Page 29 - Song Maps - A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics - Simon Hawkins

Honoring the idea
I'm not sure how to prove what I'm about to say. All I know is that from my experience it's as true as the sun will rise tomorrow morning. It's this:
THE MORE YOU HONOR YOUR SONG IDEAS, THE MORE IDEAS WILL ARRIVE
What I mean by "honor" is, when an idea arrives, whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whoever you're with, capture it and put it somewhere safe.
This can be done in several ways:
Speak or hum it into your phone
Jot it down in an email to yourself
Write it and record it into Evernote (my favorite), or Simply write it on the nearest piece of paper you can find.
There have been seasons in my life when my focus has been less on writing and more on other work, traveling, living in a dangerous place (Nigeria, but that's another story). During these seasons, I have found that ideas gradually start to turn up less and less often. It's almost like I've taken off my "songwriter ears" for a time, and until I make a real effort to put them back on again, I'm deaf to the golden song possibilities my subconscious will lead me to in the everyday, ordinary things of life. I have found a similar thing happens with blogging.
For that reason, I'm a firm believer in capturing every idea that comes to me. I keep them in a safe place (ideally in Evernote or Dropbox so they are backed up, and I can access them anywhere at any time). Where you put these little pieces of gold doesn't matter as much as you getting to them at some point in the future.
I have paper napkins, flyers, hotel notepaper going back over 30 years filed in my studio. I will never throw them out. This forms the basis of my idea bank of over 500 writable ideas, which are stored electronically in a database, accessible everywhere.
When ideas arrive in your sleep
Have you ever woken up with a song idea running through your head? Sometimes a lyric line, sometimes a melody. There is something special about that alpha/theta state on the edge of sleep that helps imagination thrive. And in that halfway place between being fully conscious and being fast asleep, there have been many blockbuster songs written. At least in my head!
I both love and hate it when this happens. I love it because all ideas are like finding gold, and if they stand the test of fresh eyes and ears in the morning, I have been given a real gift. I hate it because they inevitably mean I have to get out of bed, and either write something down or record something on my iPhone.
I know I'm not the only one who does this.
But sometimes, before I get out of bed, I need to "stress test" the idea in my head to make sure it's worth breaking up my night for. For example: