Great post. Lots of awesome links here.

My 2009 resolution is definitely to do something along the lines of a song a week… I think it’s true that nothing is more effective and rewarding that getting up and DOING and not letting things fester and sit around unfinished.

Thanks Don! I’m sure you’re right. I was getting paid for those songs, which is a good thing. But they weren’t the songs I wanted to be writing. You have to start at the beginning and work your way back to see that things got to be very stale. As much as anything, it got to be a drain on my time. http://www.fanhouse.com/tag/CollegeFootballSongbook/

My resolution is to take all of my finished songs and bits of songs and record at least demos to keep track of them all and give to friends. I also really liked your ideas for playing out live and submitting to a songwriting competition. Thanks!

Setting resolutions is great “if” you stick to them. The bad news, just like losing weight and quitting smoking, most resolutions never see the spring let alone see it fulfilled. I am in that boat myself. I remember deciding one year that I was going to release a CD. I wanted to write all new songs then record and release the CD. That was back in 199-something. Can’t remember. I renewed that resolution at least half a dozen times since, and every year “life” got in the way. In my case I was recording other people, mixing and mastering other people’s songs and doing very little on my own. I built a new studio and was even working on writing my book – I was doing everything BUT writing and recording my own songs. I soon discovered it was the ‘resoltion’ that was the driving force and not the big picture. And, it’s really hard to see the big picture if it’s too big or too far away. We need smaller resolutions to get us through (AKA goals).

If your main goal is to release a CD, then you first must set a date. WHEN will it be released? Take that date and divide it by the number of months between now and then. If your CD has 10 songs and you gave yourself 12 months to do it, you have a song a month to write and record, leaving you a 2 month window to mix, master and produce the final CD. Not a difficult task really IF we stick to it. But saying “I’m going to release my CD in 12 months” but you did not break that goal into smaller, manageable goals, chances are down the road ‘life’ will start to chip away at your resolution until all that remains is the opportunity to make yet another resolution. I know…been there, done that.

Writing all new songs sounds like a daunting task and before we even get started Writer’s Block and host of other ‘stuff’ has us crippled. I wrote a weekly newspaper column on songwriting and recording and if you’re interested in reading my take on Writer’s Block and the tools you need to overcome it, check out http://kenncrawford.blogspot.com/2009/07/songwriters-guide.html

This year I am not making another resolution – I’m just going to write and record my songs instead.

~Kenn