The successful songwriters I know are a funny, quirky, interesting bunch. Each one of them has strengths that have helped them achieve and write at a level that few are able to match. Over the years, here's what I've noticed about the writers I admire the most:

1. They never quit learning. They're always doing something to try to get better at writing.

2. They hardly ever talk about songs they've already written. They are more focused on what they want to write next.

3. They are very competitive and yet they cheer when good things happen to other writers. 

4. They are a fascinating blend of confidence and insecurity. 

5. They don't just want to write great. They ache to do it. 

6. They set the bar high for themselves.

7. They experience rejection, and they use it as an opportunity to prove people wrong. 

8. They refuse to be boxed in. When other people tell them they can't do something, they take the attitude, "Watch me."

9. When a co-write doesn't go well, they usually assume it's their fault.

10. They take care of business. They're responsible. But I won't lie, almost all of them have areas where they are flaky. 

11. They listen to songs differently than anyone who is not a songwriter. 

12. They are self aware, but they usually know their weaknesses better than they know their strengths.

13. They love talking about songwriting or listening to other people talk about it. 

14. They alternately love what they've written and think what they've written is lame. 

15. They have a support system. It might be a supportive spouse or a group of friends, but they've got somebody cheering them on. 

16. They believe in themselves, but they take critique. Maybe not always gracefully, but they take it and give it consideration.

17. They love discovering a great song and telling someone else about it. 

18. They obsess over where their next idea is going to come from. 

19. A great line in a song will make them cry. 

20. They find it difficult to set their writing aside completely and not think about it. 

There may be a writer out there somewhere who has none of these characteristics, but somehow I doubt it. I kind of think that if I could talk to any songwriter, I'd discover that this list would describe them pretty well. 

If you've been trying to write a particular idea or title for a long time, but it keeps eluding you, don't give up. This idea took 10 years. The first document I have in my laptop by this title was saved in 2004. Over the years, David Moffitt (who had the idea at the beginning) and I tried it as an inspo power ballad, a pop ballad, and finally as a worship song. Over and over we tried writing the idea that we take up our cross daily and follow Christ. Finally, David said something like we should try writing that living the cross meant that we are free because of the cross and that believing in the cross and trusting what Jesus did there changes everything we do in this life. It's a blessing to "Live The Cross." Travis Cottrell ended up helping us, and the song is in an Easter musical for this year called Jesus, Only Jesus. 

Be patient, but persist. Some songs just take a long time to be born. 

I wrote today with someone I've never met. It was scary. Even after all these years of writing, it's one of the most intimidating things I have to do. Yet any time I put a limit on who I'll write with or how I'll write or what I'll write or where I'll write, I'm just hurting myself. So here are some things I try to do, little tips I've learned over the years:

1. Prepare. Do your homework. Google your co-writer. Almost everyone is out there somewhere on the internet for you to check out. Or check with the person who set up the co-write. What kind of stuff does this person like to write? Are they stronger at melody or lyric? What have they written that you should know? Do some listening to what you think you’ll be writing. Get some ideas going. It’s awesome if you can go in with one thing that’s just an idea or a title, one idea that you’ve started work on, and one song that’s further along in the process. 

2. Be brave. It takes courage to co-write any time you do it, even with a friend. You will wake up the morning of this sort of weird "blind date" with a queasy feeling that says, “Why did I agree to this?” You’ll probably be able to think of a dozen reasons to postpone or cancel. Go anyway. It’ll all be over in a handful of hours no matter how it goes. Believe me when I say, every real songwriter feels this way.

3. Be comfortable. Pay attention to stuff like what you’re going to wear and what you eat before you go there. What you’re going to do is stressful enough without suffering with clothing that’s uncomfortable or trying to digest chips and salsa while you’re also trying to write. Keep things simple. This also applies to wearing stuff that is comfortable for your co-writer to look at. It’s a sensitive topic, but if what you’re wearing becomes the focus of your co-writer’s attention, for whatever reason, that’s counter-productive.

4. Pray. Pray before you go. And ask someone else to pray for you. I take a lot of strength from knowing that my husband is praying for me. And by the way, if you have a co-writer friend who doesn’t have someone praying for their writing every day, why don’t you commit to being that person for them? 

5. Be confidant. There’s a reason God has you in the room (although it may not be to write a hit song), and there’s a reason your co-writer has agreed to do this. Believe that you can hold your own. You may not totally believe it, but tell yourself that message. 

6. Be humble. Yes, you’ve earned the right to be there, but it’s still a gift to be in that room. Be thankful, but not “gurmy.” Humble without going overboard with “I can’t imagine why you’d want to write with me!” Don’t think less of yourself. Just think of yourself less. 

7. Find common ground. Don’t plunge into writing without some real conversation at first. It’s ok to spend 30 minutes to an hour just talking. Really it is. Where does your experience or situation overlap with your co-writer's? That can often be a great place to start writing. You don’t have to come away with a whole song written, so don’t put that pressure onto an already intimidating situation. 

8. Listen. It’s possibly the greatest tool in your arsenal. Let what you’ve been reading and listening to and watching and witnessing and going through lead you in what you’re going to write. To quote a great song by Ronnie Freeman, “maybe it’s God speaking.” Quit thinking about what you have to offer or what you want to say next, and really listen. Besides, some silence in the room is often a good thing, so don't feel like you have to fill it constantly.

9. Dare to suck. Put yourself out there. Don’t clam up and just wait on your co-writer to do all the work. Your dumb line may be just what your co-writer needs to think of the right line. Just like in basketball, if you make the pass that leads to the basket and your team scores, you both win!

10. Value the person more than the song. The best thing that happens in your co-write may not be a song. You may have to write with this co-writer more than once or twice before it bears “song” fruit. This could be the start of a deep friendship or you may never write with him or her again. But the person is always more important than the song you write. Invest your energy in that. 

Happy writing!

What Should I Listen To Next?

For the past 15 years I've been driving to Nashville from St. Charles nearly every other week. The first question people ask when they hear that is, "Why don't you move to Nashville?" Their second question is, "How do you stand all that driving?" The question I find myself asking is, “What are you going to do for the next six hours alone in this car?”

I do a lot of listening. To music, to the news, to people talking about the news, to sermons, to books, and sometimes to my own thoughts. It’s true that I listen to a lot of music. That’s part of my job. But after a week in Nashville, sometimes I am just “music-ed out.” So especially on my drives home, I listen to books. 

I subscribe to to audible.com, and logging on and seeing that I have credits available fills me with a mixture of anticipation and dread. What do I invest my time and credit in next? So many choices. So much I want to listen to. Things I feel like I need to listen to. Classics I’ve never gotten around to reading. Favorite authors I usually turn to. The continuation of a series I’ve started. It's a tough decision.

Or maybe I should just listen to Harry Potter again. 
I thought maybe I could get a little advice. Here are books I have waiting. I’ve bought them, but I haven’t started them. If you’ve read any, let me know what you think. Or even if you haven’t read them, what do you think I should read next? 

It might help you to know that I just finished The Book Thief. I loved it. It was a beautifully written novel. One of the reviews I read about it described it as “eating words like ice cream.” It was like that. But I’ll confess, it took me a while to listen to it. It just seemed like I needed to digest it in small bites. Anyway, you might want to consider that.

Here are some choices: 

The Kitchen House - a novel set on a slave plantation. I think I can pretty much count on it to be interesting but depressing. Not gonna be a lot of light-hearted fun in that. But still, I’ve heard great things about it, and I like books set in that era of history.

The Goldfinch - a novel about an orphaned boy taken in by a wealthy family who eventually gets involved in the underworld of art. Suggests to me that it involves mystery and mayhem. I’d probably learn something about art that I didn’t know. And I do love “rags to riches” stories.

Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering - I love Tim Keller’s writing. I’ve listened to three of his books in the past year. So it’s a good bet that I will like this one, and I might get some song ideas along the way. 

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy - I really don’t know as much as I want to about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and this book is by Eric Metaxas, who wrote Amazing Grace, the biography of William Wilburforce. I loved that book. The synopsis says it’s a “deeply moving narrative… of moral courage in the face of the monstrous evil that was Nazism.”

Bossypants - by Tiny Fey. Don’t judge me. Tina Fey just makes me laugh. It’s probably going to be a very easy listen and fun. But is this what I want to invest my time in? 

On Writing - Stephen King’s advice on the craft of writing. I can always use more of that. Confession: I’ve never read a Stephen King book. And I’ve only seen a movie based on one of his novels by accident. I don’t like scary stuff. I have enough scary stuff going on in my own head to add to it on purpose. But still, I love books about writing. 

What should I choose? 

I'm worried. I'm beginning to think we're facing a world where American Idol has gone away. So I don't want to criticize. I just want to help. Even though this really has nothing to do with songwriting, I have my opinions on why Idol has kind gone off the rails the past few seasons. It can't be that the talent pool has simply dried up. Other singing competition shows prove that's not so. Idol producers, if you're listening, here's what I think:

1. Cast the best singers. Quit casting the show for "variety." It's clear that some people are on this season because of their looks and their back story. You could tell this was going to be an issue when the judges kept talking about kids have the "whole package" when they auditioned. 

2. Take the guitars away! Trust me, I'm queen of loving a simple guitar vocal, but it just doesn't work on Idol. Too many contestants are hiding behind their guitars. And honestly, they don't play well enough to play for themselves when they're trying to give their best vocal performance.  

3. Get Simon back. The truth is people tuned in to see what Simon would say. The contestants really only listened to what Simon said. If you can't get Simon back, replace Simon with someone equally as demanding. I thought Harry Connick could be that guy, and maybe he still could be if they let him. 

4. Abandon the schtick. The things you're doing to pre-cede each performance. The week the finalists "auditioned" as each other was painfully bad. Show what's going on with their coaching and mentoring and how they're getting prepared to perform. 

5. Get a producer or A&R person on the judging panel. Three artists as judges is hurting. You're getting one point of view, sort of like having only three writers judge a songwriting competition instead of getting a publisher into the mix. 

I could go on, but five is a nice number, so I'll stop here. 

Am I wrong? What do you think? Can Idol be saved?

Maybe once a week here on the WORD...SMITH blog, I'll share a song I've written and tell a little about how it came about. Thought some of you might enjoy this one. 

Dianne Wilkinson is a legend in southern gospel music, but I've only been writing with her less than a year. She emailed me and said this title just wouldn't let her go, and in the lyric, I just tried to think about what that song would say. So far, all my co-writes with Dianne have been via email. Anyone who has ever written with her will know why I say that I love getting her work tapes. They are part sermon, part encouragement, part instruction to those who will be making the demo, and ALL Dianne. I just love her!

THE SONG OF THE RANSOMED 
V1
There’s an echo of hope from a hill far away
A rising crescendo from one empty grave
And the soul-stirring cry of those who were slaves
Walking in freedom away from their chains
Chorus
It’s the song of the ransomed lifted in victory
The song of the ransomed forever redeemed
Oh hallelujah Jesus has saved us
This is the song that the ransomed sing
V2
Hear the hymn breaking forth from those who were lost
A glorious anthem that tells of the cross
For the curse is no more, our debt has been paid
Hear the forgiven, "Let Jesus be praised"
Chorus
Bridge
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
Chorus
Words and music by
Sue C. Smith/Dianne Wilkinson

Before I ever started to school, I couldn't wait to learn to read. When I was old enough for kindergarten, I was the kid who thought there was way too much play time and practicing the alphabet. But reading? No. 

In the middle of my kindergarten year, my family moved to the suburbs. The district we moved to didn't have kindergarten, and so I was put into the first grade. Reading was happening! On one of my first days, I remember the teacher writing "want" on the blackboard. I knew enough to try to sound out the word, but all I could think of was that "want" must either rhyme with "ant" or "paint." Neither of those could be right, could they? I don't really know why I remember so clearly my teacher pronouncing that mysterious word "want," but somehow learning that word seems to me to be the first moment I realized how powerful words could be. I thought, I want more.

I don't think I memorized the words to the first songs I learned. I think I just absorbed them like a sponge. I knew a lot of hymns long before I understood what the words meant.  I learned funny songs my mother sang and some songs from the '40s, which my cousin had on some old 78 records. Then one day my dad, who worked at a furniture store where they were selling the latest "hi-fi" record players, brought home a "demonstration" partial soundtrack to the Broadway production of My Fair Lady. Oh, how I loved those words! I listened by the hour to "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "On The Street Where You Live" and poured over the synopsis of the play in the album's liner notes, trying to figure out where and how those songs fit into the story. 

I had my crush on the pop songs of Elvis and The Everley Brothers and Brenda Lee and Motown and The Beatles, but Broadway had my heart. Carousel and Camelot and South Pacific and Oklahoma and The Music Man—each new set of lyrics were a feast to me. I would save my allowance until I had the money to buy the next Broadway cast album on my list, and then I would listen again and again until I knew every word of every song. 

There was always church music. My dad led the singing at church and mom sang in the choir. I fell asleep every Monday night hearing them in the living room, trying to figure out how to teach the choir some new song by Audrey Meier or something else from Manna Music. I think it was a blessing that my dad was completely untrained in music. What he knew, he learned because of the passion he had for it. The other constant in my week was watching my mom pour over her Matthew Henry commentaries as she prepared to teach Sunday school. In our home, words weren't thrown around carelessly. They mattered. 

I love that I can trace my passion for writing and for language back that far. Somehow I've always understood that words can change things. The words to songs can explode in your heart or clobber you over the head or make you laugh with delight one moment and have you sobbing the next. I will never get tired of trying to learn how to find the ones that affect people just that way. 

Occasionally someone will ask me when I'm going to retire. Retire. From writing songs! I always want to say, "Why would I do that when one of these days, I may figure out how to get this right?"