Alrighty! Here is some advice I received from an OG in the singer/songwriter scene. After being stuck in a block for virtually ever I reached out to Tom Rush to try find some inspiration, and after waiting almost a year somehow the stars aligned and he stumbled across my email. So here is his response.
Hugh,
I just found this wandering around on my computer. Sorry for the VERY long delay.
I find that songs just happen, at least with me. Of course, they happen a lot more often if I exercise some discipline and sit down at the same time each day, but I seldom do that.
I would suggest not trying to force a song into existence (or a poem or a novel). Try sitting down with some pieces of paper and just writing whatever comes into your head, with no agenda other than to clear some cobwebs. Write, write, write—no thinking allowed, no editing. Once you feel the pen starting to run dry (a figure of speech, not to be taken literally), take a look back at the scribbles and see if there’s anything there that sounds like it might be the seed for a song, keeping in mind there are a lot of very improbably topics for songs out there, that have nonetheless turned into popular works.
If you find a seed, repeat the exercise with that seed in mind and see what floats by. There will be a lot of garbage, and that’s OK as long as you recognize it as garbage. But hopefully there will be some beauty as well. You can feel when the momentum starts to fade and at that point gather the good stuff, however much there is, onto one page and put it aside. Come back to it tomorrow and repeat the process, focusing on the good stuff. I sometimes have three or four songs in various stages of completion at any given moment.
I suggest that you write just for yourself—it takes a lot of pressure off. If you come up with something you like, share it with a friend, but keep in mind that just because they don’t like, it doesn’t mean someone else might not love it.
I also keep my ear out, during this process, for any snippets of melody that might float by and attach themselves to some words. If they do, I’ll record the snippet onto my iPhone. (It’s tempting to think, “Oh, I’ll never forget THAT!” But you will, or at least I will.) I often liken the process to trying to tune in a distant radio station. My theory is that the song already exists and I’m just trying to capture it, a few notes and a phrase at a time.
And don’t worry too much about rhyme, unless you’re writing limericks or a greeting card. With a song, a sort-of-a-rhyme will do just fine, and no-rhyme-at-all is OK, too.
And, mainly, have fun! It will go better if you don’t try so hard.
And now I apologize for a very long reply—sorry if I’ve overwhelmed you!
Tom Rush