The Wall

On a recent weekend I had designated for particular productivity, I hit one of those walls people are always talking about. Sorta. Like, I did a lot of work, but I woke up Monday morning and listened to it and it was all terrible. Mostly. None of the 'fixes' seemed like improvements, and I definitely hadn't been in good voice for any of the recordings. Everything needed redoing. A wasted weekend--what was the point?!

Then Edward (the cat) chewed the midi cord that connects my keyboard to my computer so.... no instrumental recordings for me either!

As I glumly waited for Amazon to deliver my replacement cord (intermittently shooting Edward dirty looks/giving him loving apology pats), I wondered if it was normal to have off-days--days where you just can't get anything right.

This one song in particular was driving me mad. I had grown to hate it. Hate it! And my hatred made me sorta want to give up on the whole album. What if all the songs are terrible like this song?! I couldn't figure out how to fix it, and yet I couldn't quite let it go for some reason.

Of course, I'm super dramatic and ridiculous and hard on myself artistically. I guess these things happen. Especially when you work full-time at another job and feel immense pressure to get a decent amount of personal work done in a small amount of time.

I decided to move on and give myself some space from the song--and the permission to relax (have some wine). I am only working against my own expectations and deadlines.

Do y'all have any special methods you employ when you hit a wall with your work/get writer's block? Would love to hear!

xWG // @weekes

#songwriting #writersblock #thewall #cats