Josie was a poet with three jobs. She never made a penny writing sonnets and wondered if her poems could be lyrics. So, she nervously booked a private, telephone consultation with me.

I was very excited to see she had written several poems that could easily be “translated” into lyrics.

Rather than hoping someone is going to swoop down and give you a Grammy, or any other music award, create it first in your mind.

I believe all songwriters are chosen to write songs. That’s our blessing. I also believe we were chosen because we have a special lyric/music/vocal fingerprint to share with the world. Rather than recycle what other people have already done, write your fingerprint. It’s what only you can do that nobody else can, because nobody but you in you.

I believe all songwriters are chosen to write songs. That’s our blessing. I also believe we were chosen because we have a special lyric/music/vocal fingerprint to share with the world. Rather than recycle what other people have already done, write your fingerprint. It’s what only you can do that nobody else can, because nobody but you in you.

A lyric is what we sing. It is the words to a song. In contemporary song lyrics, we sing what we feel, preferably, in a way that hasn’t been said before. Your job as you write song lyrics is to tell us something new – something only you can tell us because nobody but you is you.

Insider Secrets to Hit Songwriting in the Digital Age is Molly’s 8th book on songwriting and is now available from Simon & Schuster, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM!, Bookshop, IndieBound & more.

Everybody’s different. Some tunesmiths start with the rhythm they tap on their steering wheels while stuck in nasty traffic. Others overhear somebody say something that makes them dive for a pencil or an app to write that idea down.

A melody is a series of single notes with rhythm. It’s what you sing in the shower. It’s what you whistle and hum it. But it’s not a chord progression. There are lots of developing songwriters who prefer writing chord progressions first, then digging for the melody later.