When asked which came first, the music or the lyrics, the great lyricist Sammy Cahn famously replied, “The phone call.”

When asked about inspiration, Duke Ellington said he didn’t need it: “All I need is a piano and a deadline.”

There’s nothing like a deadline to spur creativity and get a writer moving forward… and internal deadlines (“I will have this done by Wednesday!”) are usually not as effective as external ones.

I’ve found that one of the main reasons people come to my songwriting workshops is simply this – most of us write more (and in a more focused way) knowing that someone’s waiting to hear the song on, for example, Tuesday.

Songs are notoriously hard to complete. Having people who are expecting to hear your song at a specific time and place – at a recording session, a band rehearsal, a gig, a co-writing or coaching session, a meeting with a publisher, a songwriting workshop – tends to move a song much closer to that mysterious state… Completion.

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