Are you a songwriter who has hundreds of ideas for songs on your phone? Audio memos of melody ideas, verse ideas, banger chorus ideas… Maybe you’ve got a book filled with lyric ideas?

They’re really great ideas, they really are. That’s why you’ve captured them. I’m not doubting that. But these ideas are not going anywhere, are they?

You’re not alone. It is the single biggest shared problem amongst the songwriters I have worked with.

I run workshops and speak with thousands of songwriters all around the world – also virtually from my home in Brisbane, Australia – but no matter where the songwriters are that I speak to, it’s the biggest problem that they have.

Unfinished songs is what is holding songwriters back from actually being able to get into a studio and record. It’s stopping them from being able to get other people to cut their songs, and it’s even holding them back from getting on stage and playing songs. You can’t very well play half a song at a gig, can you? It’s holding back their careers.

Your very own unfinished ideas can feel like a heavy weight holding you back from getting you where you want to go in your career.

So what if there was one really simple solution to end this. What if I could show you one simple tip that will put an end to that once and for all and give you completed songs week after week?

It’s really so simple.

It’s the biggest solution that transformed my phone’s voice memos and lyric book from partially completed ideas, not going anywhere, to completed songs page after page, memo after memo. Seriously.

I’ve been using this tip for the past 5 and a half years and I’ve gone from struggling to write 4 songs a year, to writing over 52 songs every year. In fact, I just wrote my 300th song in this way. I used to dream of being that songwriter, but now I actually am that songwriter.

So do you want to know what that big tip is?

Here it is:

When you go to write an idea or a song, just finish it. Finish what you start. Take it to the end.

When I started writing and actually finishing songs every single week, everything changed. It truly changed, not only my career, but how I felt about songwriting and my songs.

I started to feel more confident, like things were moving along, I felt a sense of momentum. And the songs that really stood out, I wanted more for these songs. I wanted to take bigger steps in my career.

This is exactly what happened with my Paris project.

I had been writing songs every week for 3 years and finishing my songs each week and that gave me the confidence to go to Paris with an empty notebook for an entire month to write songs for a concert that had not yet been created – however tickets were already selling.

Because I was in the habit of finishing all my song ideas I knew the ratio of “useful songs” vs “songs for practice”. And at the end of the month I had written a 60 minute show which I presented at a sold-out concert.

If I had partial song ideas, I would have never been able to present this show, or have played this show multiple times around Australia and Paris, and I would not be recording an album of these songs.

The solution is to FINISH YOUR SONGS!

To make this happen, it’s really simple. Have a schedule to put time aside for songwriting every single week, rather than just when inspiration strikes.

At that time, show up and write for an hour. Follow the first idea that you have and just find a way to finish it to the end of the song. Work past the blocks that come up for you and just, finish it.

And then, you know what? Do it again next week. And the week after that. Do this every single week and you will end up with hundreds of songs, not hundreds of ideas.

This is one of the biggest reasons that the 750 songwriters in I Heart Songwriting Club absolutely love this tip. Because so many of them have gone from struggling to write 4 songs a year to writing 52 songs a year. Just like me. And just like Carla…

I Heart Songwriting Club is the online community that evolved from that simple solution. The club also is an opportunity to be surrounded by a community of like-minded songwriters, really going for it in their songwriting journeys. This is a club that you can join right now and start finishing songs as soon as next week.

Imagine how it would feel in 10 weeks time, to have written 10 finished songs.

You can join the club here.

Or if you need your hand held a little bit more and want some more guidance around that, I’m holding workshops ONLINE next week. I’d love to see you there.

Francesca

—-

Francesca speaking about songwriting and creative freedom at Daytime Conference 2020, Adelaide.

“Francesca de Valence is part of the new wave of grass roots pioneers, leading the way through the new and ever changing music industry. In a recent webinar, she gave encouragement, inspiration and a working model for the proactive, self-determining and flexible mindset required to meet the challenges of the current music creation and marketing model. I left feeling empowered to be brave, creative and unique” – Simon Shapiro, Songwriter and Musician.