If I waited for inspiration every time I sat down to write a song I probably would be a plumber today.

It's amazing how a competitive nature can turn a negative into something positive.

You've got to really be able to accept the rejection.

You're going to have more rejection than acceptance.

You have to be very brave in that first writing session.

You have certain writing tools but generally creating something from nothing makes one quite mad and Cynthia and I are quite mad you know.

You can get stale writing with each other for a while.

We've written something like 900 songs in all.

We lived, ate, and breathed pop songs.

We became the songs we wrote.

There's so much fear involved in trying to do something you don't know how to do that drugs and alcohol can become a big part of your life if you have an addictive personality or are very unsure, which most songwriters are.

The real danger of writing a great song when you're on something is that it might get you thinking that the only way to repeat that is by only writing when you're high.

Probably most successful songwriters have an innate songwriting ability.

I think that most writers who wait until they're inspired to write are just waiting for the fear to subside.

It's very hard to teach someone how to write a song if to begin with there's no creative crop to harvest.