Songwriting Memories

Today I wrote my first song in A LONG time. I still remember when I wrote my first song. I had been trying for awhile prior to doing it, but just couldn't seem to pull it off. I don't know what made this attempt different, but it surely was. I was a freshman in high school and a couple of my friends decided we were gonna form a band. Everyone had a part, but we didn't have any songs to sing. So, we decided to each write a song to see who would get that job. As soon as I hung up the phone that's exactly what I did. It goes without saying that the band didn't last long. But the passion it kick started did.

To this day, I still remember the way the melody and words went in my head. In fact, it's pretty much the only one I have that with. I still have at first song on the same trace paper it was written on. My early songs were horrible. Honestly, I don't know what made me keep going, but I'm glad I did. Gradually they got better- less embarrassing.

For the next 10 years I only wrote songs. Nothing was safe from ending up in a song! I found inspiration EVERYWHERE! Boyfriends were subjects for countless songs. The Golf War got a a few songs written about it. I loved everything about songwriting. It was my emotion release. My first ones were kept in a notebook- til that notebook got too full. One notebook turned into two. Before I knew it two turned into many, many more. My bookshelf was running out of space. I eventually had enough to start putting them in a storage bin. Now I am working on my second storage bin to hold all the notebooks.

The last time I counted I had written over 1,000 songs. I'm proud of this accomplishment. Some are far better than others, but all of them were from me. I loved being that creative. I don't write them as often as I used to- I usually don't when my life is quiet. Maybe I should do another counting again to see what my number is now. Those bins hold my "Life's Work"-- an important part of my life & I cherish them deeply.