A letter from SongFancy creator, Sarah Spencer

"Hi SongFancy writer!

I'm Sarah, nice to meet you! I'm from central Florida, I live in Nashville, and songwriting is my obsession.

Writing has been in my blood ever since I can remember.

I started writing stories in middle school. They were pretty bad.

(I mean, rl rl bad.)

They were about dorky stuff like alien abductions, ghosts, and other weird sci-fi. But I loved it—writing my weird little short stories gave me the freedom to be myself.

From there, my obsession progressed to include poetry, lyrics, piano instrumentals, and finally, when I put it all together, pop songs.

I haven't put down the pen since.

I began studying the songs I heard on the radio.

I carefully dissected my favorite tracks from my favorite artists.

I wanted to find what made them tick, what made me love them so much.

I read liner notes and lyrics and was glued to my CD collection. Popular music of the 2000's was like a lifeline, and I paid attention to every. Single. Word.

After college, where I dutifully completed a BFA in Graphic Design, it only took a few months post-graduation for me to realize that this whole 'writing music thing' was actually something I wanted to take seriously.

I couldn't kid myself any longer. The comfortable job at the software company designing government websites was nice and all, but my heart was being pulled elsewhere.

So in the summer of 2012, I quit my job and moved to Nashville to write songs. It was the best decision I could have ever made for myself.

Since then, I've checked many items off my songwriting career bucket list, including:

• Getting my songs cut by artists
• Hearing my songs played on the radio
• Performing in the round at the Bluebird Cafe
• Winning the Great American Song Contest
• Winning the Country category of the USA Songwriting Competition
• Placing in the Top 10 in the NSAI Songwriting Competition
• Releasing an EP
• Working as a session vocalist
• Becoming a prolific writer
• Publishing a book of song prompts
• Making some of the best friendships I never could have imagined I would make

 

 

While I haven't reached all my goals just yet, I've learned so much about what it takes to be a dedicated, happy, working songwriter.

And that's why I started SongFancy. I wanted to share with other writers, everything that helped me when I was struggling.

When I'm faced with writer's block, a loud inner critic, rejection, and loneliness, I've learned the skills to take care of myself and get back to the joy of writing songs.

Artists of all mediums are told that we have to me miserable (and poor) in order to be real artists.

I'm calling bullshit.

I've you've been told that before, my message to you is: 'You don't have to suffer just because you're a songwriter.'

The tortured artist is a cliche that you don't have to buy into.

We've brought other brilliant songwriters and performers into the SongFancy universe to share their wisdom, as well. You'll see tons of guest posters sharing their knowledge about songwriting, mental health, and performance. They bring a fresh perspective to the blog, and we're so blessed to know them.

I cannot wait to hear what you're writing. I truly hope you enjoy the blog and learn something new every day. Get on our email list and we'll send new songwriting tips to your inbox each week as they publish.

Happy writing, Fanciers!"

xoxoxo,
Sarah at SongFancy