I’ve written various posts related to how important it is to write without judgement… to let ideas flow out as much as one can, knowing that their quality will usually vary unpredictably. And to, for the moment, take the ideas as they come, without judgement.

But today I write about the importance of being picky… very picky.

Sometimes I write something and I think it’s pretty good… but, if I’m honest with myself, I know it can be – it needs to be – a lot better. The problem with this is twofold: I don’t know how to make it better (yet) and it’s going to take work – more work… when I’ve already done a lot of work on this song and feel like whining… ‘Isn’t this enough?… Haven’t I done enough already to make the song really good?’

Well… if I’m straight with myself, the answer is… apparently not. This is the time to get very picky and meticulous. There’s a difference between ‘good’ and ‘the best I can do for this song’. And sometimes there is what feels like a chasm in between. It can mean wholesale rewriting, while trying to keep what’s already good. A daunting task.

So, if I have that nagging feeling that the song’s only OK, that there’s a better version of it somewhere inside me – or wherever this stuff comes from – I keep working on it, even if I can make the case that it’s ’done’.

Sometimes this can mean rewriting the whole lyric, for example. Or drastically reworking the melody. But in the moment I try not to think of it that dramatically. I try to just chip away, line by line (or note by note, chord by chord) and be willing to follow along when things start to move forward creatively (which usually happens eventually, if the basic idea is good). As often as not something new starts to emerge; maybe a better version of what I had… maybe something quite different

The key elements: staying open, within reason, to that inner voice that tells me the song isn’t yet everything it should be (I say ‘within reason’ because since nothing of mine ever seems as good as it could be or should be, I could be working on one song forever) and being willing to keep chipping away at it, making it better.

Sometimes I need some time away from the song before I do that, to get a fresh perspective – maybe just a walk, or a bath… or a month! But sometimes it’s just about not settling, not giving up or giving in; hanging in there and going around the next corner. Who knows what I’ll find there?

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