Why I Didn’t Quit Songwriting (And Why You Shouldn’t Either)

By Marty Dodson, SongTown Co-founder

Years ago, I found myself in a place I think many songwriters reach at some point — standing at the crossroads of doubt and desire. I had poured countless hours into writing, co-writing, editing, and pitching songs… and still, I wasn’t seeing the results I hoped for. No cuts. No radio play. No life-changing phone calls. Just a blank page, a guitar, and a growing feeling that maybe I wasn’t cut out for this after all.

The idea of quitting whispered louder with each passing rejection.

But every time I got close to walking away, something deeper pulled me back — not a promise of success or fame, but a reminder of why I started writing songs in the first place.

And none of those reasons had anything to do with results.

I didn’t start writing songs to become rich and famous. I didn’t start so I could tell people I had hits on the charts. I started because I needed a voice. I needed a way to express what was inside me — the emotions, the stories, the truths that didn’t always find their way out in everyday conversation.

Songwriting gave me that outlet.

I started because I wanted to create something that didn’t exist before. The act of shaping words and melodies out of thin air and crafting them into something that could move someone — even if it was just me at the time — was magic. And magic, I realized, is worth pursuing whether or not it ever “pays off” in the traditional sense.

When I stopped chasing results and started reconnecting with my purpose, something shifted. The pressure lifted. The joy returned. I started writing better songs, more authentic songs — and eventually, yes, the results started coming too. But by then, they were the bonus, not the reason I wrote.

If you’re reading this and wondering whether to keep going, let me tell you:

every songwriter hits walls. Every creative person faces doubt. But don’t let temporary lack of recognition make you forget your permanent reasons for creating.

Write because it heals something inside you.
Write because it connects you to others.
Write because you love it.

And write because the world always needs more beauty, more truth, more stories.

You don’t have to have a hit song to be a real songwriter. If you write songs, you are one. And if you keep showing up, keep growing, and keep listening to that inner voice that led you here in the first place — who knows where your music might take you?

But even if it just takes you back to yourself, that might be more than enough.

-Marty