SCP #8: You And Her

Day 8, and I still haven't quite got my inner critic under control.  It sneaks up on me in the middle of experimenting with an idea and tells me it isn't good enough. Or it's not "me" enough. Or it's too much like something else I've written.  Or it's just not very interesting.  There's a very strong personal element that comes into play too, the idea isn't good, original or interesting enough and therefore you as a person aren't either.  If you let them take over, these feelings can stop any kind of creative progress in its tracks.  

And yet, it's complete folly to judge any kind of idea before it's fully formed.  If you get to the end and you don't like it you can throw it away, but if you never get there then how are you going to know whether it's really any good or not?  And perhaps something that doesn't grab you when you first conceive it will worm its way into your brain and start getting stuck there, suggesting new paths to explore.

Today was one of those personal days, where my worth as an individual seemed to depend on the quality of my creative output.  It wasn't until I gave myself permission to create something average just to get today's composition out of the way that I relaxed enough to start thinking creatively.

For this piece I lifted the melody directly from yesterday's song, and re-harmonised it.  I also transposed the final note down an octave to further detach it from yesterday's piece.  So although the pieces share a melody they have ended up quite different.  For the lyrics I let the word cobbles guide my writing exercises, and ended up with the deliciously percussive and alliterative line "tripping through streets in insensible shoes".  It's a sad one today.