To produce hits, writers MUST be in touch with their own emotions and then they must communicate those feelings with both words and music that listeners can grasp. The key here is that we must learn to think like a songwriter in our approach to all of life. I heard something several years ago that changed my attitude toward painful life events. Most of the audience guessed that it would be Love. But then the speaker gave the real answer.
Love is only the second most universal experience.
It is my belief that great songwriters are usually also philosophers to some degree. They love life and they let life lead them into truth. Instead of using all their emotional energy to fight against the circumstances they are facing, they let their life experiences carry them into new understandings new sensitivities and, ultimately, into new creativity. John Jarrard, one of Nashville's most prolific songwriters, is the creator of hits for dozens of artists. If you are thinking like a songwriter as you travel through life, you will find songs everywhere in every circumstance, every person, every season and every day.