I don't think I've ever written a song that I didnt feel like destroying somewhere along the way. It always seems like such a stupid pointless thing to do, to write a song. It's always lame, hackneyed, solipsistic, shallow, incompetent... But what is one to do? You can't not finish everything you do just because you feel like you're a waste of God's precious air. Power through, keep the stuff you like, and keep rewriting until you like the bulk of it. Or at least can tolerate it. Writing is just the residue of a writer's life.
Don't give it too much value. A good thing to do if you have the time to spare (fat chance) is to find some job that pays you to crank out words on a deadline. Writing promo copy for a college radio station doesnt pay but it teaches you how to treat language like you would a hammer, just a tool for completing some task at hand. Or writing technical manuals, or TV listings, or some form of local journalism or something. The thing to learn to do is to get a head of steam going on the thing with an act of will, some artificial momentum, and then disconnect and let your subconscious take over to finish the bulk of it, and then let your conscious back in to tie up all the loose ends.. I don't know, it works for me. Sometimes.
And no, I dont mind at all. The computer's in my office here, and for long periods when I'm not required, it's walk around, generally futz about and mess with the computer. It's both a diversion and an honor to answer specific questions about things. Plus it makes me remember things that I might otherwise not think of.
Yrs,
David Baerwald
Forcing It
B
Baerwald
(view)
I don't think I've ever written a song that I didnt feel like destroying somewhere along the way. It always seems like such a stupid pointless thing to do, to write a song. It's always lame, hackneyed, solipsistic, shallow, incompetent... But what is one to do? You can't not finish everything you do just because you feel like you're a waste of God's precious air. Power through, keep the stuff you like, and keep rewriting until you like the bulk of it. Or at least can tolerate it. Writing is just the residue of a writer's life.
Don't give it too much value. A good thing to do if you have the time to spare (fat chance) is to find some job that pays you to crank out words on a deadline. Writing promo copy for a college radio station doesnt pay but it teaches you how to treat language like you would a hammer, just a tool for completing some task at hand. Or writing technical manuals, or TV listings, or some form of local journalism or something. The thing to learn to do is to get a head of steam going on the thing with an act of will, some artificial momentum, and then disconnect and let your subconscious take over to finish the bulk of it, and then let your conscious back in to tie up all the loose ends.. I don't know, it works for me. Sometimes.
And no, I dont mind at all. The computer's in my office here, and for long periods when I'm not required, it's walk around, generally futz about and mess with the computer. It's both a diversion and an honor to answer specific questions about things. Plus it makes me remember things that I might otherwise not think of.
Yrs,
David Baerwald
Don't give it too much value. A good thing to do if you have the time to spare (fat chance) is to find some job that pays you to crank out words on a deadline. Writing promo copy for a college radio station doesnt pay but it teaches you how to treat language like you would a hammer, just a tool for completing some task at hand. Or writing technical manuals, or TV listings, or some form of local journalism or something. The thing to learn to do is to get a head of steam going on the thing with an act of will, some artificial momentum, and then disconnect and let your subconscious take over to finish the bulk of it, and then let your conscious back in to tie up all the loose ends.. I don't know, it works for me. Sometimes.
And no, I dont mind at all. The computer's in my office here, and for long periods when I'm not required, it's walk around, generally futz about and mess with the computer. It's both a diversion and an honor to answer specific questions about things. Plus it makes me remember things that I might otherwise not think of.
Yrs,
David Baerwald
