It is no secret that music has tremendous power. It can heal emotional wounds, boost moods, decrease pain, and improve brain interaction. In short, music, as a universal language, has the power to influence and change lives, therefore changing the world. Singer/songwriter Jena Douglas has been using songwriting as a tool to gain emotional strength and guidance for years. In her step-bystep guide, Douglas compiles more than twenty-five years of music knowledge and tips on writing hit songs, the music business, and the extoled benefits of songwriting as therapy.

Songwriting is more than just strumming a guitar and singing a tune. Douglas relies on her diverse experiences in the music industry to help others discover their natural voice, style and strengths. Aspiring songwriters will also learn how to create original lyrics, form basic chords, and learn beginning music theory. With Douglas’s guidance, songwriters will discover how to look within first, before creating a song – a process that ultimately encourages songwriters to evolve emotionally through the music they want to share with the world.

This book, Change The World-Write Your Song! can teach anyone to create their song and their vision of the world.

Introduction - I Am Who I Am.

I wrote my first song when I was around nine or ten years old and wrote a couple of songs in high school, while enduring the teenage blues. Ugh! My mom told me that if I couldn’t talk to her about what I was feeling, then I needed to “write it out on a piece of paper and burn it”, but instead I wrote a song! That was my first experience of writing songs for therapy. Songwriting helped me define what I was feeling; so then I was able to resolve that feeling. It didn’t always work because I didn’t know anything about the “law of attraction”, but it allowed me to pinpoint my emotions. Ever since then I have been using songwriting as a tool to cope with things and have learned that I am not alone. A lot of famous songwriters write songs as a way to express very deep emotions. I mean, as a teenager I listen to things like John Lennon’s “Isolation” and as an adult I wrote “Random Thoughts” using a variation of words from John Lennon’s song but not the melody. Songs and music, in general, are good for seizing the moment.

I grew up with the music of the late 60’s and 70’s. I also grew up to the utopia ideals during that era with songs like, “All You Need Is Love” and “What The World Needs Now Is Love”. The music all seemed to be pertaining to a feeling of love and peace (Yep, I’m a hippie at heart!). All through high school I loved to sing and write lyrics, but never thought about songwriting as a career until 1982 when I saw a performance of The Who that blew me away. Wow! I was so moved by the music, the words, and the dynamics of the music that I sang with my voice in “full power mode”. I was not alone. I was chanting, “See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me!” with about 60,000 other people. It was a utopia of emotions that grabbed me and I thought to myself, “I want to write songs like this!” Pete Townshend’s powerfully emotional style of songwriting inspired me to want to become a musician and songwriter. I was hooked and I have never looked back!

What do you want - “We want the world and we want it... now!”

What makes a person go from writing songs about themselves to writing world-class songs? You have to know what you want and then ask for it. Jim Morrison of the band, The Doors, sang in his song, “When The Music’s Over”, the words, “We want the world and we want it ... now”! Regardless of whom he was talking about, making that statement attracted the world to them (The Doors). What do you want out of songwriting? Whatever you want to do with your songwriting is ok because everyone has a song and should write it! For every song you write you are refining your feelings, which will help you in whatever, your life’s quest is. But even as you may just want to write songs as a hobby, you could make some money, too.

What this book can do for you is to help you discover your song or your voice. There is a purpose for you to write your song and distribute it out into the airwaves regardless of what magnitude the waveform is. If you sing it to yourself or share it with the world this book will help you discover your inner songwriter. Through music you will discover that you are the master of your universe (so be easy on yourself). According to the “law of attraction”, what you are thinking and feeling will multi-ply. So, in music what you are listening, writing, feeling, thinking, and add the physical part of singing and playing an instrument, will effect what you attract. You can literally attract what you want from the universe through song!

Finding yourself - “To everything, there is a season”

“To everything, turn turn turn, there is a season, turn turn turn“ I grew up to those words (adapted by Pete Seeger from The Book of Ecclesiastes). Of course, I remember The Birds version of this song the most but the meaning is the same. There is a time for everything. So, don’t try to hurry. That is my suggestion to you in finding your inner songwriter. Don’t be in a hurry. Enjoy the ride! You’ll learn that some people are born with a real sense of purpose and they just go from one happy little checkpoint to the next. Checking off all the things that they are meant to do towards achieving their purpose. And then there are people like myself. Who love to do everything and can’t focus on anyone thing! There are no checkpoints for a person with no direction. I just went with the flow. The only thing I knew for sure was that I love music and knew a lot about what I didn’t want to do. I guess that was a start. So, where are you starting?

I don’t know what level of songwriting you are at. You may have written a few songs and just want a little reinforcement or your just at the stages of, “I think I want to write a song”, but be warned, songwriting is addictive! With every song you write, you’ll feel like you’re on some perpetuating spiritual quest. Songwriting makes you want to keep trying to write that song, your song, with all the right words that will be good enough to make the world smile! Come on! The world needs a smile and a nice big hug (yep, I’m a tree hugger)! What you get as the songwriter is the satisfaction of writing it! You get the buzz (happy feeling)!

Jena Douglas earned a bachelor of arts in music and has been writing and performing music for over twenty-five years. She is currently living in Vista, California, with her son, Dylan, where she is busy writing her second book.