February Album Writing Month

Each February since 2007 I’ve been participating in FAWM–February Album Writing Month–a web site started by Burr Settles back in 2004.  The idea of this site is to invite songwriters from all over the world, whether professional or just hobbyists, to a challenge where you write 14 songs (about the average for an “album,” in 28 days.  If you meet the challenge and post 14 songs on your FAWM page by the end of the month, you are one of the “winners,” although there are no actual prizes other than the satisfaction that you completed an ambitious goal.

So–have I ever reached that goal?  No.  The closest I’ve come is around eight or nine songs, but I don’t do it to “win”.  I do it, I suspect, for the same reasons that the several hundred folks involved every year do it:  to post your songs and get feedback in the form of comments from other songwriters from all over the world.  I never cease to be amazed when I check my posted songs and read comments from people who are total strangers, but somehow found my song and took the time out of their busy day to listen and write a comment.  The comments are almost always positive, as, I imagine, folks who don’t like the song will simply not leave a comment.  This doesn’t bother me at all.

There are a number of people from SummerSongs and WinterSongs, the songwriting camps that I attend each August and February, who also participate in FAWM.  It’s extra fun to perform some of the songs I write in February, then perform them at WinterSongs live.  Other FAWMers, as they’re called, are local artists that I meet at gigs or festivals.

So if you aren’t familiar with FAWM and want to check out my page and songs, just go to http://fawm.org/fawmers/papajoe/ and see and/or listen for yourself.  If you’re a songwriter or maybe you think you’d like to try crafting some tunes, it’s not to late to join the fun!