I need this now...Ira Glass

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

I am not really fighting my way through FAWM, I am enjoying it....But if I start reading other peoples lyrics or listening to their songs, I start to doubt myself....The good thing about this songwriting challenge is that it doesn't leave much time to think about others because you are too busy writing the songs and recording them and networking on the Fawm site....


Here is my page on the Fawm site...I think you can listen to the songs without signing on to the site...
These are demo songs...not fully polished....quick!  one a day for me!   and on a very very simple (compared to some !!) iPad app, not a proper recording studio...

/Fawm Cynthia Wolff

A brand new Fawmer is a Fawmling.

Portrait of a brand new Fawmling.

I have signed up for Fawm, which stands for February Album Writing Month.  It is a songwriting challenge that invites the participant to write 14 songs in one month.  This is quite a monumental task for me to take in hand, seeing as I have only just started to write my own songs and am very new to the actual recording process. I think. however, that this will move me forward into becoming a better songwriter.

The challenge begins on February 1st.  I have already signed up for a "skirmish" which means you have to write a song within one hour of opening time...Yikes!  I do feel that this will be nothing but a win-win for me...it will propel me forward and get me past fear and procrastination.

I have already connected to some real nice folks...Fawm is a lot like the blogging community.  They are kind, caring people with similar interests and goals.   I have had a lot of my questions answered by total strangers, people who have taken the time out of their busy schedules to contact me -some who I hope in time will become friends.  You can also collaborate with other songwriters...something I would love to try, but due to my limited recording facilities and file sharing 

ability with the program I am using, I shall have to wait until I get the hang of Garageband.

 Garageband, which is built into my computer is a maze...really difficult...I haven't even been able to record my music...  Wish I could.  I did manage to make a pretty freaky Techno Trance song which is a bunch of loops, sounds and me singing like a banshee, with lots of echo and effects...Kinda Kool!  But for this challenge, I will be using a simple app on my iPad called Spire.  It records 4 tracks and ought to work just fine for me at this stage of the game....it is, after all, about the writing of the songs, so the production of the actual recording, at least for me, is not as important as finishing the challenge, meaning getting those 14

songs written. 

So if this sounds interesting to you, you have until February 1st to join in.

If you want to keep up with my writings here is the link to  

My fawm site