GarageSpin

Remember Jonathan Coulton, the Song-A-Week machine?  There's a really good interview with him at CecilVortex about songwriting, its challenges, and how Jonathan dealt with them.  I last posted about inspiration for new songs.  Here's an interesting, related exchange from the interview:

CV: How did you stay focused and productive, particularly on those days when you were feeling a little less inspired?

JC: Solitude and boredom. If I ever found myself stuck, that was usually a good time to take a long walk or a bike ride. There was something about separating myself from all the instruments and gear in the studio that made things move forward -- I think it's easy to get bogged down in a particular detail when what you really need to do is brush lightly over the surface of the whole thing. And I have so many patterns that I rely on when I'm actually playing the guitar that it can sometimes be a hindrance to write with it in my hands -- my brain makes different choices when it's by itself.