Often there’s a simple reason for this lack of flow. Simply put, it’s that I’m not letting it flow.

I’m expecting the ideas to come out fresh, exciting, and fully formed. If they don’t, I slow down, get bogged down, and eventually stop.

But most of the time ‘coming out fresh and exciting’ is not how good things happen. Usually it’s more about digging through dirt to get to the gold.

So I write down or play anything that comes to mind. Hackneyed, borrowed, cliched… doesn’t matter. Because eventually I’ll find something in there worth saving – even if it’s just a word, a phrase of melody or words (or both), a chord sound or two – and I can take that and use it or rewrite it. Build on it.

It is so reassuring – and freeing – to know that what I write can – and probably will – be rewritten (by me). I can put down whatever drivel comes to mind… knowing that it’s a means to an end.

The means are the ideas that are uninteresting or worse. They lead to the ends – good ideas, which are probably out there somewhere if I just keep working through the uninspired ones.

There are times when setting the work aside for a break is the right move. But writing is a process. I try to trust the process. And – good, great, bad, indifferent – let it flow.

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