I heard about a study the other day that said most unemployed people would rather stay unemployed than have to go through retraining for a job. I don't think those people should consider songwriting. I am constantly reminded that you never quit learning how to write songs. Just about the time I think I know what I'm doing, I discover something new. I realize that something I had considered a "rule" is no longer valid. I find that things would turn out so much better if I just did something a different way.

Here's what I learned or re-learned last week:

1. Approach every songwriting situation with the attitude "I'll try." There used to be so many people I couldn't write with because I wasn't comfortable with their "way" of writing. One day it hit me that I was really limiting my circle of co-writers because I was afraid to get out of my comfort zone, and I made up my mind to just get over myself and learn to write in the way my co-writer found comfortable. That changed so much for me and it ended up making me a better writer. 

Last week in one co-write I sat at the keyboard while we wrote the melody. I figured out the chords, and most shocking of all, I played the work tape! I survived, the song got written, and I'm excited to try it again. 

2. Hold most ideas loosely. Sure there are ideas you'll want to guard for just the right time and co-writer. There may be some ideas that are so personal that you want to write them by yourself. But most ideas aren't like that. They're really just another idea in a list of ideas that you have. If you hoard every idea and wait for the perfect co-write to bring it out, there may be golden opportunities you miss in the meantime. 

I had a completed lyric I had been holding. I had decided that I was going to try to write the melody myself. Last week in a co-write, the artist and slot we were going to try to write for fit that idea so well. So I threw it out on the table. The lyric I thought was finished had to be tweaked some to make it work. There was a time when I would have resisted doing that, but I let go. The song is so much better for it. 

3. Trust God's plan. Schedules get messed up. Sometimes someone gets a date on their calendar that wasn't confirmed, and sometimes the opposite happens—a date you thought was set doesn't happen. When you've tried to be organized and tried to confirm your appointments, at some point if things are still messed up, you've got figure that God is changing your schedule for a reason. 

That happened last week. I'm so thankful it did. God was in it. Eventually the co-write that was "supposed" to happen, will happen. But the day that my schedule was messed up turned out to be God's plan. It was clear right away, but even when it isn't clear, God has a plan for my days. 

4. Be faithful to prepare. For me a big part of that preparation means reading my Bible.

Last week, I read a very familiar Bible story one morning, the story of a miracle that I have loved since I was a little girl. I wrote in the margin of my Bible an idea it gave me, and while I was getting ready to leave for the day, I started thinking about some lines of lyric. I took the idea with me to the next day's co-write, and what my co-writers brought to my few lines was amazing. But if I hadn't read the story that morning, I'm pretty certain that idea would have never occurred to me. 

Those were my songwriting lessons last week. What about you? 

When people ask what I've been up to, I usually find myself saying, "Just trying to keep all the balls in the air." Sometimes I feel like this clown. Don't you? Trying to keep all the different parts of your life in balance, in the air, and all moving exactly right. 

(Insert great advice here about how to do this well.) 

I spent a big chunk of last week working on the new Write About Jesus web site. I backed up my laptop and did a clean reinstall of my operating system. I wrote a little bit. I pitched songs. John and I watched our regular shows and baseball and went to see Heaven Is For Real. 

Now I'm back in Nashville for a three week stretch. The new Write About Jesus web site is live. People are actually registering for the workshop this October—registering in May! I'm writing. Pitching. Reading. Praying. Blogging. Just keeping all the balls in the air. 

I took a break from blogging for a few weeks after Easter. Don't know if anyone noticed, but honestly I couldn't think of a thing to say. I had a fun trip to Texas where I got to write with some amazing friends as well as visit with kids and grandkids and experience the most incredible Good Friday service I've ever attended. Then it was back to Nashville for another week of writing. I came home yesterday after nearly three weeks away. 

I am not complaining. John always says people choose their schedule for the most part, and this is the one I have chosen and I love almost all the time. God has somehow equipped me for not minding long, frequent drives, so at some point if I can't write anymore, maybe I will try over-the-road trucking. I'm thankful for satellite radio and audio books and playlists on my phone and cruise control and the interstate highway system. And any time they want to come out with that car that drives itself, I'll be happy to help test that.

Looking back over the past three weeks, what I love most is seeing the songs I've been part of writing, and the list of people I've written with. Songs about resting in the finished work of the cross, prayer, praising God in the storm, God's presence and His goodness, Heaven, grace, and Christmas. They sound like simple, much-used ideas, but I have loved every moment of chasing them down with 10 different co-writers, if I'm counting correctly. 

I'm headed off for an overnight trip with John, and then I'll have a week at home to rest and re-charge and work on Write About Jesus stuff, and get ready to climb in the car and start it all again. After nearly 15 years of this schedule, I still love it and know I'm blessed.