How do you balance songwriting with your career and personal life?

I think, i had to read this today early morning! Good one. I can literally write songs on anything and everything and hence, that is tough for me but good commercially, coz you should be able to deliver and meet expectations of projects as per demand in order to be paid for your work. Personally I have my "why" defined very clearly to help me guide my way to writing.

It is much easier to write from the heart and from the soul. Our experiences can create depth within our art so it is important to channel the deepest of the emotions to create a really good song. Sometimes it is very difficult when the emotion is pain but it works as therapy. you get it out of you onto paper and then onto a recording device. The process of recording a song can be fun and at times painful but if you are true to yourself those emotions will make it easy to add depth into your music. Ever wonder why a lot of new music doesn't feel good? People aren't using their own experiences to write. They are just following what others have done.

Because music is my career added to the arts administration, I have no challenges on that. About my personal life, I still working on balancing to build time for self-care and delivery more time for my family and friends. It is important to understand that I need time for myself outside of music and make sure to make efforts to create opportunities to improve my quality of life with loved ones.

Make songwriting a habit (for example booking short time slots for that purpose at least a few times a week, and do not skip!). Make the access of your songwriting tools as easy as possible. And take note of every single idea you might have during the day, like recording voice memos on your phone.

I find it that with music, since it can be loud if you sing or play an acoustic instrument, Place/Space is more important than time. Art finds you at random times but if you don't have the place to let it out, it won't matter what time it comes. Create a safe place so when inspiration hits, you can go to your sacred space.

I find it hard to let go of my perfectionism and high standard. It is a problem. As long as I don't stop learning and working on the songs, I find that they keep improving even if it has been sitting there for years. Every time I get back to a song and make it better I feel thankful I didn't release a rushed piece of art.

A collaboration that creates contrast is better than one that doesn't add anything to the art. The feeling of sharing a piece of art is so bonding. Having another artist share your initial passion for the art that hasn't yet become popular is very motivating.

No matter what people may say: Always register your songs with BMI or ASCAP unless the service you are using will register them for you. If you feel strongly that a song my become a hit I'll even recommend copyrighting it. you don't want to wait to deal with the legal ramifications of not doing the paperwork and the amount of money you may lose.