When someone asks you, “How does that make you feel?” Does it put you on the spot? It might if you haven’t had practice writing that stuff down.
As songwriters, we try to give emotions away. Practicing at writing down when we are angry, or sad, or happy, is as easy as writing down what’s got us that way and how we reacted to it.
Let me give you and example:
I didn’t let my son ride in the front seat, ever, honest. Okay this one time to the store down the street we got the notion it would be fun if he rode in the front seat, just this once.
No sooner than I pulled out of the driveway, I was cut off, flipped off, and damn near run off the road. As soon as I got my bearings and made sure my son was ok, I flipped off back. I had become enraged because some jackass scared me. Generally, now, after this writing I’ve been doing, I now know that when I’m mad, it’s most likely because I’m afraid.
Think about how mad people are. Think about fear. Think about my reaction to being scared. Good lyrics there.
Journaling your emotions is not the same thing as journaling events. We aren’t journalists. We produce an emotional response if we do it right. I find if I get too hung up on events, the emotion part becomes muddied.
I like to think of a word, “laconic.” It means using very few words. I’m obviously no good at it. But, I do keep it in mind. “Turn of Phrase” is a title given to an interesting way of saying things. I find when I’m on my “Turn of Phrase” game, I’m also being laconic. They work together for me.
Good luck in your writing, and good luck looking at your emotions. K
This is not exactly on point, but I actually did write a song about having my little boy ride up front. It was a Christmas light show at the local park, and all the cars were going 5 mph so I figured it was safe just this once. It's one of my most cherished memories and I was glad to be able to put it into song and send it to him.