Bruce Springsteen, one of the best songwriters of all time, has said that for every song that ends up on an album, he’s written four more that never see the light of day. This just goes to show that the art of songwriting is one that must be based in practice. One of the best pieces of advice for any songwriter is to write every day. Not to necessarily write a song every day, but to write something everyday, be it a couple lines that may become a song, a story or, on those special days when the inspiration comes, an entire song.

And inspiration being the fickle beast that it is, writing every day (whether inspired or not) will bring not only better writing overall, but the important ability to be able to tell when true inspiration does hit—to know when to drop everything else and focus your energy on the song coming out of you. But most of the time, the process should be varied: write in the morning one day with your coffee and late at night in bed the next. Continual writing is key to developing yourself into a great songwriter.