Word Box Wednesday #5 - It's Been Awhile

So my last Word Box Wednesday was April...yikes. It's a glaringly sick example of how unproductive the songwriting has been over the past year, the year that was supposed to be my most creative to date.

The Word Box (explained here, last January), was always supposed to be my songwriting inspiration. Or maybe not so much inspiration but a little jump start to the ideas that weren't coming to me otherwise. But lately it's just been an old Whitman's Sampler box with words taped all over it. (Although, it does look pretty cool if I do say so myself.)

The saddest part is that I have this feeling in my gut that I really want to write. The insane urge to create good song after good song that I can be proud of and share with the world. The problem is that I just don't know where to go from here. I sure as hell am not going to give up. But where are those ideas going to come from and how am I going to finally put them together to make something worthwhile? Honestly, I have no clue, but I'm going to start by reaching into the Word Box for the first time in more than 8 months and see where it takes me.

So here I go....first I'll give it a good shake. (shaking....) Then I'll take off the cover. Reach in, (some more word shuffling...) and pick out the word:

dirt

How can I use the word dirt in a song? (About a million different ways.) What does it make me feel? (Sad or adventurous.) What does it make me think about? (Death or childhood.)

All good questions, now let's run with it. Rock on!

Word Box Wednesday #4 - Human

It's WBW once again. Things are rolling along pretty well and each Wednesday I'm definitely getting some good ideas in the attempt to get my head out of this brain freeze that it's been in lately. Hopefully I've been giving you some good insight on what the songwriting process is all about.

Last Wednesday's word was "human". I tooled around with the word a little bit, mostly last Friday while I was laying in bed. This is a ballpark figure but I'd say around 65% of my quality song ideas come after I've curled up in bed ready to doze off. I guess that's where my mind is finally relaxed. Often I'll hear full songs play in my head as if I just heard them on the radio. It's the epitome of frustration because I really don't want to have to get up but I'll take the inspiration whenever or wherever it comes.

I was lucky that this bit of inspiration concerning the word "human" came before lights out. I can't count how many times I've fumbled in the dark to find my cell phone to light my notebook just enough to get down a line or two. (No lamp on my side of the bed. No nightstand either. I like to think of myself as a minimalist at times.)

The somewhat sloppy lyric that flowed out of me that night has the working title "Tin Man". And yes, it's the very Tin Man you're thinking of from the Wizard of Oz. I got KJ the Sci-Fi miniseries for Christmas and the title found it's way into my title list. It seemed to fit my state of mind at the time as my thoughts wandered around the concept of what makes us human. The Tin Man from Oz sort of straddles the line of what you think to be human and what is not. I mean, he's made of metal, but he used to be a person, chopping wood like anyone else.

So are we human because we have skin, organs, bodies, or minds that can think rationally and fingers that can type blog posts? Scientifically, that's probably true. But are there times when you feel a little less than human, maybe because you're timid, scared, or don't feel you make a significant contribution to society? Or maybe because you feel alone and don't have someone to love? (Going to the Wizard to get a heart, see where this is going?)

Since the word "human" has got my synapses firing a little more than usual I'm going to extend the word for another week. We'll see what happens. Hopefully by then I'll have something to share or at least or more solid concept. (It's a big mess all over the page right now, but that's how I like it, it means my mind is working the way it should.)

Feel free to contribute in the comments below and let me know what "human" means to you. Keep rockin', you know I will.

Word Box Wednesday #3 - Enough

Watch the video below to see my contribution to this week's WBW with the word "enough".


As I said in the video above, this week's word for WBW is:

human

Let me know how you would fit the world "human" into song, whether you use at the title, an idea, or even just to accent a phrase. Let your mind roam and see what it comes up with. That's what songwriting is all about. Good luck and rock on!

Word Box Wednesday #2 - Missing

So it's Word Box Wednesday again. Have you been thinking about the word of the week? In case you missed it the word was missing.

The whole idea behind WBW was to challenge all you readers out there to see what the songwriting process is all about. Well, at least a part of it and with a interesting technique that I use sometimes. More than anything, this process is to give people a greater appreciation for words. Once you focus on a word, analyze it, and really wrap your mind around what the word means to you and how it applies to you, you can have an idea what I go through on a daily basis when it comes to putting them into a song.

I thought about the word "missing" quite a bit. To me it applied to my job search and the frustration that it has brought on. I continually think, what am I missing, what I am doing wrong? That thought gave birth to a simple chorus that I have yet to elaborate on.

What am I missing?/Is it worth searching?/What what what will it take?/What will I feel?/What am I missing?

The idea is still fresh in my mind and the job search is still frustrating as ever so I feel this song taking some life sometime soon.

Now is the time for this weeks word. First the shake (commence the shaking), then the open (off comes the lid), the reach in (shuffle things around a little more, avoiding the paper cut), and pull out:

enough

So what have you had enough of? What do you not have enough of? What does that word mean to you and how does it apply? Let me know in the comments below. We'll be back with "enough" next Wedneday. Rock on!

Word Box Wednesday #1

As I mentioned yesterday, I have a new feature that I'm introducing to ASWS today and it's called Word Box Wednesday. (Imagine a loud, dramatic echo as you read it.)

If you're unfamiliar with my Word Box you can learn the history from my post, "The Word Box", that I wrote back in January. In a nutshell, it's a technique that I use when I'm struggling for lyrical material. The box is simply a box, full of words that I've cut out of newspapers and magazines. I reach in, pick a word, or two, or three, and see where it leads me. Sometimes that word or phrase becomes the title, a line in the song, or a basic concept for the lyric.

So that is where WBW (My abbreviation for Word Box Wednesday, try to keep up with the acronyms.) comes in. Every Wednesday I'm going to feature a new word pulled directly from the Word Box, that is unless the previous weeks ideas carry over, I don't know how this is going to work out completely, let's just see how it rolls.

I'm going to post that word (quite literally) and give my readers the chance to take part in their own writing process. You can simply comment on what the word means to you, how it makes you feel or what it makes you think about, and how you might use it in a lyric. I want to get everybody involved in the whole process so you'll have a greater appreciation for what songwriting is all about. It might also be a good chance for my fellow songwriters out there to get some ideas and work on their craft.

Everyone will be able to post their comments, ideas, lyrics, etc. I will also post lyrics or even vidoes of what I've come up with surrounding each week's word.

This isn't just some ploy for me to cheat and steal other people's ideas, I couldn't help but think about that as a concern, I just really want people to see what songwriting can be all about from a songwriter's perspective. Hopefully you'll be able to create your own perspective as the Wednesday's roll by.

So let's get it started. I'm reaching into the box (drum roll, please) and this week's word is:

missing

Comment below or just think about what the word means to you, how it makes you feel or how you would use it. Have fun with it. I already have some ideas myself. Check back next Wednesday to see the first results from this songwriting experiment. Rock on!