Band on the Run; A lesson in versatility

I have been taking a Songwriting course for three months. Recently, the owner of the Management Co. that offers the course gave me some opportunities to learn by doing: to write or collaborate on some music for a new artist heading into the studio in the next month or so. OF COURSE I jumped at that opportunity! So last week and this I wrote some songs for her, and I have discovered some exciting challenges along the way:

-When you write words for someone else to sing, you don't necessarily form them the same way you might say them yourself.
-When you write music for someone whose style is very different from your own, it is a lot more work to make it work!
-You can only learn this by trying, and trying again.
-There are definite musical and lyrical things that play into the commercialism of a song.
-Sometimes it's easy to limit yourself to whichever style has worked for you in the past...writing for someone else helps you jump back out of that box, dust yourself off, and try something new.

So I'm learning as I go...I'm walking through all of the open doors I see, and I'm eager to keep trying new things. Whether any of these songs make it into her studio or not, I don't know, but I've learned some valuable lessons in versatility. I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store next!

And if I hear someone else singing my words on the radio someday, that would be very cool.