Author: dan

Finish Line/Starting Line, Day 5

You made it – we’re all here cheering, rooting and believing in you!

I hope you take a moment to realize how uncommon your act of making music & art truly is. I also hope this is not just the finish line of this crazy 5in5 week for you, but the starting line of your songwriting & artistry.

If you’d like to talk more about this, or you need some next steps or ideas then feel free to leave a comment below or you can email me directly HERE.

Thank you for being a part of this awesome week and all the best to you!

Dan

Dig Deep, Day 4

You’ve made it this far and you might feel a little worn thin, but dig deep because you’re well on your way to having 5 new songs in one week! That’s seriously awesome and the time and effort you’re putting into this will be so worth it.

Now, while I am saying “Dig Deep” sometimes what you need to do is just pull on a simple little thread, and watch the mystery of the song unravel for you. So don’t stress out if you are finding it a little harder to write today. Go do something that refreshes your soul and don’t be surprised if that helps jog your creativity. If you need some ideas of things to do, hit me up, I’ve got a whole list.

Also, it may be worth reviewing a few of the reasons that you are doing this (see this post – Day 1) in the first place and that may help restore your drive to write.

As you’ve come to expect now, the form to submit your song is below. And please, let me know if you have any questions or if there’s something I can do to help. You can hit me up by either leaving a comment on the post or by emailing me HERE.

Way to be, Day 3

It’s Day 3 of the 5in5 challenge and you’re well on your way to finishing this week strong.

I’m so glad you’re writing, listening along and stretching yourself as a songwriter. This is a great week for pushing yourself and today you’re hitting the half way point. It’s all downhill, in the best possible way, from here. Just think, your creativity is starting to flow a bit more, you’re beginning a new habit of carving out time for creativity/songwriting, and you’re improving as you go!

You got this today! Also, be sure to leave us a link to your song to checkout once you’ve finished. You can come back here and input your information using the widget below.

As always, let me know if you have any questions by either leaving a comment on the post or by emailing me HERE.

At It Again or Day 2

Day 2 and it’s time for you to write a fresh new song!

The linky-box is below so once you’ve recorded your song, come back here and post a link for us so we can check it out and give it some love!

Also, let me know if you have any questions by either leaving a comment on the post or by emailing me HERE.

Have a great day of writing!

What’s your strategy? (otherwise known as Day 1 of 5in5)

Hello friends!

Welcome back to the 2017 version of 5in5, our annual songwriting challenge where we write a song a day for 5 days in a row. This is the 6th year that we have done this and I feel tired just thinking about the possibility of late night songwriting this week; however, I’m determined to keep things simple and to write as honestly (and as quickly) as I can this time around.

I realize you didn’t come here to read about me, but I thought I might tell you my strategy this year in case it helps inspire you or helps you come up with your own personal strategy for songwriting.

This year I want to use way less production and write as honestly and as simply as I can. Probably like a lot of you, I can already tell there will be a couple nights this week where I only have 2-3 hours to knock something out. So my personal goals are to keep things super simple, to try writing in a new genre, and to continue writing past this 5in5 week. I’m hopeful this week will be a way to kickstart my songwriting in 2017.

You don’t have to answer these question in order to write, especially if this feels overly complicated, but before you begin writing for 5in5 it might be worth asking yourself a couple strategic questions or setting a few personal goals for the week:

1) Why are you joining the 5in5 songwriting challenge this year and what are you hoping to get out of it?

2) Do you have any specific types of songs/styles you are hoping to write?

3) Are there any strategies you’ll be employing this year to jump start your creativity? (ex: writing a song in an unfamiliar key, using a different instrument, collaborating, writing alone, rhyming, never rhyming, etc.)

Regardless of your goal or strategies, thanks for joining us this year! If this is your first year (or you just need a refresher) here are the rules for 5in5 – http://dnlwht.com/5in5-and-bacon-time/ – so go check those out!

I’ll post the little link sharing box at the bottom of this post around 12 pm CST time today, so once you have your song written and posted somewhere, you’ll then be able to provide a link for everyone to come check it out.

Let me know if you need anything else or if you have any questions by commenting below and happy writing!

– Dan