Writing to excess - F.A.W.M.

[MikeBmusic]

It's over for this year, but each year February Album Writing Month takes place (fawm.org) - a website to challenge songwriters (no fee, no requirements, do it just to do it!)
A friend has been doing it for several years and finally convinced me to try it.
My normal songwriting method is:
1) write a lyric. Get some early comments/critiques on it (usually at musesongwriters.com).
2) edit the lyric, put it aside.
3) noodle some guitar licks/chord patterns, look through pile of lyrics and find one that might match.
4) put chords and lyrics together, bring it to songwriter circle (monthly meeting) for more suggestions/critiques.
5) Adjust, record it.
Whole process can take a couple of months, so my songwriting average was one per month - and probably 1/4 to 1/3 of them got tossed into the 'didn't work' pile.
So, with that said... trying to write an album's worth of music (14 songs in 28 days is the actual challenge) didn't seem practical to me.
So how did it go, you may ask?
20 songs total in the month! 3 were lyrics-only (2 of which will never go further, they were more of an exercise); 4 collaborations - others' lyrics; 13 full songs, only a few of which got full production recordings. The rest were simple 1+1 (1 vocal track, 1 guitar track), or at most a couple of guitar tracks and some harmony tracks.
I encourage other songwriters to try it out next year!

[RedJoker]

I've been thinking of doing this. My biggest issue is the recording time at home. I have the equipment to do simple recordings but when I'm home, I have higher priorities. I typically do your usual rate of 1 per month.

On the other hand, I do have a portable recorder that I need to use to my advantage. For this challenge, the goal wouldn't be to have great recordings, it would be to complete songs. I could work on it anywhere!

Interesting!

[MikeBmusic]

Originally Posted by RedJoker

I've been thinking of doing this. My biggest issue is the recording time at home. I have the equipment to do simple recordings but when I'm home, I have higher priorities. I typically do your usual rate of 1 per month.

On the other hand, I do have a portable recorder that I need to use to my advantage. For this challenge, the goal wouldn't be to have great recordings, it would be to complete songs. I could work on it anywhere!

Interesting!

Exactly! Many FAWM people don't have real recording ability and just do simple iPhone recordings or videos.

[jaymarsch]

I signed up for the first time this year - wrote two songs and then my life took over with other things. I like the concept though and will probably plan a bit better around it next year.

Best,
Jayne

[jgmaute]

Looks interesting, I'll put it on my calendar for next year, this February was NOT one of my better months...major health issues but maybe next year. thanks for posting.