Donna Ulisse has made quite a name for herself as a songwriter this past few years. Since 2007 she’s had six album releases made up almost entirely of her original bluegrass and Gospel songs. That’s quite an accomplishment, measured in volume alone. But her music has also received critical acclaim, and her songs have been praised by other writers in and outside of bluegrass.
So what’s next for such a prolific song crafter? A book on songwriting, of course.
The Songwriter In Me: Snapshots of My Creative Process shares Ulisse’s thoughts about unleashing creativity, and finding things to inspire the process. It’s not meant asa technical, instructional manual for the craft, though it does include a good bit of information about song structure, rhyme patterns, and how to write well with others.
Using examples of her own lyrics, Donna explains why she made the choices she did, and discusses topics like “syllable sense,” meter, and both the reason and the practice of rewriting.
She describes the book as part memoir, part workshop, and is written with the novice in mind. As the subtitle suggests, it’s meant as a peek into her own creative process – how she gets it done.
The Songwriter In Me is available now at Amazon.com.
