How Music Helps Me Write
I get ideas all the time, from so many different places. Whenever I’m asked how I come up with story lines, it’s difficult to explain the way things come to me. I thought I’d give you a little glimpse into my brain to show you an example of how lines from a song can spark an entire story for me. Here’s how I do it:
Miranda Lambert has a song called “Bluebird,” and if you haven’t heard it, you need to listen to it right now! Stop reading this and sing along for a second. Here’s a link for you: https://youtu.be/lnsQwvhuRiI
These lyrics in the song (by Miranda Lambert, co-written with Luke Dick and Natalie Hemby) grabbed me right away:
And if the house just keeps on winning
I got a wildcard up my sleeve
And if love keeps giving me lemons
I'll just mix 'em in my drink
And if the whole wide world stops singing
And all the stars go dark
I'll keep a light on in my soul
Keep a bluebird in my heart
A whole lot goes on in my brain when I hear these lyrics. To show you, I’ll start a brand new story right now, using them. Here we go!
The first four lines are all about how we can get down on our luck sometimes, but we need to keep our head up, make lemons our of lemonade, right? Let’s translate that into characters…
Josie sat on the front steps of her apartment building next to her suitcases, wondering what the meaning of all this was. In her mind, there could only be one meaning; she just hoped she was right. She’d left the cotton-field summers and the hay bales of her family barn in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, packed up her boots, and moved to New York City to follow her boyfriend Brad and his dreams, and now he was gone. He’d moved on without her. Through the remnants of tears she’d shed as she’d packed the last of her life into two oversized bags, Josie peered down at the plane ticket in her hand—one way from LaGuardia to BNA in Nashville—a new sense of purpose filling her. It was time to follow her own dreams for once.
The last line of the stanza above mentions a bluebird. According to an article, this might not have been what the songwriters intended, but I immediately thought of the tiny little café where a lot of musicians get their start: https://bluebirdcafe.com/history That got me thinking about where the story should go…
Josie had stopped singing to follow Brad’s dream, but lingering in her soul was that moment so long ago when she’d managed to get herself a table at the Bluebird in Nashville. She’d been mesmerized by a singer that night—a young girl with a silky voice and a handful of guitar chords that blew Josie away. That night, Josie had gone home and practiced out in the barn, playing for the horses she’d ridden since she was a girl. She strummed until she could play every single one of those chords, the whole time thinking that one day she’d be the one playing for people.
Josie stood up and grabbed her guitar case by the handle. It was time.
From a few lines in a Miranda Lambert song, I’ve got the seed of a story. And so it begins…
I actually had the chance to go to the Bluebird Cafe and hear songwriters perform their songs. I had the fortune of hearing a lost set of lyrics from Zac Brown’s “Colder Weather” that not only completely changed the meaning of the song for me, but it also inspired a couple of paragraphs in my upcoming summer release.
I can’t wait to share it with you! It’ll be out this June!