Do It, Write It, Sing It

This week I wrote my first full song since Everleigh's birth, and it felt so good to have one of those moments where the song really writes itself. It has been AWHILE since music has felt so effortless and fun.

Scott has written Evie two singsong-y baby tunes since she made her appearance, and she absolutely loves hearing them both over and over and over. Maybe I'll post us singing these sometime ;) warning: they are super cheesy baby-themed songs. But whatever the kid likes, am I right?

Ok, enough about that. Needless to say, my brand spanking new song is about Ev and all the ways she has changed my life. I was shooting for simple and honest lyrics with a fun, hummable tune, and I think I've almost got it nailed down. It really made me wonder about writers (songwriters included) and how they communicate about their world. I guess part of me was like, "is it lame to write this song about my daughter? Too contemporary country (Taylor Swift-y)? Too Hallmark-ish?" But at the end of the day I knew I had to be true to what I was feeling. To write about MY experience and MY world right now, which (in case you haven't noticed) is very baby-centric.

Then I thought about the great songs I know about babies or children, as well as the artists with kids who haven't ever touched on it. I guess everyone's style is different and the mind is a very complex thing, but it would be tough for me to write about much else right now. Motherhood has changed the way I eat, sleep, think, function, dream, love, think about others, think about myself, and probably some other things I'm missing ;)

In my songwriting history, I've written many a ditty about relationships (mine and other people's), about girls I knew who were tragic and beautiful, about feeling happy, silly, in love, brokenhearted, stoned, confused, depressed, curious, and many many more. But even the songs I've written based on a character or on someone else's story have in some way connected with a part of me.

Writers out there--where do you draw inspiration? (from experience, from pure imagination, from pills (jk)? Do major life events always creep up in your work or not at all?

Oh, and PS:
1) Create
2) create
3) create