Wake up. Write to do list. Always put “write a song” on your list. Goal setting is important and it’s nice to feel a twinge of guilt at the end of the day if you can’t check off this one in particular.
Decide to put off writing until after you eat breakfast, go for a run, take a shower, pay your credit card bill, read your favorite blog, watch that viral video that everyone keeps pestering you to watch, take the enneagram test, get lost on the enneagram site for hours diagnosing every person in your life, eat lunch, wash dishes, throw in a load of laundry, take your dog for a walk, go to the bathroom. After this you’ll feel primed to start your best work.
Grab your instrument of choice and just sit close to it for an hour or two. Think of it as tummy time. It’s important to feel safe and comfortable together before you create your magnificent art.
Sitting in this state is bound to make you sleepy so it’s ok to take a quick two hour nap, that way you’ll be rested for when your muse hits you. Upon waking up make sure to eat a little snack for fuel, run an errand, tweeze your eyebrows, fold your laundry, journal, call your mom... The art of procrastination is vast and beautiful.
It’s almost dinner time so you have two options. You can either utilize these fifteen minutes to start writing, or instead you can decide to go back to school, start another career, or become a full-time dog walker. Either way you’ll feel great while you eat your dinner and watch four episodes of Stranger Things. Now it’s late and it’s time for bed. You’re exhausted. Avoiding work is indeed work. Get ready for bed, write your to do list for tomorrow and remember to put “write a song” on the list!
Just as you’re about to fall asleep you get a melody idea. Try to brush it off. If it persists you’ll have no choice but to get out of bed and go write a song. It’s probably midnight at this point and you feel good. Maybe tomorrow you’ll wake up and realize the song was a complete waste of time. That’s ok. You wrote a song. And it only took all day.
