Category: music & art

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

5in5 | day 5 |2016

Today is usually the day of this challenge that I stop caring about writing another song, cause 4 songs is just fine and I’m tired… but just imagine how amazing it will be to look back on this week and have 5 brand new songs that you have written!

This is not a new thought but I want to quickly challenge you on the power of the practice of writing. Think about your favorite songs, musicals, books, plays, movies, poems, etc. They make you laugh, they transport you, they challenge your thinking, and sometimes they have been known to change the tides of history. Imagine writing the documents which hold the very words our country was founded upon. There’s some serious pressure attached to penning the script a nation will be governed by for centuries.

That thought alone might make you want to quit writing, because how could we ever hope to be as good as the heroes that wrote our favorites, but hold on for one last thought…

The goal of 5in5 week was not for you to write the next Declaration of Independence in song form, though that would be an amazing feat; but for you to start to write regularly and then to rewrite even more regularly.

Today, don’t put pressure on yourself to produce something great. Go for simple – an easy melody, a light little chorus or even an instrumental piece that you’ll develop next week. Next week?! We’ll get there… stay tuned because day 5 of 5in5 is the start, not the end.

Happy writing and thanks for being a part of the challenge this week!!

5in5 | day 4 |2016

Every year that we do this challenge I always wonder if the next day I’ll be able to recreate the “magic” of the previous day. In fact, sometimes I dwell too long on the song of yesterday because I’m happy with how it turned out, or maybe just afraid I won’t be able to make something decent again today.

Go ahead and listen to your other songs one more time if needed, then press play on your writing for today. Don’t rewrite too much, record it and then let us hear your next creation… we can’t wait!!

Also thanks to everyone for joining in, regardless of when you took the plunge during this fun week of writing.