If you show up to work five days in a row, nobody's going to pat you on the back - everyone does that. Well, do that with your writing. Just show up. Be there for it. When you get an idea, write it down somewhere and then be a steward of that idea.

I don't sit down and say I'm going to write a song about this or that. They are never mapped out.

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

Sometimes I'll write without the guitar or the piano, but most of the time I'll be playing and just improvising some words. And when I get something that sounds good, a line with a story in it, I'll try and tease it out and figure out where the story is going.

I write for a lot of places, so I'm on a lot of promo lists.

A big part of reporting is just being present. You have to show up ten days in a row to get the one telling detail.