Several years ago, I had an opportunity to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One of the things that I enjoyed seeing is the notebooks that the songwriters used when they were working on their songs. It made me think about the different methods that I use when I’m writing songs. I wish I would have written all of my songs in a journal but that’s not the way that I’ve worked. I do have some journals that I have used to write a few songs. I also use the journals to write a few of the ideas that I have for songs and the earliest threads of ideas for songs. Most of the time, these ideas are transferred to Word files. I keep those files on a jump drive that I have with me most of the time. I carry the drive to work just in case I get an idea and I want to get a record of it before I forget it. The unfortunate thing about the files is that they are edited. I move words and phrases around with little to no traceability of the evolution of the song from one form to another. It’s really convenient for creating but bad for documenting the creative process.
