I have been trying to finish Dream for a couple of months now. I can't even remember the last time I struggled so much to write one song!
What I have so far is a very simple and sweet chorus. It's all about why I love someone who is very important to me. I even have a numbered list of reasons why, but I just cannot seem to make it work for the song. I don't understand why this particular song is so difficult to finish. It's about my own feelings and my own reasons for why I care about somebody. Am I really having this much trouble putting my OWN thoughts and feelings into a song?
It is honestly beginning to alarm me. This song has a simple concept and a very sweet chorus. There is nothing complex or even challenging about it. It's one thing to need a fresh perspective or approach now and then, but this is getting ridiculous! It has been almost four months since I determined that I wanted to finish this song.
This is not the first time that one song has taken me a long time to finish. "I'd Rather Feel Nothing" took me about six years to complete. It's about my struggle with chronic pain. I came up with the idea when I first started getting sick, but could not finish it until about a year ago. "Bad Boy with a Heart" was started in August 2011 and was not completed until May 2012. Many of my other songs have been completed over the course of a few months. The rest are fragments, the most frustrating of which being "Dream".
It's normal for certain songs to take a long time to finish. I would rather spend time to write a song the right way than spit out something I'm ashamed of, but there is something about this particular one that is an extreme challenge to me.
In a way I suppose I feel more pressure with this one. I don't plan on sharing it right away or immediately trying to have it published, but this song is important because the person is important. This one cannot be average. It has to be wonderful. It has to show that what I'm feeling is real. It has to accurately portray something that I have been feeling for the past few years. It's not just any song. It is a song that I truly have my heart invested in.
I only hope that I can manage to overcome these apprehensions and turn "Dream" into exactly what I have imagined it would be.
~Eliza
Showing posts with label completion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label completion. Show all posts
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Sunday, February 26, 2012
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
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
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Being Yourself
Passion Level: 8
Motivation Level: 10
I am a very introverted person. I'm not a social butterfly and I'm not the life of the party. That's just the way I am and I'm comfortable with that, but sometimes other people around me aren't.
People criticize me for being myself. It always starts out in a friendly, innocent way. It's usually someone asking me about the last time I went out of inviting me to an event. We're having a pleasant conversation, then suddenly I'm under attack. Or more accurately my personality is under attack.
It's not that I've done anything wrong. The other person just can't accept that I don't act or think the same way they do. I should want to do all the same things they like and I should give some kind of explanation as to why I don't.
People are not meant to me, but the peer pressure is always there. There is always some reason that I should act or think more like someone else. The way I am doesn't make sense, so people feel like they either need to change it or try to understand the reasons behind it.
It's human nature to expect other people to act and think the same way we do. I do the same thing sometimes, but we should never allow those social pressures to keep us from being ourselves. Expectations won't keep me from being myself and it won't keep me from writing my songs either.
~Eliza
Motivation Level: 10
I am a very introverted person. I'm not a social butterfly and I'm not the life of the party. That's just the way I am and I'm comfortable with that, but sometimes other people around me aren't.
People criticize me for being myself. It always starts out in a friendly, innocent way. It's usually someone asking me about the last time I went out of inviting me to an event. We're having a pleasant conversation, then suddenly I'm under attack. Or more accurately my personality is under attack.
It's not that I've done anything wrong. The other person just can't accept that I don't act or think the same way they do. I should want to do all the same things they like and I should give some kind of explanation as to why I don't.
People are not meant to me, but the peer pressure is always there. There is always some reason that I should act or think more like someone else. The way I am doesn't make sense, so people feel like they either need to change it or try to understand the reasons behind it.
It's human nature to expect other people to act and think the same way we do. I do the same thing sometimes, but we should never allow those social pressures to keep us from being ourselves. Expectations won't keep me from being myself and it won't keep me from writing my songs either.
~Eliza
Sunday, November 13, 2011
My Song Fragments
In a recent post I talked about how it can sometimes be difficult to finish a song, even when you're off to a good start and feel like it has potential. I've made a list of 5 song fragments that I have. I hope to have the first 2 finished by the end of the month and all 5 finished by the end of the year.
1. Despite the Things You Say
2. Dream
3. A Way That I Can Understand
4. Wish I Could Breathe
5. You've Got a Way
Obviously these titles don't mean anything to anyone reading this, but I wanted to give an example of what I'm working on. I've got five song fragments, I've prioritized them, and I've set goals for finishing them. This gives me a way to focus on those projects that aren't finished yet without overwhelming myself or wasting too much time.
When I look at the song fragments I have, it helps to think about what I was doing or what I was thinking about when those ideas came to mind. An idea is usually sparked by something someone else says or does. Thinking about those events put me in the mindset I was in when I originally started writing the song. And remembering where that song came from and why you started writing it is crucial to finishing it.
The problem I run into when I try to complete a song is that I'll come up with a few lines that follow the same topic, but don't go well with what I have already written and was trying to finish in the first place. Then I am left with two song fragments and the frustration of being unable to finish either one. I can't predict whether that will happen with any of the items on my list of song fragments, but I will do my best to have all 5 completed by the end of the year.
~Eliza
1. Despite the Things You Say
2. Dream
3. A Way That I Can Understand
4. Wish I Could Breathe
5. You've Got a Way
Obviously these titles don't mean anything to anyone reading this, but I wanted to give an example of what I'm working on. I've got five song fragments, I've prioritized them, and I've set goals for finishing them. This gives me a way to focus on those projects that aren't finished yet without overwhelming myself or wasting too much time.
When I look at the song fragments I have, it helps to think about what I was doing or what I was thinking about when those ideas came to mind. An idea is usually sparked by something someone else says or does. Thinking about those events put me in the mindset I was in when I originally started writing the song. And remembering where that song came from and why you started writing it is crucial to finishing it.
The problem I run into when I try to complete a song is that I'll come up with a few lines that follow the same topic, but don't go well with what I have already written and was trying to finish in the first place. Then I am left with two song fragments and the frustration of being unable to finish either one. I can't predict whether that will happen with any of the items on my list of song fragments, but I will do my best to have all 5 completed by the end of the year.
~Eliza
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)