"It's 3 a.m., I must be...songwriting?"

I'm glad this blog is starting off as more organic and spontaneous than me actually storyboarding topics and doing stuff like planning retrospectives on 1980's New Romantic pop. I say this because I'm up at 3 a.m. working on a verse for a song and I didn't plan on writing anything for this blog until "tomorrow" (actually today, but much later). So, what better concept to write about than "Songwriting as a 24/7 Job"?

Most songwriters are not staff songwriters at major music publishers. (I'm sure if you're reading this you're not. If you are, however, can you shoot me an email and help a brother out?). Most of us have to go to work for 8 or more hours a day, 4 or 5 days out of the week.

Most of us don't have all day to lock ourselves in a room and think about whether or not a song should resolve or fade out. That doesn't mean we can't work on songs at any point in the day. Write a hook in the shower. Revise your bridge lyrics while waiting for a light to turn green. Decide whether or not you want a song to have a third verse or not while you're standing in line at the bank.

There's never a better time to write a song than NOW. Wow, that sounded super motivational speaker-sounding, but it's true! You could write the next "Time After Time" whilst eating a ham sandwich. This concept goes hand-in-hand with the idea that there's not one way to approach songwriting. You don't need "songwriting time" or have to sit with your guitar and hammer out chords to write a great song. Write whenever you feel inspired, be it while jamming with your band or lying down in bed.

Writing when you're sleepy and half-there can actually lead to some great stuff, as you're not overthinking or conscious enough to fall back on cliches. At least it works for me. Keep a notebook by your bed at night. Leave a word processor open at work. Make sure you keep your cell phone on you all the time so you can call your voice mail and hum a melody to keep it safe in your melody filing cabinet.

Write, write write all the time. You'll only write better and churn out more songs. Seriously, you're up against Diane Warren, who's been writing everyday for decades. Work harder than her. I dare you.

Now I must be back to bed. That is unless a melody strikes me....