Posts by Marty Dodson

When I first started trying to write as a profession, I talked to my wife (now my ex-wife) and asked for 2 years to chase my dream of becoming a songwriter. She agreed to work part time and I would work part time writing and we would tag-team with the kids. When she worked, I…

When I was a rookie songwriter, I don’t know how many times I had someone tell me “you have to write FROM your title”. Looking back, I think that advice contributed to some weak songs. At the time, I didn’t need any help writing a weak song. After gaining more experience and writing hundred of…

One of the most common questions I get is “How much furniture does my song need?” What the writer means, is “How many nouns and adjectives should my song have?” For instance, if I talk about my rusty blue Ford truck, I have painted you a picture. If I just mention my truck with no…

I believe that our writing “muscles” are just like any other muscle group. If we want to be as flexible as possible, we have to stretch those muscles from time to time. So, this morning, I wanted to give your brain and maybe your writing muscles a little “Morning Stretch”. It makes me cringe every…

Here are some ways to judge whether you are writing “better” commercial songs. No one of these measures alone determines “writing better,” but putting all of them together gives you a pretty good sense of your progress: Are you writing more unique ideas? Look at the songs you wrote a year ago compared to the…

The more accurate you are in regard to this self-assessment, the better success you will have attracting co-writers who fill in the blanks for you. 1) Be the kind of co-writer you hope to find. If you are organized and professional, then you will be more likely to attract that kind of person. If you…

Years ago, I had a big write scheduled and it got cancelled the morning of the write. One of the biggest writers I had ever written with traded me for a co-write with Cher. I couldn’t blame him, but I was very let down. My publisher said “Turn time on your hands into better songs.”…

Pitching songs that are not ready or that are not in the ballpark for the artist you are pitching to is one of the fastest ways to burn bridges.  In fact, doing either of those things is effectively pouring gasoline on the bridge.  Way too many people pitch songs prematurely and significantly hurt their chances…

One of the biggest things most people could do to improve their writing is to master the art of rewriting song lyrics. For my whole career, I’ve heard the saying… “Good songs are written but great songs are rewritten.” I have found that to be true in most cases. Sometimes, a song just falls out…