Assignment: Pick an object at random and write about it for 10 minutes.
Something so satisfying about the notches that connect each bamboo segment. Your slender body with grooves and bumps. Smooth in places. Rough in others. How strong you are. Though slight and flexible at your tip where I wind string around you, bounding you up, so I can tie a hook onto the end of the string. A hook, sharp. Ouch! One wrong move. My skin is pricked. I bleed. Tie the knot and move on. There are fish to be caught in the swishing and swirling water below. Dark and mysterious. Smells like musty leaves. What world is below I do not know, but I yearn to drop my line in with a stinky bloody chicken liver treat that I know you will like enough to gobble and chomp. The hook will pierce your flesh. I will feel the tug and get dizzy with excitement waiting to see you. What have I caught in the dark water below? What will you think of me? My ears are burning, my arms are shaking from the commotion of bringing you to the surface where you cannot breathe. Am I cruel? To pull you out of your watery home into the air where birds sing and fish die, onto the land where creatures crawl and fish flop. Oh, I cannot do this! I must remove the hook from your mouth and gently put you back where you came from. Why do I feel this way? I have done this so many times before, but this time I saw stars and would rather pass out and die myself than kill you.
This exercise is from the book Writing Better Lyrics (Second Edition): The Essential Guide to Powerful Songwriting by Pat Pattison.
I bought this book in 2021 right after my divorce and dad’s stroke. I decided I had to get back into my songwriting to cope with the grief. Before I knew it, I was writing new songs again. Then, within a few months, I had written an entire album of the best songs I had ever written. It happened so fast!
I’m starting in earnest to work on my new album, so I thought I’d pull this book back off the shelf to give it a go again. I didn’t make it all the way through the book the first time, so I’m super excited about going further this time.
If you’re looking to reignite your songwriting, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of the book. If you’re looking for community and support, check out my next workshop The Artist’s Way for 50 and Beyond. It’s a 12-week guided workshop to reignite your creativity later in life because it’s never too late to begin again!
Here I go again!