The Blank Page

This one’s for the lyricists out there. 

I’ve always tended to write songs from the heart, based on my personal experiences.

But now I’m thinking about album two, I want to develop my writing and find new topics, write with characters, and just generally develop my craft.

Those of us who write songs know full well that sitting down with the intention of tackling one of the planet’s big issues – and making the words rhyme – often results in less-than-compelling work.

I find myself grasping for images that seem so out of reach. I want to give my words a richness and depth that a poet like Joni Mitchell does so well.

But when you’re reaching high, that old foe, the blank page, reappears, and before you know it, you’re stuck, you’re uncertain, you’re uninspired.

So I tried an exercise I really recommend. I went to a bookshop, and I looked around and noted down titles or words from blurbs, or author names, and even characteristics of people I saw browsing. Just for thirty minutes or so.

And out of a jumble of nonsense, I found I wrote down the following.

‘They planted the fruit trees
To cover the bodies’

I don’t know what it is yet, but it’s definitely something. And now I have a beginning. The blank page is vanquished once more (for a little while at least).

Give it a try. Or if you have your own tried and tested methods for lyrics, send them over. I may make a video using some of them.

Mary x

(Check out my latest video, announcing my signature guitar, The Heartbreaker, created with Marceau Guitars – there’s only two left!

Independent Artist of the Week: K.A.B. from Coventry in the UK, have just released their new single, Wave After Wave. They promised ‘alternative rock riffage, funky grooves, and catchy choruses’ and did not disappoint. It’s out now on all the usual platforms.

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