WriteSongs.com:

Take out the trash, sharpen all your pencils, clean the toilet, read your junk mail, clip your toenails..but seriously... Once you've gotten past your avoidance behavior, what you gotta do before you write a song is think!

We've listened to thousands of songs in our capacity as consultants, workshop leaders, Taxi screeners and judges for various songwriting contests. And, as Stephen King says about books in "On Writing" (which has many good transferable ideas to the songwriting process) we learn from every song. We learn either what to do or what not to do in our own writing. We remember distinctly the first time we learned about thinking before you write. A writer showed us a song in a workshop in Albuquerque. After we listened, we were nonplussed, so we asked, "What did you want us to feel about the person in the song?" We were amazed by his answer, "I hadn't thought about that."

Why are we writing songs if not to communicate feelings? How can we communicate a feeling if we haven't clarified it for ourselves? Let's face it, we're all nuts here and our brains are swarming with a primordial soup of confusion. Here comes that idea for a songŠwhoosh! It's gone if we don't write it down. We scribble it on napkin. Now we have the seed of what could be a mighty tree of international income! But what do we really mean by that idea and how can we set it so that the words show it in moving pictures and the melody is the perfect soundtrack? We got to ask ourselves a lot of questions.

Let us digress for a paragraph to tell you some backstory. We have developed a method for thinking through the process of writing a song. This was the serendipitous result of an experiment in "teaching by doing." A group of writers who had been coming to our workshop in L.A. for more than a year agreed to try writing a song together, all 10 of them. Faced with the challenge of getting 10 minds on the same page at the same time, we were forced to talk about every little detail of the intention of the song. We were delighted with the first result of our efforts. The song was recorded by Sue Terry on her "Heart for the Broken" CD and has been used at Mother's and Father's Day celebrations, weddings and funerals. Maybe that was a fluke, so we tried again. And again, the song we wrote was strong and they just kept getting stronger. We took our show on the road and have since taught our "12 Steps to Building Better Songs" to groups all across the country, some as large as 100 and to kids as young as 6 with good results every time.

Back to the questions we need to ask ourselves. After the initial inspiration, if it is not a title, we need to ask ourselves: What is the title of this song? Why? How do you build a wheel without a hub? The title is the focal point of everything in the song. OK, there are some songs where the title appears not at all, or only at the end. But these are the exceptions. How do you ask for a song to be played on the radio or to buy a CD if you don't know the title? Can you imagine the impact of an interesting title on the professional listener who has to go through a box of hundreds of CDs?

Once you have your title, you can then ask yourself: What is the basic message of this song? We call this the TV Guide synopsis. Check out the back pages of the TV Guide for what we mean. Movies that cost millions of dollars to produce are reduced to one sentence on which you judge whether or not you'll watch. What is the one sentence that your song wants to get across? In our 12 Steps workshops we'll get as many as 50 different ideas from one title. We pick the one we like the best, which is to say the one that makes us feel the best.

Having made that choice, we now can flush out some more of the 90% of the iceberg of the song that remains below the surface, but without which the song won't float. Who is singing? To whom is s/he singing? What just happened to make this person want to burst out with this emotional message? Where are they and who are they: age, gender, relationship, socio-economic status, geographical location, time of day, point in history? We go on with these questions until we have built real living breathing characters in our minds. If you make the singer a creep or a loser, which artist will be willing to take on that persona and sing that song?

Now that we have a general idea of the situation and the characters, we're ready to decide how we're going to express these ideas within a song structure. Some titles and ideas seem to call for a Verse/Chorus structure, others for Verse/Bridge and others could go either way. We pick one (for example, Verse/Chorus) and forge ahead, again using a cue from Hollywood: the storyboard. With each piece of the structure as a blank space to fill, we ask: Which part of the story are we going to tell in the first verse? What is the message of the chorus? What different thing can we say in the second verse that will move the story along and, hopefully, re-color the chorus when we hear it the second time? Does the song need a little bridge to add another thought? We answer these questions in plain English sentences, much like the general TV Guide synopsis. Now that we know what we're trying to say, we can go ahead and try to say it. Here's where the actual writing of lyrics starts. If you were that specific person in that particular situation, what would you honestly, from your heart, want to say?

And here's where we'll leave you, faithful readers, with our good wishes that you will Write On!

Fear has no place in the continuous learning process we call songwriting, but it is invisibly present everywhere. It masquerades as reasonable concerns based on real problems. Whatever form it takes, it is a killer of creativity. So, part of our jobs as songwriters is to be ever vigilant to fear in all its disguises. The more we can free ourselves from its tyranny, the better writers we will be. Here are some of the fears we've heard expressed by songwriters all over the country (including us).

Many songwriters who use our consultation service ask the same question: "Do I have what it takes to be a songwriter?" which means, "Am I good enough?" Our answer is a question: "Do you enjoy writing songs?" If it feels good, and you feel you want to/have to do it, that's good enough! No one can tell you if writing songs is worth it for you, or if you are worthy to write songs.

We're also yoga teachers and there's a parallel. We ask our yoga students to keep their eyes closed while doing the yoga. This is so they don't look at the other people and make comparisons and (probably negative) judgements about how well they are doing the pose. In yoga, as in songwriting, we are each of us on our own path of development and there are no measuring tapes to say who is further along.

There are obviously some songwriters who are absolutely great. For instance, during Tin Pin South week in Nashville, you can spend six hours a night in clubs all over town being blown away by writers of such daring and skill, it's like watching triple somersaults on a flying trapeze. They didn't get there by worrying whether they were good enough. And you won't get there by worrying whether you'll ever be that good. The choice is whether to feel half-empty desperation or half-full inspiration.

We hear that "I Swear" was rejected for five years before it became a hit on two charts at once. That "You Needed Me" was rejected over 100 times. Allen Reynolds (Garth Brooks' producer) brought two songs to Reba McIntyre that she passed on because they were not right for her and both went to number one with other artists. The reasons why a song doesn't get cut are as many as angels on the head of a pin. A pass on your song does not mean anything about you. You are lots more likely to get a pass than a "hold" and if that fact gets you down, you'll just have to get over it. Otherwise, the pitching process will be too painful for you.

If you take rejection personally, you will communicate defensiveness to your music business contacts and with a zillion songs to listen to in the hopes of finding ten that fit their needs, they just don't have time to deal with your negative energy. So, keep positive, keep pitching. Every great writer can wallpaper their walls with the rejection slips they got early in their careers. Join the club! If you let fear of rejection keep you from getting your songs out there, you just rejected yourself!

We've actually had writers tell us they wouldn't write another song until they got their first one right. We've gotten long letters describing years of arguments between collaborators over one song. Others ask us about writer's block. All of these are symptoms of the fear that we will never have another good idea. Balderdash and bunkum!

The world is teeming with ideas. TV, movies, newspapers, books, our lives, our families and friends, all flood us with new ideas every minute of the day, and our brains keep on going all night long while we sleep. We couldn't stop having ideas if we tried. What we can do, though, is put a stranglehold on the expression of the ideas.

Many writers do this by trying to write final lyrics in meter and rhyme right off the bat. When we write songs, we use the method we describe in our book "12 Steps to Building Better Songs." We may talk for hours before we write one word of lyric. By the time we do get down to the lyric writing stage, we already know very thoroughly what we want to say. That makes it so much easier to say it!

Other writers get stuck on a song and rewrite it to death. Some songs just aren't ready yet. Move on, you're an infinite source of creativity. Give the song some space and maybe come back to it later if you still believe in it.

There are two levels of songwriting. There's how to do it, which can be learned by studying the craft. And there's what to say with it, which has to do with your life lessons. We think the latter aspect is the more crucial of the two. If you choose to write about an idea that is extremely important and meaningful to you, by definition, you will have lots to say about it.

So many writers express this fear! They want to spend big bucks to copyright every song because someone might steal them. They don't want to show their songs, because someone might steal them. If only these writers could spend one night in Nashville and see how freely songs are shared here!

Copyrighting your songs does not protect them from being "stolen." If someone actually infringes on your song, you'd have to take them to court and prove they had access and that their song was substantially the same as yours. This costs a whole lot of money, which means it's not going to happen unless the song you wrote is a big hit and there's money to fund the lawsuit. The chance of this happening is so remote, you're wasting your time even thinking about it. Many big publishers don't copyright the songs in their catalogs until they're actually recorded.

If you don't show your songs, what's the purpose of writing them? Didn't you write them to communicate something to someone? This fear is related to the lack of ideas fear. You think you have to guard your idea because it's one of a very few. But if you look on the ASCAP or BMI web sites, you'll probably find a dozen songs with your same title in the repertoire already. There are only three chords and seven notes when it comes right down to it. Ideas are in the air for all minds to access. There's bound to be some duplication! When our song "Body Language" was cut by Patti LaBelle, there were three songs out with the same title at the same time, including one by Queen that rose up the charts.

Show your songs in workshop situations and get the other writers to put their signatures and the date on the lyric sheets. This will serve as proof of date of creation should you ever need it. Also save all the tapes and papers you wrote the song on, to show your writing process. Then let your songs loose in the world and fear not!

Writers who have only written alone sometimes do so because they fear the trouble that might come of personality clashes in a collaboration. That's like saying you won't fall in love because your heart might get broken. Other writers just don't like the idea of opening up to another person's ideas; they fear the loss of control over their songs. Some writers feel unworthy of approaching other writers they admire because they fear not being able to keep up their end of the collaboration.

Collaboration brings more ideas, more resources, more talents, more connections, more commitment and even more fun to the songwriting process. Whatever form your fear of collaboration takes, it's worth overcoming it. We've collaborated with each other, with one or two more writers, and in groups from 10 to 100 people, some as young as six years old. Once certain ground rules are in effect, the rest is just plain fun. To make it simple for the six year olds, we point to our noses and say there's only one rule: No noes! In other words, everybody's ideas are listened to and no one says "No" to any of them. We just keep coming up with more ideas and one idea leads to another until everyone says"Yes!"

Many writers talk about how their songs "just come" to them. Some say that the songs are dictated to them directly by God. These writers are afraid to mess with what must be perfection, since it was delivered so miraculously. They are afraid to commit the sin of re-writing! Sure, there have been some wonderful songs delivered in finished form to a few songwriters. Amanda McBroom says "The Rose" arrived in one sitting at the piano. But that is a rare experience. 99% of songs are written, re-written and re-written again. The same goes for books, magazine articles, movie scripts. Yes, we're thankful for the inspirations that arrive, but we're not afraid to apply a little perspiration to make them better.

We had two songwriting organization leaders from two different parts of the country tell us on the same day that their groups weren't interested in workshops because they didn't think they needed to learn anything.

We think that the definition of songwriting is "a lifestyle which involves constant personal growth and constant effort to improve our ability to communicate our ideas." The more we know the more we know how little we know! We go to educational songwriting events, read books, study songs and work on our spiritual and emotional growth every day. We're always on the lookout for new information. If we attend a music business panel discussion and hear one or two good ideas that inspire us, we think it's worth it.

The arrogance of saying you have nothing more to learn is really fear of admitting how little you know. Everyone you meet is teaching you something. If you're not moving forward because you think you have nothing to learn, wouldn't you be better off wrong?

Related to the fear of not being good enough, fear of success sneaks up and stops us from doing the things that we know will work. We cringe at opportunities we let slip by because of a false sense of inferiority/superiority. Another way to express fear of success is to do things that sabotage relationships that promise to be fruitful. Still another way to do it is to do nothing. We know so many songwriters with terrific songs who do nothing to pitch their songs.

One writer asked us, "Why is songwriting so hard?" The answer is that it's not. We make it hard because we think it's hard. We could just as well ask ourselves the question, "What would this look like if it were easy?" The answer is it would be fun, like a game. We'd enjoy every step in the process and we'd be happily expecting it all to result in success. What stops us from seeing it that way?

We have to consider how we define success. If our vision of success is to have a number one hit on the charts, then we can go for it and get it with lots of hard work and luck. But it will most likely be a long time between the setting of that goal and obtaining it. If we define success as doing our best every day to improve as songwriters and make the connections we can for our songs, we can be successful on a daily basis.

Leonardo daVinci painted six Mona Lisa's. Five of them are under the one who smiles so enigmatically at the Louvre. Perhaps her secret is that she was the one who told old Leo he'd finally caught her on canvas. Some of the hard working songwriters in our workshops bring back four or more re-writes on a song, each time getting more feedback about what's working and what's bumping the song off its track. When we feel that the song is all it can be, we give it The Fork Award. We draw a big fork on the lyric sheet that stands for, "Put a fork in it, it's done!"

We asked the great Don Wayne who wrote "Country Bumpkin" and "Saginaw Michigan," how do you know when the song is done? Even after more than 50 years of writing great songs, his answer was, "That's a tough question." Here's how we answer it for ourselves:

We always bring our songs to our workshops when we've "finished" writing them. (We know they're not finished really.) We wrote the song to communicate a particular message. The message is not complete until the receiver of the message understands it. So, we play the song and ask the writers in our group to tell us what they got and didn't get from it. No matter how well you try to be a stranger to your song, you cannot totally put yourself in the shoes of that person who has no idea what you're talking about and needs to get all their understanding from what's actually in the song.

Notice we said "informed" feedback. Your Mom is going to love everything you do. Your friends will say, "Gee, that's great." Even your fellow songwriters will say, "Nice song." Unless you are specifically in a situation where people understand that you are seeking and receptive to detailed creative responses, you won't get them.

We loved it last week when one of our writers was on the receiving end of this information and she made faces and whined in a good-natured way as her favorite lines were unanimously not understood. We've found it's best to say nothing and concentrate on listening when we're getting that kind of response. It IS hard to take, but it's vital to the life of the song. Defending the song doesn't make sense in that situation. We've come to see lately that we can't judge in the moment whether the feedback we're getting is good, bad or indifferent. That's why we have everyone write things down on the lyric sheets and we take notes ourselves. The really smart writers in the group bring in little cassettes and record the discussion of their songs. That way, they can capture musical suggestions as well. Days later, we'll look at the lyric sheets, try on some of the suggestions and find that ideas we resisted in the moment are the solutions!

Make the changes you feel are the right ones and bring it back. Chances are there will still be more areas of confusion to straighten out. Make the changes and bring it back again! When the response you get is that everyone understands the message you intended to communicate both lyrically and musically, the song might just be done. Or not!

When you sing a song in public, you're going to make mistakes. You'll sing the wrong note, or the wrong word. Then you'll realize that they're actually the right ones! Something in you knows better than you do what that word should be and it leaps out when you're maybe a little nervous and not in total control. Do this more than once to give yourself plenty of opportunities to make the right mistakes.

Give yourself some time between the writing of the song and the making of the demo. Live with the song a while and see if you still feel it's all as strong as it can be. You know inside when something isn't working but it may take you some time to admit it to yourself. You could ask some non-songwriting friends to listen to it and tell you what message they got. We have a cousin who is great at this. If he responds with the message we intended, we know we've done what we set out to do. Go away from the song for a while and then look at it with fresh eyes. Does something jump out at you as not serving the song? We've found that sometimes that it takes months after we thought the song was done for us to be ready to admit that something just isn't working.

If, after all the above steps, you still feel the song isn't quite living up to its potential, chalk it up to a learning experience. You will have already written other songs while this one was ripening. Some fruit just goes from not ripe to mealy! If the song isn't cutting it, don't cut it! Don't make a demo of it. Save whatever pieces of it you might use in another song and move on. We once read a letter from a songwriter who had struggled with a collaborator and one song for ten years! Another songwriter told us he had written one song and wouldn't write another until his very first song was successful. Don't hang onto the song trying to make it work when it won't. You are an endless source of creativity and your next song will be better because of what you learned from this one. You have to write a lot of not-so-good and good songs to get to a great one.

This saves the time and expense of a whole new demo. If you have your own studio, you can edit, add bars, change chords or vocals at will. But if you're paying for a demo, be sure you also walk away with a tracks mix minus the vocals, so you will be able to take that somewhere else to put another vocal on it. Tracks only mixes are also useful for performing or for an artist who wants to use your tracks. To have just one line over-dubbed if you can access the same singer, have the original studio save your song in document format so that later someone using the same program (Performer, Pro Tools, Roland VS 2480, etc), could access it. If your original tracks are analog, they can be dumped into a digital workstation.

Should you be so lucky as to have a major artist want to record your song, as a friend of ours was recently, you may be asked to allow changes to that now perfectly completed song. Our friend let his song be changed and the result to all of us who knew the song before and after, was a much less powerful song. We saw our friend recently and asked him how he was feeling about it. His grin couldn't have been wider. Seems the money has just started to pour in.

Our short answer for the question, "How do you know when the song is done?" is: When the song communicates lyrically and musically everything you intended to communicate, it's done. Whether other people like your message really doesn't matter. You've done what you set out to do. Give yourself a pat on the back and put a fork in the song... it's done!

We've been listening to songs in a professional capacity for over 20 years, as songwriting consultants, workshop leaders, contest judges and Taxi screeners. Along the way, we've learned some simple tests you can perform on your songs. Using these tests as you're writing will help you to craft songs that create more than a passing interest from listeners.

Look at the first two lines of your lyric and only the first two lines. Imagine yourself walking down the street and having a perfect stranger come up to you and say those two lines. How much of the "who, what, where, why and how" of the story/message of your song has been communicated? If you don't know much from the first two lines, i.e., if you don't know enough to care what's going to happen to the protagonist, a publisher or a producer will most likely not listen further.

Dean Pitchford, who wrote "Flashdance," gave us this one. Each lyric line (and its accompanying melodic phrase) is like a present tied up with a bow. Neat and complete. That means, if you say that line alone, it's completely understandable on its own. It doesn't need the next line to have it make sense. We often see songs with these "lyrical hangovers"&emdash;the lyric line has come to an end, the melodic phrase resolves, but the words don't make sense unless and until you complete them in the next line. Look at each of your lyric lines separately and make sure it presents a complete, independent picture.

Type/print your lyric sheet flush left (all the lines starting on the left margin) on a sheet of white paper. (By the way, if your lyric doesn't fit on one sheet, you're in trouble.) Can you draw a rectangle around the lyrics of the verses? In other words, are all your lines exactly the same physical length? How about your chorus or bridge? Can you draw a box around them? Now, can you draw a big box around your verses and chorus and have most or all of the lines touch on the right side of your box? If so, it's more than likely that your song will sound monotonous because you do not have enough variety in the lengths of lines and patterns of lyrics. Look for a really ragged right edge as a sign that your lyrics are conversational and interesting rhythmically. Also, look for the box around the chorus lines to be of significantly different size than the box around the verses. It's an indicator of sufficient variety between the chorus and the verses.

Part 1: Albert's right about that, but some of what counts can be counted. For instance, count the number of lines in each of your verses. Now, count the lines in your chorus. If they're exactly the same, e.g., 4-line verse, 4-line chorus; or, 8-line verse, 8-line chorus, you probably haven't made enough contrast between the two sections.

Part 2: This is one we see all the time! Count the number of beats in the lyric of verse 1, line 1. Then, count the number of beats in verse 2, line 1. Do they match? Sometimes, we need to insert a little pick-up note for an extra syllable and it's OK because the rest of the line falls naturally into the accents of the basic pattern. But, we often see 8 beats in verse 1, line 2 and 13 beats in verse 2, line 2, for example. No way those extra 5 beats are going to fit comfortably on the melody you worked so hard to establish in the first verse! Count all the beats in all the lines and make sure they match from verse to verse, so they can be sung on the same melody with ease.

You may have heard of the saying, "Position is everything in life." In the life of your song, the position of your title tells the listener what your main point is. There are certain power positions in a song. What they are depends on which structure you choose when you write your song. Is it a verse/bridge structure (a.k.a. A, A, B, A)? Then your title will be in the verses. It will be in the first line of the verse or the last line of the verse. These are the power positions in that structure. Example: "Yesterday" by The Beatles. (There are exceptions, but they are rare and compensated for by strong melodic emphasis when the title is not in the natural power position.) In the verse/chorus structure, the power positions are at the top of the chorus and the last line of the chorus. Your title could be in either one or both of those places, and repeated more often if the repetition works. Example: "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles. Look at your lyric and see where the title is. If it's buried in the middle somewhere, your listener probably won't be able to identify it, i.e., know what the song is about, how to ask for it to be played on the radio, or find it at the store.

The word "ultimate" has several meanings. 1. last, 2. decisive, 3. most desirable, 4. basic, etc. This test encompasses all those meanings. It was taught us by two songwriters in Nashville, both of whom claimed authorship! Take your typed lyric sheet. Write (or imagine writing) your title after each and every line of lyric. Say the line of lyric, then say the title. If the two hang together and make sense, then your song is about the title. If you go for lines and lines without the verse lyrics having much to do with the title&emdash;meaning they don't make sense when you say them next to each other&emdash;it's time to go back to the drawing board. Your song is not about your title.

Take an overview of your rhyme scheme. If you've established an a, b, a, b, c, c rhyme scheme in verse one, do you keep it up in verse 2? In other words, do the lines rhyme with the same pattern (not the same sound) in verse 1 and verse 2, and verse 3, if there is one? Now note the sounds of your rhymes. Are they all a long o sound? That can get pretty dull. We've seen songs where every line ended in the long ee rhyme. The ear gets tired of that very quickly. If you've inadvertently rhymed everything with the same sound, you might consider going back and creating more variety in your rhyming sounds.

This is the name for the confusion that results when, in mid-song, someone who was a "she" becomes a "you." Or, all of a sudden, "he" switches to "me." Or, there are three "I's" in a row, referring to three different people and we're supposed to know which one is which. Or, someone starts to quote someone else, the pronoun shifts, but there's no way to really tell a quotation has begun. Scan your lyrics for pronouns. If you've made one of the changes we describe, it's probable your listeners will go straight to pronoun hell. There are always exceptions, but, for the most part, it's best to have one person represented by one pronoun. If a quotation is part of your song, make sure you introduce it with a clearly audible, "She said" or "He said" so your listeners can understand when the "I" singing the song begins to be addressed as "you."

Part 1: Sing your melody a cappella (with no instrumental accompaniment) and without the lyrics. Sing it into a tape if you have trouble being objective about hearing what you're singing. As a stranger to your song, could you honestly tell where the title would sit on your melody without ever hearing the lyrics? If the most outstanding part of your melody is where you did put your title, give yourself a pat on the back. If not, your title needs to be moved or your melody changed.

Part 2: While you're singing your melody a cappella, does it have emotional dynamics? Is there a variety of lengths of notes and intervals between the notes? Or, does it sound like a sing-songy nursery rhyme; the same rhythm pattern over and over? If someone heard just your melody, could they make a pretty good guess at the emotions in the story of the song? If your melody is not emoting, you need to write it once more... with feeling!

Your chords give shadings to your melody. Each chord has an emotional tone. Minor chords tend to express doubt or sorrow. Major chords have a happy, positive feeling. Adding 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, suspensions, and inversions, gives the basic chord still more nuances of feeling. Is your song down home country or uptown sophisticated? High-power rock or soft mellow jazz? Appropriate choice of chords will bring the message of your song into sharp focus. The frequency of chord changes and the style of playing the chords are both important considerations. Style examples on the piano: arpeggios, block chords. On the guitar: all the strings at once, some of the strings, one string at a time. Listen to the chord changes in your song. Are they distracting because they are too rapid and complex? Are they boring because they don't change enough or your strum is too repetitive? Do they work against the emotional message of the song or support it? Look at each chord individually. Try an inversion for a different coloring. Leave no chord unturned in your search for the perfect setting for the message of your song.

1. Writing a song without first thoroughly thinking about what they want to say in the song.

Q.: When writers come to you for consultation, do you find common things that need fixed, and if so what are they?

Besides the above, most writers want to know if their songs have a chance to "make it" in the bigger songwriting world, or if they can "make it" as songwriters. We tell them their answers lie within. If they hang in there and keep working, their chances increase with time.

Q.: What avenue do you find best for writers far from Nashville/LA? Send songs to publisher/artist, etc.

You have to make a personal contact before sending songs (unless you use Taxi (http://www.taxi.com). This can be done by phone. We believe in hitting as many contacts as possible. An artist is surrounded by people who have input on the material chosen: producer, manager, publisher, record company A&R. Try them all.

We also recommend vacations to music centers for those who don't live in them. Time the trips for conventions. Taxi offers its members free attendance at the Taxi Road Rally in November of each year. The Road Rally alone is worth the price of a membership.

If you vacation to a music center during a convention you can make face-to-face personal contact. The best kind.

Yes, the Internet is an amazing tool for information gathering. Check out our links page for songwriting links that will lead you to more links that will lead you to more links....it's fantastic! Search engines are a great way to research artists, too.

Study the songs you love and really understand what makes them great. Write and write and write. Collaborate. Go to songwriting workshops. Read books on songwriting. Write and write and write.

Q.: Your book is very good! What prompted you both to begin writing a book and do consultations?

Thank you! We came to L.A. in 1973 to be songwriters. Helen King had just started what is now the National Academy of Songwriters. We began volunteering in exchange for classes. In 1978 we were at her bedside when Helen died and the organization was run by the handful of people who were there, including yours trulies, Pat & Pete. In 1979 we started doing workshops at what was then SRS, because they were needed and because we could. After our second child was born in 1981, Pete took the workshops on and continued to do them every Monday until late in 1997. When we moved to Nashville in 2000, we started doing the workshops together again. The consultations were an outgrowth of the workshops. Our work at SRS led to lots of other work in music business journalism so we were actually approached by Writer's Digest to write the book because they wanted one like that to fill a hole in their catalog. They tell us now that it's one of their best sellers. We just updated it.

Q.: I'll bet a lot of people have been helped by the book and consultations. Any specific consultation you could mention that would be enlightening to us? Funny story - etc.

One of our greatest claims to fame is that four couples met and married at Pete's Monday night workshop. There was also one divorce, as the wife of one of the couples who married originally came in with her first husband. One of our favorite consults was a stockbroker from Hong Kong who came and spent two weeks in full-time consultation. He left with his first song written and recorded and he was ecstatic.

As in all songs, we must be very careful to look at what is actully there in black and white when we read the lyrics and not allow the understanding of the song to rely on any assumptions we have made. We call that "being a stranger to your song." What if you walked up to a stranger on the street and said any one line of your song to them - is it strong enough on its own to be perfectly understood?

1. We want to know what the song is about. What is its main point. Ideally, this is distilled into the title.

Q.: Thanks a lot for your time! We very much appreciate it! I encourage everyone in the CSG to check out your site and book!

You're totally welcome. And thanks for the opportunity. One last thing, songwriters, take heart. It matters not if the whole world hears your song, or one special person, or if no one ever hears it! The writing itself is its own reward. Use it as a tool to help you to grow. Use it as a game to entertain yourself. Trust that as you improve at expressing your message, it will be heard where it needs to be. And Write On!
Pat & Pete Luboff

We can say from inside experience in the organization that Taxi is an honest, well-run company that is doing a service for both songwriters and the industry. The short answer to the question "Is it worth it?" is yes. If your song is strong, there is a real chance to get through to a recording. If the song needs work, you get constructive suggestions. Also, their Road Rally, held in L.A. in the first weekend of November, is worth the price of joining. Tell them we sent you!

From the Table of Contents of "101 Songwriting Wrongs & How to Write Them" If you buy it directly from us (click on 101 Wrongs link), we'll autograph it for you! Here are the subjects covered in Part One. There are ten parts, 101 chapters in total.

3. The Too-Early Editor - Don't Stop the Creative Flow by Judging Too Early in the Process

4. Don't Mess With My Muse - Don't Think That Discipline Will Hamper Your Creativity

6. Heard But Not Scene - Have a Clear Idea of All the Details of the Setting of the Song

7. Why Bother? - Make Sure Each Song Will Motivate an Artist to Sing Its Message

8. Songs From the Head - Avoid Writing Songs That Are Too Philosophical, Emotionally Removed and Cerebral

9. Reality Isn't Everything - Don't Force a Song to Fit Your Reality; Let It Have Its Own Integrity

10. I Did It Their Way - Don't Write to Impress or Please Others; Write From your Own Passion

12. Writing Yesterday - Don't Try to Write a Song Like Today's Hit; Don't Write Dated Material

We often get questions from songwriters who are quibbling over how to split up percentages of credit in a collaboration. These collaborations are usually doomed by this kind of bickering. Creativity cannot happen in an atmosphere of distrust. Our recommendation is always that all writers are equal on the song, even if it seems that one did more than the other. Next time, the tables may turn and hopefully we're talking about a long-term relationship. It's best to have an open talk with a prospective collaborator before you start writing together and make sure you agree on basic things like this.

We write songs, lyrics and melodies, with 9 people in our workshops and we can't tell who did what because the creativity flows so freely. Pete & I always split the percentage for words & music, even though Pete writes most of the music and I write most of the words, and even in cases where I've written all the words and he's written all the music. It's 50% w&m for him and 50% w&m for me. (Or, 12.5% w&m each if there are 8 of us!) This policy also avoids problems of who gets what when the lyrics are translated into another language.

An Offer You Can't Refuse: What to do and not to do when approached for a use of your song

Publishers and producers are people you pursue with demos in the hopes they will show an interest in using your songs. If a publisher is interested, he or she will most likely offer you a single song contract. What to do?

People who pursue you by direct mail or advertising promising publication or record release for a fee are to be avoided completely. That's not how it's done in the legitimate music business.