I've participate in FAWM for several years now. FAWM stands for February Album Writing Month. I think the first FAWM I did was in 2011 along with my little brother. The idea of doing 14 songs in 28 days, or 1 song every 2 days seemed really overwhelming so we did it collaboratively. It was a great experience, yielding not so great songs, but I've done FAWM on and off with varying degrees of success a good handful of times since then. The main idea of FAWM is to work quickly, getting 14 songs done with speed not quality. Instead of waiting for inspiration to strike, you just do the work and the inspiration comes. I think this way of working creatively is really valuable. It puts one in a more "professional" mindset, and though difficult to put into practice, the times I've been able to do it has usually yielded better than expected results. And certainly some results are better than NO results. FAWM is also great because there is a wonderful community of folks all trying to do the same thing. If you join and get involved, the community is so encouraging and that helps a lot too. Learn more at FAWM.org.
This year I want to do at LEAST the full 14 songs. In the past I've often done like 5-8 songs. I think I only hit the full 14 songs one time and I cheated a bit in doing so. I also want to make use of some specific gear/instruments that I have and often don't use. These 2 goals are pretty much the same goals I have each year, and I usually don't hit them. However, I'm going to go ahead and list everything that I want to accomplish so when I'm stuck looking at my computer and a blank Logic session, I will look at this list and just start doing something. Here are some goals:
Ideally I'd like to use FAWM to put together a bunch of demos that can be re-assessed and turn the best ones into real songs that could be released as singles or be put on an album or EP. This is a bit ambitious, especially considering the time of year and what I need to do for work, but this is a major pursuit nevertheless.
weird synth toys that I want to use more often
By far one of the biggest challenges in accomplishing all of the above is that we will be re-opening the little cafe that we run right in the middle of February. That means that most of the first part of February will also be spent setting up and planning for the re-open. We've only been doing this for a couple of years, but each time we reopen after our winter closure there is a lot to adjust and take into account, so I'm worried that I will be too spent to make all my FAWM goals happen. But that's just life eh?! I'm going to go for it regardless, and maybe do some writing, recording or basic producing at the cafe. It is a good challenge and I think it will come out all the better if I can push through. You are welcome to follow along with me, and I'll be making updates and posting songs on my FAWM profile.
my guitar chilling on a cafe table
(originally written by Ben on Jan 24th, 2021)