Handling criticism of your song

If a pro-writer's criticism makes you angry, you probably need to rewrite it. Because down deep, you know they are right and there is a problem with the song. Let a little time pass before you dig in and rewrite so you're not "writing angry". Come back later and consider their suggestions seriously. See if you can incorporate their suggestions into your writing while keeping a positive attitude. The goal here is to come up with something you like even better, while also addressing these criticisms. When is it okay to disregard a suggestion from a pro-writer? When you've already thought about what they've suggested and you just made a decision to do exactly what you've done. ie: The girl leaves at the end. (and that's how I want it to stay). Even a pro-writer would tell you to stand up for what you really believe in regarding your song.

I see your verse, and I raise you another verse.

On days where I don't just sit down to the piano and burst into a new song that I'm writing as fast as I can sing, I'll do some writing exercises. Here's one. Take a perfectly good song that has several verses and a chorus and write new verses to it. That's hard to do. But it gives you an idea of exactly what the original writer was facing. Or you can imagine you are co writing with the original writer and he's just suggested a verse and now you are going to suggest your own. You may even come up with a verse that is indeed better than what is on the record. At least you may think so. It doesn't work so well trying to write a new chorus though because all the verses point to the chorus. However, you can form a variation on the chorus and come up with your own hook idea. Heck, if you keep going you may have your very own completed song. I may be able to burst into song after all!

Who are your influences?

That was the one question I am embarrassed to say I was not ready for during an interview for a staff writing position at a publisher here in Nashville. I managed to come up with a few names that got me through however it made me realize I didn't really know who my influences were as a writer. Sure, I've got songs I like and I've got a few singers I like, but what songwriters do I like? John Maxwell is a Christian-based author and he writes a lot about leadership. He spends quite a bit of time studying coaches and heads of companies and dissecting what they are doing so we can model that in our own lives. It works. If you do what successful people do long enough, you too will be successful. With that in mind you can see how important it is to find a few writers you just totally love and study the heck out of them. Right now I'm in a Rivers Rutherford phase and I'm really enjoying getting inside of his head and learning what chords, rhythms, and subject matters he likes to use. And I'm not ashamed to admit it, I'm also studying him because he flat-out gets cuts. After a few weeks of Rivers (or maybe months) I'll move on. I did not get that staff writing position, but I did walk out of there knowing I needed to know who my influences were and without a doubt that has made me a better writer.