On the night of November 24, 2006 I decided to become a songwriter. I wrote the word “songwriting” and the date on a sticky note and put it by my computer as a constant reminder. So, I want to be a songwriter. Now What?

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Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

— Howard Thurman (1899-1981) African American author, philosopher, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader

[This quotation occurs is in Gil Bailie’s Violence Unveiled, p. xv,
where he attributes the quotation to a conversation he had with Howard Thurman.]

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The first thing was to learn how to write lyrics. I ordered several books about songwriting and read them as fast as I could. I finished a rough draft of my first lyrics on November 28 and had a completed song (lyrics and music) on December 17. By the end of the year I had finished five songs. My initial goal had been to just get something down on paper. . . anything. Not a very high goal—but I had to start somewhere. I felt like I was far behind most songwriters. After 1976, I had basically only listened to classical music. When I decided to be a songwriter, I had been listening to country music radio for a couple of years. It was not that I wanted to write country songs, but the country music on the radio sounded similar to the pop music I was familiar with from earlier decades.

My First Song on My Journey to Be a Songwriter

The completion of my first song signified the beginning of a new journey for me. For the first time in a very long time (maybe ever) I was doing something for me. I did something I really wanted to do that was not related to my church job. After several weeks, I realized that even though I had a serious routine of reading and studying I could not be concerned with the outcome. The important part was the process of writing and learning.

Songwriting soon consumed my life. I started writing down every idea, phrase, or sentence that came to me. Reading various books, I discovered that songwriting is linked to the intuitive part of our brain. I began to make decisions based completely on my intuition. (I had probably always done that—but had felt like it was not the “correct” way to make decisions.)

By the end of December, I realized that throughout my life there had been signs that I would someday be a songwriter. I never put the pieces together before then. Becoming a songwriter began a process of developing a greater awareness of people and situations around me.

In December I began buying CDs to expand my knowledge of all types of songwriting. Plus, I enjoyed discovering all this music I had never heard! My personal CD library (excluding classical music) consisted of about four or five Take 6 CDs, CDs by Brian McKnight, David Sanborn, Phil Collins, and June Tabor. Of course, there were many other CDs in our house, but I never listened to them. My husband’s taste in popular music included the Beatles, Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Meatloaf, The Eagles, Dire Straits, and Aerosmith. He also had an extensive jazz collection. I heard all this music, but had not really listened to it.

Now What? A “New” Name

Through the internet I learned about the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and on January 9, 2007, I joined. This began the next chapter of my journey. The membership card had my “new” name. I had always been called Peggy. When I became a songwriter, I decided go by Peg. The freshness, the rhythm, and the brightness of the word seemed to fit my new life.

Next, in Part 4 of my Songwriting Journey I describe my trip to Nashville for Song Camp 101.

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Have you ever changed something in your life to signify a new beginning? Tell me about it in the comments.