I have just returned from my solo songwriting retreat. Eight days. I have been in a couple of locations, Jackfish Lake and the Cypress Hills. It has been a time of solitude, rejuvenation and songwriting. I can say that the retreat was successful in that I wrote some songs which was my intention. It was also successful in that I had moments of pure joy, whether it was hiking along some snowy trails or listening to the lodgepole pines cry out in the wind or finding a melody that brought me comfort and more joy.
I actually wrote five songs that I like, three of them I love. I realize as I listen with as much distance that is possible, that I fall in love with melodies and a couple of the songs have great melodies. Haunting melodies. I have been reading a lot about uncertainty and finding ways of loosening up by saying I don’t know and maybe. Well, I know that the songs I have written speak to me and that is about as far as I can go. I now have 15 songs to choose 8 from for my upcoming album. There are a few more in the vault but I know that they are not ones that I want for this album. It is shaping into a grouping of songs about hope. I wonder which ones will be chosen. I wonder….
Later perhaps, I will have more of an idea of how one decides which songs are the best. Are they the ones that fit the best together, have the best melodies, the best lyrics??? I’m not sure right now and I am going to try to allow myself some time to be unsure, uncertain. There can be a lightening up, a loosening of the shoulders, a deepening of the breath with letting go of the need to know, to be certain.
Have some fun with creativity and do something for yourself that nourishes you.
In creativity and song,
Wanda G.
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