Here comes February Album Writing Month

It's time for February Album Writing Month 2013, at http://fawm.org. The FAWM challenge: to write 14 songs during the 28 days of February.

Writing quickly with a deadline is a great way to build your strength as a songwriter. If you never face a deadline, you you might be holding on to lazy, sloppy, inefficient writing habits.  It's like an athlete who works out but never plays a game or runs a race, or like an actor who practice lines and characters but never gets onstage.  Putting your feet to the fire forces you to do better.  That's why I recommend participating in FAWM to anyone who wants to become a better songwriter.

For the month of February, I'll be posting songwriting suggestions — ideas that you can take and build into a song for FAWM or for any other purpose.  Sometimes it's hard to get past the initial hurdle of deciding what to write about.  If you find yourself in that situation, check back here for  songwriting suggestions, and see one of them helps you get started a little faster on your next song.

Record your album in February

Following in the footsteps of November, which has become known as Novel Writing Month, February is now the month to write and record your album.

Now, don't let me hear you complain that February is the shortest month of the year! Sure, it's 48 hours shorter than November. But we're just recording an album, not walking across a continent or writing a novel. Many of the best albums in history were recorded in less than a month — with less stuff to work with than you have on your own computer.

At fawm.org, they make it even easier. You don't have to record your album, just write it! Their challenge is simple: write 14 songs in 28 days. They promise a supportive community to keep you engaged through the month. Take a look at http://fawm.org.

Personally, I urge you to not just write, but record your album in February. That reflects where I'm at personally. For me, writing songs without recording anything is just a way of procrastinating. It's like buying running shoes and then not actually going out and running.

RPM Challenge, at http://www.rpmchallenge.com, is the website that challenges you to record your album in February. Unfortunately, their site seems to be stone dead right now, with February just a few days away. Anyone know what's up with RPM Challenge? Post a comment if you have the scoop.

Also post if you know of any other February project sites that people should know about. Thanks!

You don't need to sign up with a website to write and record your album in February. You could just do it.

I personally am not doing any February-oriented challenges. But one of my bands is committed to recording an album in 2010, and we've set ourselves a special challenge: to record 100 tracks for our album in the first 100 days of the year. (In this context, recording one instrument on one song = one track.) That challenge will be my main focus in February.

If you decide to take on either of the February challenges, or if you make up your own challenge, good luck! Feel free to post a comment here to report your progress or link to your demos. May the force of inspiration be with you!