you can get someone to listen to something that's important to you is a valuable thing that should be cherished by every writer, whether you have one person listening to you or a million. Whatever your purpose is for writing, always keep it in sight.

~Eliza

Writing Stories and Songs

I feel refreshed and I feel like I'm back! It's time to move on. No more wallowing and no more pity parties. I've got a new attitude and I'm ready to make the most of things and remember the good things about this experience instead of focusing on the negative and the parts about this that hurt me.

As far as my writing is concerned, I would like to focus on writing stories for a while, a few weeks at least. I found some anthologies and contests that would be interesting to write for and I'd like to give it a shot.

This doesn't mean giving up on songwriting and it certainly doesn't mean giving up this blog. I love writing lyrics and I love writing for my blog, so I'll continue to post updates on my blog while I'm working on these projects.

Songwriting and story writing both come with their own challenges. For songs, you have to convey your thoughts with a much smaller amount of words and some of the words you use for that song are repeated over and over in the chorus. In addition to having a limited number of words to use to convey an emotion or a story, those words have to be put together meticulously so that they will fit into a rhyming pattern or specific melody.

For stories, you can pretty much use as many words as you want, make it as long or short as you want. This comes with a greater responsibility, however, requiring the writer to have a higher understanding of how to create and describe characters, develop a believable and interesting storyline, grasp the fundamentals of storytelling, and write well enough to convince an editor to publish their story and entertain the readers that see it. These are challenges that I have not really faced. I have written several stories that I felt weren't quite ready to send out yet, but lacked the dedication to follow through and make the changes that would make it better.

I consider writing lyrics to be easier. They come to me quicker and they're generally more fun. Once I write lyrics, I start singing them whenever I get bored. When I write a story I usually don't sing it. Now that I'm feeling more inspired and energized, I'm ready to tackle story writing again and see where it takes me. I'm very excited about these projects I'll be working on the next few weeks, and when I'm done my songbook will be waiting for me.

~Eliza

The Joy of Lyrics

I love my songs. That may sound arrogant or obnoxious, but it's the truth. If I didn't love them I wouldn't bother writing them and I wouldn't sing them to myself throughout the day because they help me express what I'm feeling. Sometimes, they even help me feel.

My lyrics are myself at my most open hearted and tender moments. Whether anyone listens or cares, no one can take that away from me. The fact is that even if they never bring joy to anyone else they have brought joy to me already. No one else wrote a song based on my thoughts and my exact feelings. As cliche as it sounds that's what makes them special.

I do doubt myself sometimes though. I'll come up with a great idea and be excited about the start I have for a song. As I try to continue it gets harder. And when I start to feel completely blocked I wonder if my ideas or talents are worth the trouble at all. I don't always know how to say what I'm feeling through my lyrics in a way that makes sense. It frustrates me so much when that happens, but even if I can't finish I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I take the time to start a song. At least I saved those first thoughts for later and used them to create a few lines. It's better than creating nothing and having no way of venting or communicating what I have to say. Nothing says failure better than failing to try.

I've put a lot of thought lately into how I want to move forward and how I want to share my songs. I haven't accomplished anything yet, but the point I'm trying to make is that writing the lyrics to a song is a satisfying accomplishment all by itself. I've enjoyed that satisfaction and I enjoy the release it gives me from the tension of bottling up my emotions or letting my emotions control the way that I act. By allowing me to address my own insanity, it helps me find a sense of calm and restfulness in a dangerous and unpredictable world. And that is a very daring accomplishment.

~Eliza

Judging My Own Lyrics

I have three songbooks. They are not completely filled. In fact, many of the songs that I have written in them are not complete. It's easy coming up with one line or a verse or two, but writing a complete song that's good can be a challenge.

I need to be able to judge my own lyrics. I don't want to waste time on a song that's never going to gain anyone's interest or that no one will be interested in performing.

With most of them it's quite simple-I'll write a lyric, feel really excited about it, then look it over the next day and realize that it's actually pretty bad. Now that I'm at a point where I want to work to see my lyrics turned into songs that are recorded and performed I want to focus on the lyrics that actually have potential. I have a special technique for deciding if a song is worth it. I sing it to myself over and over again. I'll usually do this for about an hour. When I'm finished if I still feel excited about the lyrics I know it's a project that I have enough passion for to follow through on and that I have the confidence to keep going if I face criticisms or rejections along the way. If I start to lose faith in it or get bored after singing it a few times I know its not worth the time and energy.

~Eliza