So, I told several of my friends that I started a blog. The news was met with yawns. Who knew everyone was so tired?

Last night I worked on rewriting lyrics to two of my older songs. These days, the process for me is to write a song and then perform it live for awhile. I observe my own feelings about the songs, watch it change as I play with the melody and phrasing, and guage the audience response. The ones that ring true for me and get a positive audience response, I keep in the set list. If the audience is unresponsive and I'm not wowed by the song personally, then I file them away in the orphan file. These are notes/fragments/chord changes that can get cannibalized for other songs, if the need arises. From time to time though, an almost complete song is stashed away for some reason. In those instances, a fresh perspective and a few months often ends in a better finished product. Maybe this time, too. I'm going to play with them for a few more days and see.

Still my favorite Paul Simon album. From www.paulsimon.com

I wonder about how other people work through the creative process, especially songwriting. Paul Simon once said that he considered himself someone who crafts a song rather than writing it. He explained that he will write lines, phrases, ideas, even interesting words in a notebook that he carries nearly everywhere. When he writes then, he tends to cobble these pieces together and mold them into the finished product.

Before I started writing songs in my early 20s (yes, I came to it late), I thought that inspiration was supposed to strike like lightning on a dry prairie on a hot July day, almost an incendiary flash of brilliance for which the writer is only the conduit through which the song appears. Many times, I stifled myself because the inspiration seemed too slow or required too much work. At some point in time, I decided that I didn't give a shit anymore and decided to work at writing. What a concept! I can at least say I'm more productive.

I still have a too-strong internal editor according to my friend, Jim. My friend, Laurie, says that I should write everyday if I want to hone my craft. My wife says I spend too much time avoiding my instrument rather than embracing it. OK, I may not be the brightest guy in the world, but I get the idea that people are trying to encourage me.

Note: I guess the title suggests one way I look at and describe myself. It's also a song by Van Morrison from a few years ago. Yup, he's still around and still writes some great songs.