• A bunch of great songs
• Seeing Twila in action at her church
• Hearing Holly say “we’re demoing that”
• Knights in white chocolate at Cold Stone Creamery
• American Idol is over at last
• Seeing Barry’s home studio – I don’t know how he does those hours
• Not being grilled by immigration on the way in
• Imogen Heap at the Cannery
• Greenhills Grille
• Being blown away by FBC (again)
• Supper at the Cheesecake Factory
• Hearing “yeah, great idea, I’d love to write that”
• Landing my first major artist cowrite on a song
• John Cox’s eldest son trying to blow us all up while we were cowriting
• Chatting in the writing rooms
• Having dinner with friends and hearing their track on the radio on the way home… nice moment
• USA vs. Morocco pre world cup soccer match with James
• Hanging out with Ross
• Carrot cake at J Alexander
• Hearing Holly say “we’re demoing that” again
• Finding a book on the music business I’ve been looking for ages in B&N
• Experiencing “Belinda’s Early Evening Comedy Show”
• Seeing that iChat cowriting has started at the BBMP writing rooms
• Getting to know and work with my incredible cowriters

1. On analysing songs written by other people – “Try to figure out what you DO like about a song rather than what you DON’T like… you will learn much more”
2. “Gary Burr has a 1:25 cut rate. Hugh Prestwood has a 1:2 cut rate.” Wow.
3. “90% of Bob Dylan’s work was not in his best 10%... so here’s the reality: the more you write the more songs will be in your best 10%!”
4. On writing habits – “I have no patience for people who only write when they are inspired… you need to practice writing like you’re learning a difficult tune on the guitar. Don’t wait for the right moment when your fingers just happen to hit the right notes. Learn how to hit them every time you need to play the tune.” (I paraphrased that last bit)
5. “If you put anything in the spotlight (a key position in a song) it had better say something worth hearing”
6. On the publishing business model: “With a publisher you get your money a year after the track is sold. With iTunes you get it next month!”
7. On cowriting: “In many cowrites there’s an A and a B writer. As the B writer it is my responsibility to bring the idea”
8. “Always lay your best ideas on the table in a cowrite, even when you’re writing down. Let the future take care of itself”
9. On writing with Gary Burr – “Something happens to me when I sit in the room with an 800lb gorilla” (that’s my favourite over the last two days)
10. “Our job as cowriters is to say everything – no matter how stupid it is”
11. “Never talk about how to write a song during a cowrite. Just cowrite”
12. “Use the door to seal all the stupid ideas in the room” (I’m paraphrasing another story)
13. “Never say ‘no’ during a cowrite… just come up with a better line”
14. “Cowriting is not about arguing what goes into a line. It’s a creative partnership. In the ideal situation no one should be able to say who’s written which line”
15. “Know when to shut up in a cowrite. All we want is the best song to come out of the cowrite and if that means letting your cowriter drive the bus – that’s just fine”
16. “As songwriters we don’t have to be monogamous in our cowriting relationships”
17. On rewriting – “Making it different is not the same as making it better”
18. “Writing uses different skills from rewriting: Writing is about being creative. Rewriting is about using knowledge and tools.”
19. “If you can’t say it that way then you can’t sing it that way”
20. On performance – “Don’t just sing the notes like a singer, sing the words like a person”

• I realise that after all the courses I’ve now done at Berklee I know a little more about this stuff than I thought. That’s very good for my sleeping habits on the eve of a writing trip to Nashville
• Pat wants to hook up during my second week in Nashville. If he’s able to broaden my horizons in London, what can he do there?

1. “Preserve the natural shape of the language when setting your lyric to music”
2. “There is only “better”… not absolute success in songwriting"
3. "The trick is to gather all the tools and all the information you need to craft great songs and to monitor the quality of ideas going into the process”
4. “Use your senses to build something that people are able to hang their own stuff on… people should love your songs because they are really about them”
5. “Forget writing like anyone else. The hardest thing you’ll ever do is to write the best you can”
6. “Universal does not mean unspecific. Rather, universal means specific and descriptive”
7. “A great idea is like a fine wine – you should give it time to mature”
8. “Preserve the natural shape of the language” (again)
9. “I like to think of myself as helping to take the mystery out of songwriting, not the fun”
10. “Have some sense of the atmosphere of a song”
11. “After you’ve sketched out your idea, use your six best friends to test it out: who, what, when, why, where and how”
12. “Garry Burr takes the first five ideas he has for developing a title and throws them away because they have probably all been written before”
13. “Writing c**p songs is fine... it’s the best fertiliser”
14. “Motion in a lyric creates emotion in a listener”
15. “Preserve the natural shape of the language” (yes, again)
16. “I care deeply about getting all the juice I can out of the ideas I write”
17. “Room-test a lyric to make sure it can be said and sung with genuine feeling and emotion” (If you email me, I’ll tell you what room-testing is)
18. “Sculpt your lyrics as though they are going to be matched with the best melody on the planet”
19. “Learn to quit clearing your song’s throat” (email me for that one as well)
20. “Give the downbeat some juice”

I showed Pat SongTools for the first time. He loved it. He also said that I must have too much time on my hands. I think that was a compliment.

1. As we listen to nature around us and hear creation singing to God… how cool it is to be able to join in and worship in harmony with that.
2. We cannot compete with the angels’ song in trying to please God in our worship. But we can add our voice to it and, in the same way that a child paints a picture and gives it to their mom or dad, it can still be a wonderful expression to God.
3. Just as music can be used as a destructive influence in the world, it can be used in a positive way to communicate the heart of God to this world. How can we pioneer music to discover its spiritual impact over what the world has to offer?
4. Has the church been too afraid of the power of music? Do we settle for a watered down version of worship, just to avoid offending people? Worship has to be passionate, God-focussed and relevant. We can’t let it be indifferent.
5. How do we approach worship with excellence? What needs to be in place to bring that about? The church used to be the place of excellence in music… how can we return to that place now?
6. God rejoices over us with singing… how does that sound like?
7. In our worship – maybe we should learn how we each hear the voice of God and try to sing/write like that.
8. As worship leaders, our identity is in being loved by God, not in our role in a worship team.
9. Music is a wonderful gift from God, let’s unwrap it and see what God has really given us.
10. We don’t need to settle for second best. Especially in our writing.