[linzilyrics]

Hi all,

I'm linz, and if you haven't figured from my user-name, I'm a lyricist.  I'm almost 38 years old, and have only just gone public with my lyrics (to be fair, I've only just begun to take myself seriously with it). 

I spent my whole life composing songs in my head and never did a thing about it - I never even wrote anything down!  Coming from Bradford and being a salt-of-the-earth Yorkshire lass, I figured that if I told people I liked to write songs, I'd be looked down on - accused of trying to be something I'm not - all that sort of stuff, so I kept it to myself.  Then a singer friend (Daniel Evans) saw this one piece I'd written down and he asked me to write more.  I had to be coaxed and cajoled to do even that, but once I had, he went all out to give me the kick up the backside he felt I needed.

He told me to live it like I was already doing it, so I set up a MySpace page and made some contacts.  Since February, I have had four of my lyrics recorded by (as yet) unsigned artists.  One was a total disaster!  The other three are fantastic.  Two have been selected to go on the artists' albums this year and I have the demos up on my MySpace page, which has brought in more collaborations!

Daniel has about nine sets of lyrics awaiting his attention, hopefully for a second album next year, but he already had his material in place for this year's album, but fingers crossed, he'll sell enough of that to encourage him to release a second.

I've just entered the UK Songwriting Contest for the first time - just to see where I place and to give me a benchmark to work from.

I've had my lyrics critiqued by John Braheny with astonishing feedback!  That was way beyond my expectations and has given me more confidence than anything else I've done!

I'm now looking for local musicians to sit around and jam with as I don't write music and have hit a bit of a brick wall, struggling to find the inspiration to just sit here at my desk and write words.

The last six months of my life / first six months of my writing career have been phenomenal.  My only regret is that it took me so LONG to do it.

I'm learning new things every day, beginning to understand the technicalities and jargon, and am so looking forward to settling in to this.  I have finally found the place my eternal passion for music has been leading me to!

Sorry, rather longer introduction than intended, but I guess that it's me - perhaps not so much in a nutshell - than a coconut!! 

Thanks for listening! zzzzzzzzzzzz

Linz x

[tone]

Hi Linz
Excellent to have you on board, and thanks for joining us.  I know what you mean about coming to it late, and having regrets, but remember that if you had done it sooner, you may not have been able to bring your maturity and experience to it :p
So glad things are working out for you with the writing; it's very hard reaching a point where you believe in yourself enough to actually put your work out there.
Best of luck with the songwriting contest - let us know how you get on (Cathy and I were runners up a couple of years ago).

[jessie]

wow your lyrics must be pretty good if people are making them into records. I'd love to hear some of the songs 

[linzilyrics]

Hi Jessie,

My MySpace page has the recorded tracks on there.  The one by Ordinary Pop - 'I Ain't Losin'' is just a rough demo at the moment.  'Nothing To Me' by Cherry is more or less the finished article as the album's just in the final stages of being polished.  Links to the artists' pages are in my top four friends on my page.  Ordinary Pop has just been voted the number one unsigned artist in MySpace Switzerland's own chart, which is amazing!!

Here's the link:  http://www.myspace.com/linzilyrics1

Some of my other lyrics are in the blog section of my page.  MySpace isn't great for cataloguing lyrics, to be fair.

I hope you like.  Eek!  I'm feeling a bit coy now! 

I do wonder if I will ever stop feeling self-conscious about what I do!!

Linz x

[waspfromipanema]

Hi Linzi

I'm Cathy, Tone' wife and sometimes singing partner, when I'm not sorting out our ton of animals!! (dogs and horses) I started playing guitar and singing/writing songs late in life too, but it sounds as though you're doing really well, keep up the great work!!

I personally don't think you should regret how long it took you to get to doing music, maybe you weren't ready? I know I wasn't! And, I think most musicians who are good have major doubts about themselves, I think it's really common. The ones who have the huge egos and confidence are usually crap, (in my experience)

Nice to have you on board
Cathy x

[tone]

Wow linzi - some great uses of your lyrics in those two songs, well done!  Did you really make those contacts on myspace?  You have a really nice writing style, I look forward to hearing more of your work

[mr_T]

I listened to both your tracks and their great. Where do you get your inspiration, and are the songs autobiographical (you don't have to answer if you don't want)
Tim

[Katrina Rainbow]

Hi  I enjoyed reading your story 

I have just requested you as a friend on MySpace

I've also entered the UK Songwriting Competition for the first time and am curious to see how I fare! 

Good luck