Tuesday 26 January 2016

Writer's Block. It's a B*tch. Make it YOUR B*tch.

"I'm at a loss for words 'cause y'all already said it all
I think I'm runnin' out of clichesI'm gettin' writer's block" - Eminem, Writer's Block

This is going to be a long and slightly more serious one, not boring though! Would I ever bore you ;) I just hope people can take something away from this.

So I just wrote a blog post for www.GNothingness.com about motivation, as I write for them now, but I don’t get as personal on there as I would on here, so I thought I’d do one on here too. 
Writer’s block, lack of motivation, self esteem is all very familiar for a lot people unfortunately, for a musician/artist, it is one of the most crushing and frustrating things.

So many people have written about this in the past, but I am really hoping that what I write could help at least one person who happens to stumble on my blog instead of the countless others.

Let me start by telling you a little bit about me. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a singer, as far back as I remember, I used to lie in bed dreaming about being on stage, recording in a studio and writing music that people connected to. No matter how you say your ‘dream is to be a singer’, it sounds a bit childish, naive and I feel like people will probably laugh and say ‘and now you’ve grown up, what do you want to do?’ as if singing is just a fantasy and not a real career. Obviously, no one ever has, but I’d understand why if they did. It really is one in a million, and I’m not even talking about selling out stadiums, just making a living off writing and singing!
Technology these days makes it so easy to get your music out there, but at the same time even harder, because that also makes the competition greater with the amount of people who can easily upload music. I am still undecided whether I think the internet has hindered or helped people’s chances.

So I find personally, knowing how hard it all is makes it so much harder to push myself to go for it. I am going to put that down to self belief. For me it’s because of years of bullying, I can never get back. I never knew the extent of how much this effected me until recently (That is a subject for a whole new post) For others it might be different. But whatever it is, you CAN turn it round.
As soon as I say ‘self belief’ I feel like this is going to turn into one of those emotional psychological therapy blog posts, so I won’t say it again haha.. BUT, it is true, if you don’t have high confidence levels, it is SO much harder to push yourself to keep going or even know where to start.

Here’s a few things I have found definitely help:


  • Surround yourself with like minded people, people who inspire you, people who will push you and be blunt with you when you’re being a miserable b*tch for no reason. My best friend is my hero for this.
  • Don’t stay in and watch Netflix all day on your days off, as tempting as it is. Maybe every now and then, but trust me,  it’s an unhealthy addiction!


  • If people are holding you back, cut chords (literally… aren’t I clever). If they're taking too long to send a track back, if they're flaky and seem to disappear every now and then, move on. It’s too easy to blame it on other people, so work with people who push you to keep going.
  • Do something different. See something new. Break your routine, it's obviously not inspiring. When has the same thing day in and day out EVER been where incredible things come from?!
  • Connect to how you’re feeling, use it to write something that could actually speak to people, a song that has personal meaning is always better written because you care more
  • You don’t have to do it on your own. Song writing doesn’t have to be something you stay up all night on your own trying to create a masterpiece. When you write with other people, bring styles and ideas together, THAT is when you create something incredible
  • Now, here is the most important one. It’s uncomfortable, it’s not pleasant at first, but I have been told it gets a hell of a lot easier, you have to put yourself out there. Hold your breath and just go, say yes to someone who wants to work with you, sing your idea to someone. There is no easy way around this, you just have to do it. If you do, tell me how it goes and I will tell you also.
  • Here is the final one, someone commented this on my GNothingness post and I love it; Remember why you started. That is ALWAYS your strongest reason to carry on, ALWAYS. You wouldn’t throw all your passion, time and heart into something you didn’t truly love, live and breath.



That’s it, possibly my longest post to date. I really hope you get something out of this, and I hope you read it all the way through. Being able to make music is a beautiful thing, a true talent, you ARE special if you can do it. So KEEP GOING!

Much Love,

Chloë XO

);