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